Auspice Services - The Blue Room Theatre

To support independent artists, The Blue Room Theatre offers a financial auspice service for independent artists who acquire funding and need an incorporated organisation to take legal and financial responsibility.

We provide funded artists with project management services relating to the administration of the project, including but not limited to: financial and budget advice, contracting, payroll, cashflow, reimbursements and petty cash, public liability, and worker’s compensation insurance.

All other aspects of your project, from creative process and artistic decisions, to marketing and technical needs, are the responsibility of the project artist or producer.

We provide our auspice service for projects that occur between March and November each year. If you are a WA-based independent artist and are applying for funding, get in touch at least two weeks prior to your submission to discuss your project. If we can help, you’ll need to be a Blue Room Theatre member to access the service.

For more information about how it works, what we need to know from you and the cost of our auspice services, please read the FAQs below.

If you have a project that you’d like to have auspiced, please contact our Operations Manager Mitch at mitch@blueroom.org.au or phone the office on (08) 9227 7005.

Image credit: Mararo Wangai in Winter Nights 2019, photo by Tasha Faye

Are there any costs associated with the auspice service?

The Blue Room Theatre charges an auspice service fee, which needs to be included in the total cost of the grant:

For grants equal to or under $15K, we charge an auspice administration fee of 10%
For grants over $15K, we charge an auspice administration fee of 8%

The applying producer and lead artist must also be a current member of The Blue Room Theatre.

How much notice does The Blue Room Theatre need to take on a new auspice?

While we wish to support as many independent artists with this service as possible, we require a lead time before the grant is due to meet with the project producer/representative to discuss the project parameters (including timeline of delivery, application and budget) and to determine whether we are able to administer the auspice in line with existing programming and projects, and then to provide application support and budget oversight.

Initial contact by phone or email to our Operations Manager is required at a minimum of 2 weeks (10 business days) prior to your grant submission date. This gives us the opportunity to ensure your budget includes all requirements and that we can provide required support material (i.e.: auspice confirmation/support letter) for your application.

It is strongly advised, however, to get in contact 3-4 weeks prior to submission so our staff can provide additional support, including providing feedback on your draft application and support material and budget advice. This feedback will increase your chances of funding success.

Can The Blue Room Theatre auspice a project I have already received funding for?

Not usually. Most funding bodies require the auspice body to be confirmed at application stage and this cannot be transferred (this is true of our state and federal government funding bodies) but may be different for other funders. If you wish to have an auspice body, we recommend following the above steps and confirming prior to the grant application to ensure that we are definitely able to support you.

What does my budget need to include?

In addition to the costs of your project (artist fees, production costs, marketing etc) The Blue Room Theatre requires the following to be included

Auspice Administration Fee:

For grants equal to or under $15K, we charge an auspice administration fee of 10%
For grants over $15K, we charge an auspice administration fee of 8%

Superannuation and Workers Compensation:

Superannuation (10%) and worker’s compensation (2%) must be budgeted for against all wages and included in the total grant cost. One off payments/fees, such as a fee for a photographer, do not need to have superannuation or workers comp accounted for against the value of the fee.
The Blue Room Theatre has additional information to clarify what fees and wages require superannuation and worker’s comp insurance which we will provide to you and check your budget against once we have agreed on taking on the auspice.

The Blue Room Theatre must approve the budget before it is applied for.

Do I need to do anything differently when submitting my application if it is auspiced?

Some funders (for example the state government) require the applicant to apply through our online portal to submit the application. We will organise a time and date for your project producer/representative to come in and enter in all information into our portal at the office. This will normally be the day prior to the submission close (to allow for any issues with the portal to be resolved) and will normally take 2 hours.

We will advise that you come prepared and ensure all your working documents are already within the word limits of the application.

What happens if we are successfully funded?

Once successful, our Operations Manager will again meet with the artist to go through the auspice agreement and outline the particulars of the auspice service including the processes/expectations in administration. These will include: an Auspice Agreement, Contracts and Pay Schedule, Payment Process and Policies.