Get Started

• Decide who is legally applying and receiving the grant.
• If the project is hosted by the Angewandte, clarify the institutional submission and approval route early.
• Check whether the funder requires an Austrian research institution, Austrian residence/citizenship, an Austrian legal entity or an international consortium.
• Clarify who may sign applications, contracts, partner agreements and declarations.
• For FWF programmes in PROFI mode, the research institution submits on behalf of the researcher; programme-specific rules still apply.

• State the artistic/research question and why the project is needed now.
• Describe the artistic practice, research methods and how they generate knowledge/results.
• Position the project in relevant artistic, scholarly and cultural contexts.
• Explain what is genuinely new, experimental or distinctive.
• Define work packages, milestones, decision points and dependencies.
• Describe expected outputs and how success/quality will be assessed.
• Prepare relevant portfolio, CV, publications/works, prior projects and references.

• Budget personnel/employment, artist fees and external services separately.
• Include employer costs/social contributions where applicable.
• Budget materials, production, equipment, software, travel, accommodation, transport, venue, insurance, documentation, accessibility, rights/licences, publication and preservation.
• Check funder-specific salary rates, fair-pay expectations and maximum eligible rates.
• Check whether equipment is fully eligible, depreciated, capped or needs institutional procurement.
• Clarify VAT treatment and whether it is an eligible cost for the applicant.
• Check indirect costs/overheads and whether they are fixed, capped or excluded.
• Identify co-funding, own contribution and in-kind contributions and whether they must already be confirmed.
• Plan cash flow: when is funding actually paid, and who pre-finances costs?
• Never assume costs incurred before the eligible project start can be reimbursed.

• Clarify whether each person is employed, self-employed, contracted for a work/service, or participating through a partner institution.
• Do not use freelance contracts to disguise an employment relationship; use the university/organisation's HR and legal process.
• Clarify tax/VAT treatment for independent activity with the competent tax authority or professional advice.
• Self-employed artists in Austria should check SVS status and whether a KSVF contribution subsidy may apply.
• KSVF support requires an application and specific insurance/income/artistic-activity conditions; it is not automatic.
• Keep a clean record of contracts, invoices, payment evidence and income/expense documentation.

KSVF contribution subsidy information

• List third-party images, texts, music, film, software, datasets, designs, archives and artworks you plan to use.
• Clarify the exact rights needed: reproduction, adaptation, exhibition/performance, online publication, streaming, documentation, archive/repository deposit.
• Ownership of a physical artwork/object does not automatically include copyright exploitation rights.
• Clarify rights in newly created outputs between team members, institution, commissioned contributors and partners.
• Clarify authorship/credit, moral rights, performers' rights and documentation/photo/video permissions.
• Check collecting-society licences where relevant (e.g. music or represented visual works).
• Decide which open licence or rights statement, if any, will be used for outputs and metadata.

Austrian Copyright Act (RIS)

• Identify whether you collect personal data, images, voices, interviews, location data, health data or other sensitive information.
• Define the legal basis, information provided to participants, consent where needed, withdrawal process and retention period.
• Separate consent to participate from permission to publish identifiable material where appropriate.
• Plan anonymisation/pseudonymisation where possible.
• Check secure storage, access, data sharing and transfers to external/cloud services or outside the EEA.
• For minors or vulnerable participants, clarify child protection, consent/assent, safeguarding and funder/institutional requirements.
• For participatory/co-creative artistic research, clarify ownership, attribution, benefit sharing and what participants can veto or withdraw.
• Check whether institutional ethics review is required before data collection begins.

Data Protection & Ethics

• Clarify venue permission, capacity, fire/safety rules, technical approvals, noise, opening hours and accessibility.
• In Vienna, public events can require notification or registration depending on type and audience capacity; check the Wiener Veranstaltungsgesetz and MA 36 guidance.
• Budget security, first aid, awareness measures, waste, technical staff and accessibility where relevant.
• If children/minors participate, check child-protection and safeguarding obligations.
• Clarify liability, equipment, transport, exhibition, travel and event insurance.
• For public space, construction/installation, animals, hazardous substances, lasers, drones or special technology, check additional permits early.

City of Vienna · planning public events

• Identify all data/material types: raw, processed, documentation, code, audiovisual files, physical/digital works.
• Define folder structure, file naming, versions/master files, storage, backup and access.
• Plan metadata and provenance so the artistic/research process remains understandable.
• Check whether the funder requires a Data Management Plan or open research data.
• Separate what may be public from what must be restricted.
• Plan identifiers, repository/deposit, file formats and preservation of technical dependencies.
• Budget documentation and preservation work; do not leave it until the final month.

• Document partner roles, budget responsibility, decision-making, IP, data sharing and publication rights.
• Use cooperation/consortium/subcontract agreements where required.
• Clarify who can commit the institution financially or contractually.
• Follow institutional/public procurement rules for purchases and external services.
• Document quotations/tenders where required.
• Identify conflicts of interest in commissioning, evaluation, procurement or partner selection.

• Create a project cost centre/folder and evidence structure from day one.
• Keep contracts, invoices, payment evidence, travel documentation, approvals and procurement records.
• Track deliverables, milestones and funder communication.
• Use correct funder acknowledgements/logos and record dissemination.
• Request approval before material changes if the grant agreement requires it.
• Plan final narrative/financial reporting, output deposit, data/repository work and retention of records.