Federal grants for recording studios

Go to the NARAS site and look there for possible grants having to do with recording.

Contact your local SBA (Small Business Administration @ alanhayatt@pmi.com) ask if they can direct you to possible sources of funding

You really don't say what you are recording or what the grant will do for you. If it is just to set up yet another general purpose recording studio I don't think you will find too many grants. If however you are using the studio to record or teach low income students about the art and craft of recording you may be able to find a grant or two. ( a grant meaning someone GIVES you money without the need for repayment) This would also be the case if you doing field recordings of persons of note in the musical world or rare species of animals that would otherwise not be recorded. No one that I know will simply give you a grant to start a general purpose recording studio for the purpose of making money.

I think you would be better off looking at someone granting you a loan that could be replayed at a low interest rate and that case the SBA and other government agencies would be the people to contact. If you are a minority business person you could also qualify for a number of different funding schemes set up by the government to assist you in starting out.

Most banks will simply laugh at you if you go in an request a loan to start up a recording studio. There are simply too many failures and the banks already know what will work and what will not and will only loan money on the businesses that may have a chance at being profitable so they can get their money back. You would have a better chance with the federal state or local governments since they are more likely to take risks.

Many people seek funding from family and friends and some use the equity in their house to take out a home improvement loan that is used to build and equip the studio.

If you do a search on the internet for small business grants it comes back with over 3 million hits so you can start doing some research on the net.

FWIW

-TOM-

Maybe check out that book from the crazy Question Mark Suit guy (not the Riddler) with the commercials about how easy it is to get a grant. They've given out grants for some pretty useless crap so you never know. Perhaps they'll give one to record a tree falling in the woods to see if it makes a sound.

The name of the guy in the question mark suit is Matthew Lesko. He has written (compiled) a telephone book size book about where and how to find almost any and every government grant possible.

And if you don't want to wait to find his infomercial on TV you can also find his book in book stores and possibly at the library.

"Matthew Lesko" !!! That's too funny. I worked lighting and camera on several of his commercial shoots back in the day. It wasn't uncommon to see one of his "Question Mark" vehicles cruising around the DC beltway. Marketing genius and a really, really nice guy! His over the top personna was the same on or off camera.

dinog, post: 454353, member: 40469 wrote: "Matthew Lesko" !!! That's too funny. I worked lighting and camera on several of his commercial shoots back in the day. It wasn't uncommon to see one of his "Question Mark" vehicles cruising around the DC beltway. Marketing genius and a really, really nice guy! His over the top personna was the same on or off camera.

Just a quick heads up ... the comments you are responding to in this thread are nearly 14 years old now, so you may or may not get a response from the OP or other members who commented. You've done absolutely nothing wrong commenting on a post this old, you're free to comment anywhere you wish ... we're not forum nazis here, LOL ...RO is a really laid back place and we're happy you're here; I just thought you should know that the thread you're commenting on is quite old. ;)
-donny

DonnyThompson, post: 454381, member: 46114 wrote: Just a quick heads up ... the comments you are responding to in this thread are nearly 14 years old now, so you may or may not get a response from the OP or other members who commented. You've done absolutely nothing wrong commenting on a post this old, you're free to comment anywhere you wish ... we're not forum nazis here, LOL ...RO is a really laid back place and we're happy you're here; I just thought you should know that the thread you're commenting on is quite old. ;)
-donny

Well said, Donny! On that note however... I love seeing old threads re visited! They engage topic history including our older members and more.

Thank you for the update!

Cheers!