Early December 2018 I attended an entertaining and very informative 4-hour Grant Writing for Artists workshop by Debby Maziarz. The group was a wonderful tangle of people from many genres of ‘art’ including furniture design, theatre, dance, writing, sculpture, clowning and ceramics. The groups ages were from early 20’s to 60’s and we interacted easily - laughing and sharing personal stories, worries, dreams and goals. Debby was extremely generous in sharing a wealth of personal and professional information. Her slideshow and presentation reflected her professionalism and incredible background of knowledge. This workshop has given me invaluable knowledge and motivation and the support from Debby and the group was heart-warming. The fee was worth every priceless minute.

Debby facilitated a community ideas workshop with residents of Strathmore. We decided to run a heart, head and hands activity asking residents to share their passions, knowledge and skills with their community. Debby was able to bring residents together with shared interests and energy to form new activities, groups and projects in a light hearted fun way. Best phrase of the night from one of the residents was ‘I’m your new friend’. Her warm friendly, let’s get this done attitude resonates with community and Council officers alike. We will definitely use her for future community engagement workshops.

Our Strategic Planning with Debby Maziarz was a rigorous and enlightening process that allowed us to explore, challenge and evolve. Debby is approachable, dynamic and responsive - we enjoyed working with her immensely.

Debby worked with the staff, Board and membership of Women’s Circus to collaboratively understand and respond to the unique and diverse visions and dreams of our circus community. She helped us realise a bold new strategic plan and roadmap for our future that feels like it truly represents our community. Debby is a strong communicator, passionate facilitator and most importantly, an excellent listener. I cannot recommend her services and skills enough.

Over the past 18 months we have been very fortunate to have Debby work with the Opportunities for Carlton Project in the City of Melbourne. Debby has conducted two effective grants writing workshops for our external stakeholders to assist them in writing successful grant applications. The workshops have been extremely successful in providing valuable knowledge to applicants including general composition, project planning, budgeting, evaluation and acquittals. Debby encouraged all participants to learn and think about the bigger picture of funding opportunities. She also shared her own stories, learnings and philosophy in grant making. Debby has a warm and friendly approach that makes people feel at ease and is highly attuned to participants. We look forward to working with Debby again in the near future.

Thank you again for yesterday’s workshop. I very much enjoy discussing art practice with fellows. I found accord with many of the ideas discussed and was encouraged to hear them coming from other people. Debby is very strong in enthusing an audience with a will to go further.

The Green Room Awards (GRA) are Melbourne’s premier peer-presented performing arts industry awards and Debby has been our business development manager for the past 2 years. In this role she has successfully secured and managed two major strategic partnerships with government agencies, and facilitated a new corporate sponsorship. Debby is highly skilled at identifying appropriate opportunities and managing relationships. Her work for the GRA has helped to strengthen the organisation and has greatly enhanced its sustainability and capacity.

Debby came to work with Polyglot when we were looking at a bleak future and needed a brave move to change our fortunes. She delivered over and above what we expected with determination, ambition and her incredible knowledge of the funding sector. Debby was with Polyglot for 10 years as grant writer, development consultant and business manager and also as a committed and wise friend.

I attended your Online Grant Writing Workshop tonight and it was fab! So many priceless insights. You are an amazing speaker, engaging and knowledgeable and your passion is inspiring. I took lots of notes and was ‘glued’ to the screen. After two or so months of zooming, your session was a definite exemption from my symptoms of zoom fatigue!

I met Debby a few years ago as part of a Moreland City Council free mentoring sessions. Following that I sought her out for individual mentoring in order to help me progress my arts-based profession/journey. In just a few sessions with Debby I have been able to see clearly and am now following my dream. Debby listens, remembers, is happy to share knowledge and experience, and ‘gets’ what it is like to be a creative. She is happy to engage in vibrant discussion about creative pursuits and how we each respond differently to these and our life challenges. After each session she provides a clear follow-up list of tasks we have identified, for me to work on between sessions. For me Debby has been a career-saver!

Debby worked closely with me to develop a planning day that targeted exactly what was needed. She took great care to design and deliver the program so that goals for the day were achieved and there were opportunities for each team member to contribute. The tasks were well-paced and varied whilst ensuring everyone was engaged throughout the day and having fun!

Some of the artists met each other for the first time at the workshop and have since formed groups to support each other to take their ideas further or mentor each other.    Some important connections and networks have been established as a result and some of the artists have set up new strands to their arts businesses or taken the management and presentation of their business to a more professional level.

Debby has a warm and friendly approach that makes people feel at ease and is highly attuned to participants. She is a very engaging presenter. She wants to see more people out there doing it – achieving their goals.

Debby is an excellent communicator and presented a lively workshop that engaged and informed me very much.  This workshop has increased my confidence to be able to apply for grants.

Last night unexpectedly gave, what I can only term as an epiphany, as to why I’ve not achieved some funding objectives.

That was FAB. Thanks so much for your time and expertise. I managed to get a snapshot of us all at the end, and Boy did we learn a LOT. Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay well and coronavirus-free.

Debby Maziarz wholeheartedly creates a leadership program that nurtures and connects people with their passions and projects to bring about change in their communities.

I thoroughly enjoyed it....you're a rare mix of brilliantly purposeful and engaging teacher/facilitator and hugely relevant and pragmatic professional in the field.

The workshop was beyond valuable and engaging, equipping us with vital insights into the art of securing grants. From breaking down each section of a grant with ease to boosting our confidence in the process, the team at City of Whittlesea - Louisa, Connie, and the brilliant External Grants Consultant, Debby - were absolute stars. Read full post

Hi Debby, We have some good news! We were successful in obtaining the Celebrating Place grant from the City of Moreland. We all just wanted to say a huge thank you for your assistance in writing the grant. Your advice was amazing, and I’m positive we couldn’t have done it without you! We are already looking to bigger and better things. You were such a great help with our grant, so we we’d love to get your advice to make it as strong an application as possible. Thanks again for all your help. Cheers

Amazing energy put in this workshop. Thank you so much, I have learned so much, what a great opportunity!

Thank you Debby, loved your energy and enthusiasm and practical tips. Loved this workshop, so much to think about and apply. Thank you!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day, and thought Debby was fantastic, has great ideas and I know everything we discussed will be helpful to my arts practice.

Debby ran a fantastic session. Her warm personality and personal stories of projects empowered me to engage with her simple, concise but detailed presentation, leaving me feeling much more capable and inspired!