Grants of between £750,000 and £1 million over a 3-year period are available to a consortium of organisations in England so that they can work collaboratively in order to bring creative opportunities to the lives of local people. Funding is only available in 142 selected areas in England in which the Arts Council considers public involvement in arts and cultural activity to be significantly below that of other areas. Bath and North East Somerset is not one of them
The areas in the South West are:
- Gloucester
- Isle of Wight
- Isles of Scilly
- New Forest
- North Devon
- North Somerset
- Plymouth
- Portsmouth
- Rushmoor
- Sedgemoor
- South Somerset
- Swindon
- Torbay
The programme will fund partnerships in local areas to empower residents to decide what kind of creative activity they want to experience on their doorstep. A video providing an overview of the programme is available on the Arts Council website.
The aims of the programmes are:
- Engage more people from eligible places in a wide range of arts and cultural experiences as audiences and/or participants.
- Empower communities to lead and shape local cultural provision.
- Excellence and relevance in both the engagement process and the creative and cultural experiences on offer.
- Encourage partnerships between publicly funded, amateur, voluntary, community and commercial sectors, as well as collaboration across various cultural institutions, and
- Take an Action Research approach to community engagement in arts, creativity, and culture; learn what works best and share that learning.
Applicants can apply for between £750,000 and £1,000,000 for a 3-year period regardless of the number of eligible places they are applying to cover. The Arts Council will be looking for a 15% matched funding contribution from applicants (for example, a proposal costing £1,000,000 would require a £150,000 matched funding contribution).
Matched funding can include:
- Ticket sales and other earned income over the period of the project.
- Funding from public organisations such as local authorities.
- Cash donations from individuals or companies.
- Grants from other National Lottery distributors (for example, the National Lottery Community Fund, the National Lottery Heritage Fund).
- Donations of equipment or materials subject to suitable valuations.
- Grants from Trusts and Foundations.
- Public appeals and fundraising events.
- A contribution from applying organisations, and/or
- In-kind support – this can include volunteers where they are contributing a specific skill.
Applications should be made by a consortium of organisations, including at least one arts or cultural organisation and one community and/or grassroots organisation. Please note that the organisation representing the community (grassroots or other) cannot be an arts or cultural organisation. If there is only a community organisation and no grassroots organisation on the consortium – there must be a demonstrable mechanism for grassroots groups to shape the programme. For the purposes of this programme, a grassroots community organisation is a non-arts/non-cultural, volunteer-led organisation. National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) can only apply if the activity proposed is in addition to their funded activity.
A lead applicant must apply on behalf of a partnership of organisations to carry out activities in one or more of 142 eligible locations in England.
Activities must be delivered over 3 years, commence on Wednesday 1 April 2026 and end on Saturday 31 March 2029.
The deadline for submissions is midday on Thursday 16 January 2025. Applications submitted after this time will not be considered.
IMPORTANT: after reviewing the guidance and considering your application, you must have a detailed conversation with an Arts Council England Senior/Relationship Manager in your area. This introductory conversation must take place before Thursday 19 December 2024. The deadline for booking an introductory conversation is Monday 9 December 2024.
If you’re eligible and interested in either leading an application or becoming a partner on a consortium, the Arts Council recommends you sign up to its Register of Interest to start forming your connections. By registering, you’ll receive notifications about the programme guidance, briefing events, and application portal opening. The Arts Council will also use it to share your details with other partners in your eligible place, so you can start to have conversations with each other. To register your interest, please go to the Arts Council website.
Further information, guidance notes and how to apply is available on the Arts Council website.