Following a session Transported organised which was led by James Urquhart & Becky Dunning from the Arts Council last year, we thought it might be useful to put some notes up about the funding available for new arts activities from Grants for the Arts, and some clarification on how Transported can be involved with your application.  To see the presentation that James gave, click on this link to download a copy: Grants for the Arts Presentation

Grants for the Arts is Arts Council England’s Lottery-funded grant programme for individuals, arts organisations and other people who use the arts in their work. Grants are available for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work.

What can you apply for?

Arts Council England offer awards from £1,000 to £100,000 to support a wide variety of arts-related activities, from dance to visual arts, literature to theatre, music to combined arts.

Watch this video for a brief overview of what is available to you through Grants for the Arts.

Can a Creative People and Places project, such as Transported, be used as match funding towards a Grants for the Arts or a Strategic Touring application?

• Yes, but the minimum match requirement for lottery funding, 10% for Grants for the arts and 10% for strategic touring, does have to come from other sources.
• If the CPP project is named as match in a Strategic Touring application the amount of activity taking place in the CPP area must equate to at least the value of the CPP financial contribution; a CPP project cannot allocate funds to support strategic touring outside of their place
• A partner organisation named in a CPP project cannot count their funds as match towards CPP and then again as match towards strategic touring as this is double counting match funding.
• Support from Creative People and Places projects for Strategic Touring applications does not necessarily have to be cash.  CPP consortia should consider offering in-kind support in the first instance to organisations that want to develop long term relationships with them and their place.  Indeed this approach is requirement of Strategic Touring.  Support around things like partnership and audience development may well strengthen the applicant’s proposal more than cash.

How do you apply?

You can apply through the Arts Council England website here. Please make good use of the guidance documents as depending on the amount of money you are applying for, as particular aspects are varied.

As always, if you have any questions then contact the team and if we don’t know the answer we will endeavour to put you in touch with someone who does!