Grant funding to help shine the spotlight on the wealth of creative and heritage talent that exists in the region is now available through Create North East Lincolnshire.
Create North East Lincolnshire was launched last September to build on the success of Grimsby Creates. Following successful bids to the Arts Council England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, work has been expanded to cover the whole of North East Lincolnshire for the next three years. Culture and heritage projects are also supported by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. A diverse range of heritage and cultural projects are already benefitting from recent grant funding.
Grants include:
- Small Project Grants to support brand new commissions up to a value of £1,500, available on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis.
- Large Project Grants to support brand new commissions between the value of £1,501 and £7,500, with a deadline of Tuesday 7th May 2024, 2pm. They will be assessed by a panel in mid-May and clarifications will be made by May 31 2024.
(Note: activities for both small and large project grants could include dance, music, theatre, festivals, literature, poetry, design, fashion, visual arts, crafts, film, photography, publishing, radio, TV, gaming and more and no match funding is required).
Some recent recipients include:
‘Meet Us at Albert’s’, a Large Project Grant which explores the rich printmaking history of our area by Eleos Collective.
Sarah Allen, a visual artist and community arts facilitator, who is exploring creative health and art for wellbeing with her Small Project Grant funding.
Lynsey Wells and Natasha Morley, who contributed aerial hoop and contemporary dance and portraiture drawing and life drawing respectively at ‘Unseen Arts Presents’ in February at Docks Academy, Grimsby, with their Small Project Grant Funding.
On the Project Grant, Natasha said:
“We feel incredibly lucky to have had the support of Create North East Lincolnshire throughout this project. The funding you’ve given us has enabled us to deliver these workshops free of charge and in turn has removed a huge barrier to participation faced by many in the local community. Allowing us to engage with people that might not otherwise feel able to access this sort of creative education.”
- Development Fund to provide opportunities to support individuals with creative or heritage careers, develop themselves and channel their creative energy up to the value of £3,000, with a deadline of Monday 15th April, 11am. Applications will then be assessed, with a response expected by April 30. (Note: This fund could be used to support events such as exchange visits, workshop attendance, or mentoring and training).
Grants were awarded to the following:
Steve Dixey, a photographer who explores the natural and man-made features on local foreshores.
Turntable Gallery co-directors, Dale Wells and Darren Neave, were seen putting Grimsby on the map at Manchester Art Fair in November last year as part of their development fund to reach and attract national and international artists to exhibit at their gallery space.
Samuel Pearson, an actor, performer and aspiring puppeteer in training, who is developing his puppeteering skills via his Development Fund grant.
On the Development Fund, Samuel said:
“I have felt supported by the whole of the Create North East Lincolnshire team. I have appreciated the regular contact with the team. The hard work they have done to promote me through their social media channels, both in the ‘Discover Creative Careers Week’ and the ‘Trailblazing Thursday’, has helped raise my profile in the local area. A positive experience of accessing funding and running my own development project has piqued my interest in applying for funding in the future.”
- Creative Match Fund can be sought for larger applications to arts and heritage funders, such as Arts Council England or Heritage Fund, up to 10% or £5,000 (whichever is smaller), available on a first-come, first-served basis, with projects needing to be completed by the end of the funding programme (31st March 2025).
Successful applications that have been delivered or due to commence are:
GRIMM, an Immersive play by Evie Henderson, around the 1960’s Grimsby fishing community, being staged at Docks Academy, Grimsby and Polar Bear Music Club, Hull in March, funded by Arts Council England.
Coastal Voice Grimsby by Music in Mind, a project exploring dialect and sounds of the region alongside schools and community workshops to form part of a wider project to be shared with Dover and Sefton, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. This project will commence in late Spring 2024.
East Marsh People Power by The Enrolled Freemen, providing audience development activities at Freeman Street Market to support the lead into the People Power Partnership Reflections dance and visual arts performance at Garibaldi Street Car Park, in July 2023.
Claire Etheridge of the Enrolled Freemen said:
“The activities and events brought a sense of pride and worth to our community, volunteers and the team that worked on the project, encouraging them to explore more cultural and creative activities.”
Support to creative and heritage individuals and organisations
For those who need help to make sure that their grant applications are the best they can be, visit Create North East Lincolnshire’s website where you will find lots of advice and information on project planning and writing funding applications, plus other funding opportunities. Visit Home – Create North East Lincolnshire- external site
If you want to find out more, there’s plenty of options:
- Creative Drop in will be at The Business Hive, Dudley Street, Grimsby on Tuesday 9th April from 9am to 12 noon.
- Creative networking – Tuesday 26th March from 5pm-7:30pm. Book your free place here: Create North East Lincolnshire Networking Event Tickets, Tue 26 Mar 2024 at 17:00 | Eventbrite- external site .
- Online session via Teams on Monday 25th March from 4pm to 5pm. To be added to the invite list, please email CreateNorthEastLincolnshire@nelincs.gov.uk.
Cllr Hayden Dawkins, Cabinet member for Culture, said: “These grants are a wonderful opportunity to help members of the local arts and creative community to bring their work to a wider audience.
“The expansion of the arts programme through Create NEL is a huge boost to the creative talent we have in the borough, and I urge them to take advantage of this financial support to allow more people to benefit from the various cultural and heritage projects.”
Article and image from NELC. Photographer Steve Dixey explores the natural and man-made features on local foreshores and has benefitted from grant funding.
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