Welcome to the latest edition of the Vibrant Shropshire newsletter.
We want to highlight some of the great things happening across Shropshire's cultural sector.
Make sure to check out the Cultural Funding Opportunities at the end of the newsletter.
If you have something you would like to share in future newsletters such as a job opportunity, funding, or a success story, do let us know by emailing culturalcompact@shropshire.gov.uk
The Vibrant Shropshire team have been busy working with our web developers from Verve Design to create a new Vibrant Shropshire Cultural Compact website. This will include a directory of all the Vibrant Shropshire partners which will showcase the work they do.
If you are a Vibrant Shropshire partner, and would like to be included in this directory please fill out the form linked below.
Once you have filled out the form, please send us a copy of your logo to culturalcompact@shropshire.gov.uk
If you are not a Vibrant Shropshire partner, please first sign up using the link below before completing the directory form.
 In May, we held a workshop on Environmental Sustainability and the Cultural Sector. This training was led by LovelyLand and featured their Climate FRESK workshop. During the event, we looked at the current climate crisis and activities that contribute towards climate change.
The workshop then looked at the cultural sector's relationship with environmental sustainability. Participants, who were mostly from cultural sector organisations, were then asked to consider the ways they could be make positive environmental change in their lives. This was a great opportunity for participants to get to know one another and share their work.
Some key resources about the connection between the environment and culture were shared with the group. These included a site to measure your carbon footprint and the 'Nature Connection handbook' developed by the University of Derby. These, along with others, can be viewed on our 'Useful Resources' page under the 'Environment' section. Click the button below to be directed there:
This event was run as part of a series of workshops organised by Vibrant Shropshire and funded by Arts Council England. These workshops address Vibrant Shropshire's priorities and seek to upskill the cultural sector. |
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Renowned Artist Jacob Chandler and Soulton Hall, the historic country house in Wem, Shropshire are thrilled to unveil an extraordinary new art project that intertwines the timeless works of William Shakespeare with contemporary forms.
Jacob Chandler, celebrated for his striking Commonwealth Games sculpture at Birmingham New Street station and the rugby players at Rugby services on the M6, has embarked on a unique journey to explore Shakespeare's inner world through geometric relief prints.
“This project is like no other I've worked on,” says Jacob Chandler. Tasked with capturing the essence of Shakespeare's characters in 'As You Like It', who perform the Dance of Harmony at the play’s conclusion. Chandler has translated their spirits into geometric forms.
These two-meter-tall relief prints will be displayed at Soulton Hall before traveling to esteemed locations including, Oxford, London and Shrewsbury.
Chandler has released Silvius and Phoebe ahead of the exhibition, offering a glimpse into his innovative approach. This exhibition promises to be a profound exploration of Shakespearean themes through the lens of modern art, engaging with one of Shropshire’s most historic estates. Soulton Hall has a complex and important history, layered like the centuries it has witnessed and repeatedly resonating with the story of England and beyond with its architectural beauty and rich cultural heritage. The Ashton family continue to celebrate and preserve the arts, history, and scholarship through various projects and collaborations.
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There is a strong connection between Soulton Hall and Shakespeare. Research led by James D. Wenn of Byrga Geniht Ltd consultancy has established that Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' is set at Soulton Hall in Shropshire. The play’s character “Old Sir Rowland” is believed to be inspired by Sir Rowland Hill, the builder of Soulton Hall and a significant figure in England's history, who published the Geneva Bible in 1560.
The work will be displayed at Shrewsbury Museum from 6th July - 31st August as part of the Shrewsbury Arts Trail.
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 The Villages Project will see five artists develop and deliver community-focused creative projects in five villages, surrounding Oswestry, located in England and Wales. This is an 8-month project starting in July 2024 and culminating in a month-long exhibition in Oswestry starting during the Love Oswestry festival in mid-February 2025.
The five participating artists will develop and deliver an innovative, co-produced or co-created project that responds to the interests and needs of a particular village community. As part of the project the five participating artists will meet regularly with the co-ordinator, as well as have the chance to come together, to support the development and delivery of their projects and to make links between the different activities. This will also be an opportunity to reflect on the past, present and future connections between Oswestry and the surrounding communities and landscape.
We invite applications from artists experienced in working creatively with communities. We would love to hear from practitioners working in a broad range of creative disciplines including visual, sonic, performing art, craft, moving image, photography, architecture, design, digital media and social practice. Whilst participating artists do not have to have an existing link with the area, we particularly encourage applications from artists living or working locally. We also encourage applications from those with existing links with a community through a creative project as well as those wishing to develop new projects.
Artist Fee: £4125 plus £615 for materials
The project is being co-ordinated by Joseph Schneider, Director of the Rural Art Hub, on behalf of Love Oswestry and Oswestry Community Connections.
The deadline for applications is midnight on the 1st July 2024
Find out more:
 The VCSA are conducting their annual State of the Sector Survey. This is the biggest survey into charities, voluntary and community organisations in Shropshire! This survey gathers insights that inform our strategic direction and advocate for the sector to public sector partners and funders.
Importance of your participation:
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Data-Driven Insights: The survey will provide data that is critical for informed organizational decision-making.
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Effective Advocacy: Understanding the sector's current state is necessary for effective advocacy for support and resources.
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Sector Representation: Collective input is important for representing the needs and value of the sector.
How to contribute:
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Encourage Participation: Please inform your teams and networks about the survey.
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Share Your Insights: Your experiences are important for a well-rounded survey outcome.
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Utilize Findings: Consider how the survey results may inform your work and drive progress.
The deadline is the 25th of June
Complete the survey by clicking the button below:
 Shropshire Inclusive Dance (SiD) presents a Summer Dance Celebration at Theatre Severn, Saturday 13th July.
Come along for a wonderful evening of live dance and film celebrating the creativity, power and joy of inclusive dance, performed by SiD’s inclusive cast of dancers with and without disabilities.
Every week, dancers at SiD’s classes and members of Contact Dance Company explore dancing together, creating moments of joy, artistry, and togetherness.
Shropshire Inclusive Dance has crafted these moments into an evening’s entertainment, not to be missed.
The evening will include a guest performance by award winning dance theatre duet Tom and Rob.
The dances will be introduced and woven together by Makaton expert and renowned presenter Sam Stephen.
SiD prides itself in creating dance experiences which bring people together to celebrate artistry, connection, diversity, humour, and the power of dance.
The evening’s show will be shared in an accessible, supportive and relaxed environment.
All welcome.
Date: Saturday 13th July
Doors open: 7pm
Show start time: 7.30pm
Finish: 9.30pm
Tickets: £12 for adults over 18, £6 for children
Booking link below, we advise booking early to avoid disappointment.
This project is funded by Shropshire Council through the Vibrant Shropshire Grant Scheme
Youth Music NextGen Fund
The Youth Music NextGen Fund offers young creatives grants of up to £2,500 to make their ideas happen.
The Youth Music NextGen Fund is for early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives to invest up to £2,500 in their own projects and make their ideas happen. The fund is especially aimed at those whose lack of finance holds them back from pursuing their goals.
It's open to 18–25-year-olds (and up to 30-year-olds who identify as d/Deaf or Disabled) who live in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Grant amount: £2,500
Deadline: 28th June 2024
Find out more:
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Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Community Mental Health Fund for Adults
This grant offers digital inclusion grants aimed at voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations that provide training and interactive training materials to secondary care mental health service users.
The ultimate goal of the program is to improve digital engagement for service users of adult community mental health services, allowing them to access their personal health records, view care plans, and complete Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) without providing technology or data packages.
The Foundation welcomes applications from VCSE organisations with a track record of delivering digital inclusion training. They will provide an overview of the specific areas they would like successful organisations to support. This will require close working with Trust digital transformation teams to ensure that engagement and training focuses on the technical developments already in plan. This grant round will not look to introduce entirely new technology.
Grant amount: between £1,000 and £20,000
Deadline: 30th June 2024
Find out more:
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St Helen's Farm Goodness Grants
St Helen's Farm new initiative called ‘Goodness Grants’ are inviting applicants from non-for-profit organisations and registered charities across England, Scotland and Wales to apply for funds to support projects which are doing good in their local communities.
These projects might be based around sport, schools, clubs, wellness or to tackle social issues. We are offering grants specifically to local organisations which improve the health, places or skills for families in their communities.
Grant amount: up to £5,000
Deadline: 30th June 2024
Find out more:
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Wolfson Foundation 'Funding for Places'
Twice a year, the Wolfson Foundation accepts applications from charitable organisations and educational establishments in the UK who are seeking grants for capital initiatives, ie buildings (new build or refurbishment) and equipment.
The Foundation funds a broad range of organisations working across the fields of education, science and medicine, health and disability, heritage and arts and humanities.
The size of the grants varies across the different programme areas.
The types of areas they fund are:
Grant amounts: various depending on programme area
Deadline: 1st July 2024
Find out more: click the links above for the different programme areas
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Music For All
Music for All is dedicated to changing lives across the UK by improving access to music making. They are a passionate, focused and ambitious UK charity helping disadvantaged music makers experience the joys and far-reaching benefits of making music.
Music For All is offering financial support to community projects and individuals in the categories below:
- BBB Trust Award (community projects only)
- Working with primary-school aged children (community projects only)
- Chronic diseases and conditions affecting quality of life (community projects only)
- Working with groups with mental health challenges and/or affected by loneliness/isolation (community projects only)
- Working with communities from the Global Majority, in collaboration with Black Lives in Music (community projects only)
- Physical mobility or accessibility needs (community projects and individuals)
- The Knoydart Songwriting Retreat CIC Award (individuals only)
Grant amount: various, depending on the category
Deadline: 8am on 1st July 2024
Find out more:
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The Radcliffe Trust
The Radcliffe Trust continues his charitable bequest through the support of Music and Heritage & Crafts. Grants are currently open for both.
Music: The Radcliffe Trust supports classical music performance and training, especially chamber music, composition and music education.
Particular interests within music education are music for children and adults with special needs, youth orchestras and projects at secondary and higher levels, including academic research. The Trustees respond to applications and also initiate their own projects.
Heritage & Crafts: The Radcliffe Trust supports the development of the skills, knowledge and experience that underpin the UK's cultural heritage and crafts sectors. This includes support for emerging craftspeople of high quality, craft and conservation projects and training, projects demonstrating creative outcomes by designer-makers, projects with potential for capacity building within the sector, and some special needs projects focusing on the therapeutic benefits of skills development.
Grant amounts: £2,500 - £7,500
Deadline: 31st July 2024 for consideration in December
Find out more:
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The Hitmaker Fund
The Hitmaker Fund offers an opportunity for songwriters and producers working in popular music genres to further develop their careers and writing/production with grants of between £5,000 – £10,000.
Launched in 2017 as a response to the long-term career needs of those working behind the scenes, The Hitmaker Fund (formerly The Writer Producer Fund) was initiated by PRS Foundation with BASCA Trust. The rebranded Hitmaker Fund is now delivered by PRS Foundation.
Applications will be accepted from individuals with a professional track record as:
- Songwriters (behind the scenes creators of new music who do not also perform or produce).
- Producers (those working on production who contribute to the songwriting process and are acknowledged as writers).
Grant amount: £5,000 to £10,000
Deadline: Round 2 opens 29th July 2024 and closes 27th August 2024
Find out more:
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Hinrichsen Foundation
The Hinrichsen Foundation is offering grants to charities and other organisations across the United Kingdom to support the performance of contemporary music, including the commissioning of new work, non-commercial recording, or publication.
There are two levels of funding available:
- One-off small grants typically between £500 and £2,500 (for new applicants and former beneficiaries).
- Larger projects or concert series generally £2,000 and over.
Deadline: opens end of June and closes 31st August 2024
Find out more:
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Postcode Local Trust (West of England)
Back for another year, the Postcode Local Trust is supporting organisations across the West of England with unrestricted funding in 2024.
The funding is for projects that have a clear alignment with one of the Trust's themes for 2024:
- Enabling participation in physical activity
- Enabling participation in the arts
- Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
- Supporting marginalised groups and tackling inequality
- Improving biodiversity and responding to the climate emergency
- Improving green spaces and increasing access to the outdoors
- Providing support to improve mental health with a focus on organisations that are actively supporting specific mental health issues rather than general mental wellbeing activities.
Grant amounts: dependent on the organisation's not-for-profit legal structure, grants between £500 and £2,500 or between £500 and £25,000
Deadline: next application window 26th August to 2nd September.
Find out more:
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Theatres Trust Theatre Improvement Scheme
Theatres Trust's Theatre Improvement Scheme, in association with the Wolfson Foundation, offers capital funding for theatres.
The theme for the fund for the current three-year partnership is Improving Environmental Sustainability.
Theatre operators can apply for grants towards their building or equipment as part of the scheme.
It is hoped that these grants will support a range of projects that consider different ways theatre buildings can reduce their environmental impact. From sedum roofs to new windows, building management systems to more efficient water heaters, funding will be given to projects that demonstrate how a small intervention can have a big impact.
Grant amount: up to £20,000
Deadline: Friday 6th September 2024
Find out more:
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Greene King IPA Proud to Pitch In Fund
Grants of up to £4,000 are available for registered charities, community groups, social enterprises, community amateur sports clubs, and other organisations across the UK to deliver grassroots sports activities that positively impact local communities.
Grant amount: up to £4,000
Deadline: 1st November 2024
Find out more:
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Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Arts-based Learning Fund
The foundation supports arts and cultural organisations to work in partnership with schools and make arts-based learning a core part of education.
The fund envisions a more equitable school system where high-quality arts-based learning is a core part of all children’s education. They believe that arts-based teaching and learning can add value and help schools achieve their aspirations for pupils.
The fund achieves this by:
- supporting arts organisations to work in partnership with formal education settings leading to a mutual exchange and enrichment of expertise;
- focusing on pupils who experience systemic inequity and enabling them to make progress and overcome barriers to learning;
- exploring the role of arts-based learning in addressing issues of inclusion, especially racism, in education;
- creating more opportunities for high quality arts-based teaching and learning in education settings, especially in those which have not had this work in the past;
- enabling arts-based learning to be embedded in curricula and practice for the long-term; and
- building a body of evidence and practice, and understanding how the work improves equity for pupils.
Grant amount: between £30,000 to £100,000
Deadline: rolling
Find out more:
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Historic Houses Foundation
The Historic Houses Foundation gives grants for the repair and conservation of rural historic buildings and structures in England and Wales, including their gardens, grounds and outbuildings. They also give grants for the restoration and conservation of works of art in historic house collections open to the public.
Grants are made to owners (charities, institutions, local authorities and individuals) who demonstrate a sustainable and long-term commitment to the care, management and public access of the historic country houses in their care.
They aim to make grants for projects which either do not qualify for funding from any of the mainstream sources or have been awarded only partial funding. They will also consider making grants to kick start a project but will expect further funding to be in place within 1 to 2 years.
Grant amounts: The minimum grant amount is £1,000, the maximum is £250,000 though awards of this size are only made in exceptional circumstances. Most grants are less than £50,000.
Deadline: rolling
Find out more:
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National Lottery Heritage Grants
National Lottery Heritage Grants form part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund's new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033, that aims to invest £3.6 billion across the UK with grants ranging from £10,000 up to £10 million.
The strategy is centred around a simplified framework of four investment principles:
- Saving heritage.
- Protecting the environment.
- Inclusion, access and participation.
- Organisational sustainability.
Grants are available to support projects of up to five years that care for and sustain heritage in the UK. This could include nature and habitats, historic buildings and environments, or cultures, traditions and people’s memories.
Grant amounts: there are two levels of grants available £10,000 to £250,000 or grants from £250,000 to £10 million
Deadline: rolling
Find out more here:
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To read more funding opportunities available, take a look at the VCSA Funding Opportunities Roundup.
Know about an arts or cultural funding opportunity that isn't listed here? Please contact us
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