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
If you think this newsletter might be of interest to someone you know, please forward it onto them. To make sure you get this newsletter every month, subscribe here.
 Shropshire Youth Theatre (SYT) launched their pilot festival event, Shropshire Youth Fringe, at The Hive and Nerdy on July 13th and 14th with financial support from Vibrant Shropshire.
Celebrating the work of young creatives, the weekend saw a host of events take place from youth theatre companies, an emerging young band, a young film-maker and multiple photography artists, as well as participatory workshops in writing, musical theatre, monologue delivery and improv comedy.
The Fringe saw some exciting partnership working take place. SYT worked with The Hive and Nerdy to host the event, and with local improv artists Joel Smith -- The Shropshire Dungeon Master and Matt Watson-Jones of Giant Leap Improv.
Additionally, young reviewers from The Voice Magazine (via Judy McFall of Upstart Projects) attended the event and Shropshire Wildlife Trust provided the chance to take part in leaf printing activities as they shared their own projects.
Their key Open Space event saw a group of young people who participate in arts and culture activities locally gather together to share their thoughts, fears and hopes for the future, and to address how we can improve the communication and delivery of arts and culture activities to young people across Shropshire. The event was eye-opening, and it was encouraging to see the enthusiasm for the preservation of our sector from those people who stand to inherit it from us.
Our pilot festival event was just the start of the journey. We’re grateful for the opportunity that Vibrant Shropshire has afforded us and look forward to seeing where the future takes us next.
This project received funding from the UK Government through the Vibrant Shropshire Grant Scheme, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus
 Find out more about Shropshire Youth Theatre here:
Hill Stories Project is a FREE outdoor digital media and arts project for young people, working with award-winning filmmakers, local artists and experts, and South Shropshire Youth Forum.
The project is aimed at young people age 11-18, interested in exploring local places, wildlife, heritage and conservation. They should also be interested in experimenting creatively with images, words and sound.
Join Hill Stories to develop your skills and to capture and broadcast your ideas and experiences.
The project will take place in two locations:
Clee Hill:
- Friday 9th August
- Wednesday 14th August
- Wednesday 21st August
- Wednesday 28th August
- all times from 10:30am- 3:30pm
Craven Arms:
- Monday 12th August
- Tuesday 20th August
- Friday 23rd August
- Friday 30th August
- all times from 10:30am - 3:30pm
Places are free but limited. Booking is essential.
Please plan to come to all 4 days of the project as the group will build on each previous session.
Email workshops@pieceofstringmedia.co.uk or call Nick (she/her) on 07718274884 if you have any questions or access needs to take part.
Book below:
This project has received funding from the UK Government through the Vibrant Shropshire Grant Scheme as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
 Photo Credit: Andy Hughes
Gather, a co-working space in Ludlow, is kicking off this summer 2024 with a series of FREE workshops during the holidays for young people.
They have got lots of plans on the horizon, working with local youth groups as well as makers in the area to create an environment where knowledge is readily shared and skills are passed onto the next generation.
The programme includes:
- Story Makers: a book club reimagined for children aged 3-7 years old. With two themed sessions coming up in the autumn (animals and outer space), children are invited to bring along their favourite book that relates to the theme. The books are then used as inspiration to create art through different mediums.
- Snack Shop: a workshop aimed at 8-13 year olds, developing delicious snacks for you and your friends to take you through the holidays. This is run in association with Hungry Guy.
With more programme activities being announced over the coming weeks, keep an eye on their website and socials for updates:
This project is funded by the UK Government through the Vibrant Shropshire: a Cultural Compact Grant Scheme as part of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
 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, why not become one for free? Please sign up using the link below, you will then be able to complete the directory form:
 The Landing Project is a two-year project based in Shropshire that unites artists, farmers, environmental practitioners, schools and local communities through on-farm artist residencies and a programme of workshops, public events and exhibitions. It explores how creative activities can offer alternative pathways to explore how we farm the UK, and constructive ways to imagine positive futures for our landscapes.
The Landing Project Vision:
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Seeds of connection: To explore how land is managed as a partnership between people and nature for producing good food, strengthening biodiversity, building community resilience and adapting to climate change.
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Rural labour in art: From ancient landscapes to contemporary portrayals, we will explore the art of working the land, tracing its journey through history and into the future.
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Community voices: To build material and conceptual structures for diversified rural voices to communicate their experiences and perspectives of living within farming landscapes at a time of change. Recording and sharing stories and artworks that explore the culture of farmland and rural landscapes.
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Field work: Invite those often absent from the dialogue of land use to walk the fields, map past cultivation, confront present challenges, and envision future landscapes. The lead artists will engage communities with projects on agroecology and creative mapping of three sites near Weston Rhyn: Bronygarth Orchard Garden, the Templefield Agroforestry Research Site, and Berllan Deg Farm.
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Residency Framework: Establish pathways for future artists to experience residencies in agricultural settings, nurturing creativity connected with the land.
Activities:
On-Farm Residencies: Artists will spend time working in agricultural settings, producing individual and co-created works based on their experiences.
Workshops and Events: Engage the community through educational and participatory activities and exhibitions.
International Exchange: A cross cultural collaboration with SOIL+AiR in New South Wales, Australia.
Key Sites and Partners: Bronygarth Orchard Garden, Temple Field Agroforestry Research Site, Berllan Deg Farm, Qube Arts, CPRE Shropshire, Harper Adams University, Sidney Nolan Trust, Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shropshire Good Food Partnership, Weston Rhyn Primary School, Shropshire Archives, Shropshire Museums Service, Vibrant Shropshire / Shropshire Council, Rural Art Hub.
Leadership and Support: The project is led by artists Molly Brown and Andrew Howe, supported with a grant from the National Lottery awarded by Arts Council England and additional funding from The Ulrike Michal Foundation and CPRE Shropshire.
The project starts on Saturday 27th July with a drop-in arts workshop and open day at Bronygarth Orchard Garden from 10am to 4pm.
To find out more about the project, click the button below:
Art for Change Prize
Applications are now open for the free-to-enter
Art for Change Prize 2024.
Open to emerging artists around the world in the first five years of active practice.
This year’s prize asks artists to creatively respond to the theme 'Tomorrow'ing: Visions of a better future'.
A total prize fund of £20,000 will be split between six winners, five to receive £2,000 and one overall winner to receive £10,000. Winning artists will exhibit their work at Saatchi Gallery in London.
As part of a shared mission in making art, culture, and creativity accessible to everyone, this prize is a celebration of emerging artistic talent. It will highlight and stimulate dialogue around visual arts as a medium for positive global and social change and give exposure to emerging artists worldwide.
Deadline: 31st July 2024
Find out more:
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Home Instead Charities: End Social Isolation in Over 55s
Founded by Home Instead, the UK’s leading provider of home care, Home Instead Charities’ mission is to end loneliness for ageing adults. The organisation exists to bring happiness and joy into the lives of Britain’s ageing population so that ageing adults are thriving, not just surviving.
To this end, they offer funding to support local community events that enhance and enrich the lives of people over the age of 55 to combat loneliness and sometimes isolation ensuring they stay fit, active, healthy and connected and contributing to their local communities.
The grants can be used for:
- Regular weekly or monthly events and activities such as weekly cinema club, weekly knit and natter or Thursday lunch club.
- One off activities such as a day trip or a Christmas lunch.
- Activities such as yoga or a guest speaker for the group such as a local historian.
Grant amount(s):
- up to £500 for small grass roots organisations
- up to £1,500 for small local registered charities
- larger grants can be considered for exceptional projects
There are four application windows per year: January, April, July and October.
Deadline: 31st 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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Grand Plan Fund: People of Colour in Arts
Through the Grand Plan Grant, funding is on offer to support people of colour who want to create and deliver a new cultural project.
The programme supports creativity in all its forms, including poetry, paintings, fashion, zines, music, food, flowers, photographs, workshops, events, or something else completely.
Grants of £1,000 are available to cover the cost of equipment, courses, applicant's time, materials, travel, etc.
Applications are open to UK-based individuals, aged over 18, who identify as a person of colour (Black, Asian, Brown and/or part of the Global Majority).
Grant amount: £1,000
Deadline: Wednesday 7th August at 6pm
Find out more:
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Performance Insurance Short Film Competition
The competition, now in its seventh year, is intended to encourage film makers in their creative endeavours. Its objectives are:
- Helping to get more film projects made
- Connecting people within the industry together
In 2024, awards will be made in the five following categories:
- Best Comedy Short
- Best 'Short' Short (less than five minutes in length)
- Best Documentary Short
- Best Horror Short
- Best Drama Short
Entries will be accepted from film makers who are residents in the UK and aged 18 years and over. To be eligible, the submitted film must have been completed since 1 January 2022, and have a maximum running time of 20 minutes.
Award: £1,500
Deadline: 12th August 2024
Find out more:
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QEST: Emerging Maker Grant
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) offers Emerging Maker Grants of up to £10,000 for the training and education of talented craftspeople at an early stage in their career.
The grant provides funding to committed makers who have been practising professionally for four years or less and who have a strong connection to materials, technical skills and processes.
The funding specifically supports training and education programmes to help makers enhance their craft skills and advance their careers. The training can take many forms, from traditional college courses to vocational one-on-one learning with a master craftsperson, or a bespoke programme of short courses.
Grant amount: up to £10,000
Deadline: Monday 12th August at 5pm
Find out more:
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Metal For Good
Metal For Good fund incredible community groups and projects that use music and the values of the rock and metal community to help create an equal society.
They are inviting applications from community groups, charities and non-profit organisations to apply for up to £3,000 to deliver community projects that use music as a toll for change.
Grant amounts:
- 1 x £3,000
- 2 x £2,000
- 3 X £1,000
Deadline: 22nd August 2024
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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Historic England's History in the Making Fund
History in the Making is a grant that enables underrepresented young people (aged 13-25) to research, discover and mark local histories.
It’s about giving young people a sense of belonging by exploring local identity and immersing them in local stories.
Each project they fund creates a place marker to celebrate where these stories took place and share them with the whole community.
Successful applicants will work directly with young people out-of-school hours in areas of high social deprivation (currently defined as anyone in a Levelling Up Level 1 area). Projects must be co-created, with young people’s voices at the heart of decision-making.
Grant amount: up to £15,000
Deadline: 2nd September 2024
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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Music for All
Music for All, the charity of the UK musical instrument industry, is offering an instrument-only funding round to community projects and to schools in the UK who are looking to enhance and expand their music provision. Priority will be given to applicants who are most in need of help.
Groups can apply for:
- audio equipment
- guitars
- ukuleles
- drumkits
- keyboards
- pbuzz instruments
- a grant of up to £5,000 for schools looking to deepen their music provision and support groups of music makers within their school.
Deadline: Monday 30th September
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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Youth Music NextGen Fund
The NextGen Fund provided by Youth Music is intended to help early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives to invest 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.
The tenth round of the programme is accepting applications from 18-25 year old creatives (under-30s who identify as d/Deaf or disabled) in the UK to support the development of a creative project or idea. Applicants may include singers, rappers, songwriters, producers, DJs, A&Rs, managers and agents, right through to roles that have yet to be defined.
Priority will be given to:
- People who do not have the financial means to invest in themselves to get their ideas started
- People that are too early-stage to be funded by larger grant programmes such as Arts Council England and PRS Foundation
- Those who might be discriminated against, for reasons that could include gender, race, disability, location or other characteristics
- People who are creative, entrepreneurial and are multi-disciplinary - even if they do not recognise themselves as such
Grant amount: up to £2,500
Deadline: 15th November 2024 at 5pm
Find out more:
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Cultural Bridge
Cultural Bridge supports arts and cultural organisations across the UK and Germany to develop partnerships that explore social arts practice.
By enabling new and existing connections, the programme supports a growing network of organisations committed to sharing expertise and skills, exchanging ideas and collaborating on artistic practices and projects that explore themes and issues faced by communities across both countries.
Grant amount(s):
- Tier 1: up to £10,000 per partnership
- Tier 2: up to £30,000 per partnership
Deadline: the 2025-2026 Cultural Bridge programme application portal will be open from Tuesday 15th October to Tuesday 26th 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 find more available funding opportunities, 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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