A new £15 million grants scheme, Great Places, has been launched by the Arts Council England (ACE) to help civic organisations work together to help communities; with a deadline for Expressions of Interest of 6 October 2016 or full applications is 12 January 2017.
Arts Council England writes:
A £15 million scheme to help put culture at the heart of successful communities has been unveiled by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council.
The Great Place Scheme – one of the flagship measures from the Government’s recently-published Culture White Paper – will pilot new approaches that enable cultural, community and civic organisations to work more closely together.
The aim of the scheme is that the considerable investment in culture made by organisations like Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Arts Council England has maximum positive impact on jobs, economic performance, educational attainment, community cohesion and health and wellbeing; and to persuade civic organisations and local businesses to invest in and put culture at the heart of their thinking.
Using funds raised by the National Lottery, the scheme will be piloted in 12 locations across England, and is likely to include everything from a city-wide scheme to a group of rural or coastal local authority areas. Funding comes from HLF and the Arts Council, each of which will contribute £7.5 million for projects lasting up to three years. There will also be complementary support from other organisations where relevant, such as Historic England through its Heritage Action Zone initiative.
Grants of between £500,000 and £1.5 million will fund a range of activities in the pilot areas. For example:
- new ways to include arts, culture and heritage in the provision of local education or health services;
- research into the contribution made by arts, culture and heritage to local economies;
- funding for people working in arts, culture and heritage to build networks and increase their skills;
- exploring and piloting new ways of financing cultural organisations;
- encouraging the use of existing powers that allow communities to support their local culture, such as the Community Right to Bid or listing local landmarks as Assets of Community Value; and
- development of local strategies that turn conversations and creation of networks into action to maximise the community benefit that local arts, culture and heritage can deliver.
Applications must come from partnerships, which are likely to include: arts and heritage organisations; community/voluntary groups; social enterprises; businesses; local authorities; parish councils; local economic partnerships; and other public sector organisations. Single organisations cannot apply.
Read more…. and visit the Great Places Scheme website
