Funding for Creative Activities
The Small Grants Fund is a Creative Scotland programme, within their Youth Arts Fund, that will deliver artist led projects working with groups in learning communities, early years providers, youth projects and other family support or community settings. It also aims to support the network of art practitioners who have lost valuable work during Coivid-19
A partnership between the Scottish Borders Council’s educational Creative Learning Network and YouthBorders will distribute £42,000 of funds to deliver innovative opportunities that will enable young people to discover new ways of making, through activities in music, visual art or image making. We want our young people to create and be creative; through hands-on immersive approaches, that reinforces their confidence and helps them visualise some new perspectives for themselves.
Working across the regions five locality areas we will support local learning and community plans, focusing on those young people who would not normally have access to or the opportunity to take part in these types of activity.
We have set out some of the Ambitions for the project at the bottom of this page.
Who can apply?
Applications must come from art and music practitioners, self employed or with their own independent practice, who can deliver projects using music, visual art, film or photography.
Target Groups
The projects are targeted at children and young people from least one of the following groups
- those living in poverty or residing in areas of social and economic
deprivation. - experiencing or at risk of experiencing harm and neglect
- who are looked after (as defined by the Children (Scotland) Act
1995) and care leavers - in the early years (0-5) of their life
- from Black and/or Minority Ethnic backgrounds
- who have a disability and/or additional support needs
- at risk of offending or have previously offended
- who are young carers (as defined by the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016)
and/or young parents - experiencing or at risk of homelessness, or who have been homeless
- experiencing mental ill health
Who can I partner with?
Each art practitioner will need to partner with an existing learning community, early years setting, community or youth group. YouthBorders can assist with contacts, links and matching between artists and these groups.
Projects can be delivered with schools if the target groups are met but projects are not meant to support regular class teaching and must demonstrate a level of work outside of school hours and community engagement.
How much can I apply for?
We are offering 10 grants overall, spread across the five Border localities of Berwickshire , Cheviot, Eildon, Teviot & Liddesdale and Tweedale.
In each locality we will offer two grants, one being between £2500 to £3000 and a second between £4500 to £5000. More details on the 5 localities areas are listed in the FAQ section.
Key dates
The fund opens on Monday 8th February
The fund closes for applications on Friday 5th March at 5pm
The selection process occurs between 10th March and Friday 19th March
Applicants will be informed in the week commencing the 22nd March.
Funds will be distributed in the week commencing 29th March.
The projects can be delivered between 1st May 2021 and January 31st 2022.
How to Apply
You can download the application form, guidance and equalities monitoring form below.
Scottish Borders_SGF_Artists and Creative Practitioners Application Form
Guidance for Freelance Artists and Creative Practitioners.
Small Grants Fund Creative Scotland Code of Conduct
Small Grant Fund Equality-and-Diversity-Monitoring Form
FAQ
We strongly encourage visit our of frequently asked questions page
Contact us
Creative Learning Officer
(Borders Youth Music Initiative & Creative Learning Network)
Children and Young People’s Services
Scottish Borders Council
Newtown St Boswells
TD6 0SA
t: 01835 826597
Our Ambitions for the Projects
Creativity
We want fun, engaging and creative output to be produced through the activities, such as a new piece of music or video installation.
We also want to help the young people to explore their creative thinking, start the growth of transferable meta skills and develop an improved sense of wellbeing through creative activity.
Hunger for more
We want engaging activities and co-production between the artists, youth leaders and the young people, that will embolden all of those involved to continue developing their own creative expression beyond the life of each project.
We want to see successful projects that lead to an increased enthusiasm for arts-based learning and cultural opportunities by the young people and partners, inviting us to offer further programmes in the future.
Practitioner Support
We want our the artists and educators to develop their own teaching and creativity skills, improving their own practice, encouraging new professional opportunities through the project.
We aim to support the development of networks across traditional boundaries that will help to build new pathways for creative growth in the Borders.
Longevity
We want projects that deliver lasting memories for the young people, that will hold a deeper sense of achievement, which they can draw upon to advance their resilience and foster an increased level of creative expectation from themselves.
By encouraging meaningful collaboration between the art practitioners and the supporting adults in each setting, we want the projects to reinforce the shared messages and complimentary opportunities that these young people will encounter across their support and learning networks.
