Essex County Council Cultural Development Funding File

Essex County Council CulturalDevelopment Funding File

Local Schemes

Essex County Council – Culture in Essex Small Grants
The Culture in Essex Grants Scheme awards funds of up to £2500 for cultural project within the political boundaries of Essex (excludes Southend and Thurrock). Statutory organisations (schools / local authorities) are not able to apply to the scheme.

Essex County Council - Cultural Strategic Fund

The Cultural Development Strategic Fund offers grants of £2,500 and above to support the cultural infrastructure of Essex. The scheme is open to cultural organisations of all types based in, or working in, the administrative boundaries of Essex County Council to undertake outcome-focused commissions meeting Essex County Council priorities.

Cultural Development Mailing List

Regular funding, commission and employment opportunities are circulated via the Essex Cultural Development Mailing List. To add your contact details to the mailing list please contact the arts department on 08457 430 430 or email

Local Authorities in Essex
Contact your local Cultural Development Officer in your District or Borough Council and ask about local funding opportunities. Some councils have an officer responsible for economic or community regeneration, talk to them as this is another relevant avenue to pursue. Even if there is no money available, Local Authorities may be able to provide vital in-kind support to voluntary organisations.

For a contact list of local authority cultural officers email:

Royal Opera House Bridge

Royal Opera House is one of ten national ‘Bridges’ that work across England to connect children and young people with great art and culture. Working directly with professionals in the Arts, Culture and Education sector we help support and strengthen networks and opportunities, through investment and advocacy.

Funded by the Arts Council England, ROH Bridge is based in Purfleet, Essex and works across Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and North Kent. Over the next three years we will be making investments into local and regional work that supports children and young people’s creative learning.

Community Initiatives Fund Page Content

The Community Initiatives Fund (CIF) is a small grants scheme funded by Essex County Council (excluding Southend and Thurrock) which is designed to fund community projects that:

  • Create, procure or develop new community assets
  • Enhance existing community assets
  • Enhance or develop initiatives that strengthen a community

The fund has been designed to be as flexible and responsive as possible to the needs of the community.

There are two parts to the fund:

  • CIF (subject to a maximum application of £20,000 for any one project)
  • CIF Response (subject to a maximum application of £15,000 for any one project).

Full details of the fund, including the qualifying criteria and eligibility can be found in theguidance notes, which you should read before submitting your application.

How to apply

To apply, complete the expression of interest form, including the pre-application checklist, andemail them .

For further information, please call 01245 437887 or email

Essex Community Foundation

We are an independent charitable trust improving the quality of life of people in our community by investing and distributing funds on behalf of a wide range of donors. Since 1996 our donors have invested over £20 million of charitable funding directly into Essex, Southend and Thurrock making it a great place to live, work, learn and grow.

As one of the UK’s leading community foundations we have the expertise and local knowledge to help our donors support the local causes and charities they care about and make an impact through their giving.

Here you will read about all aspects of our work; how we help families, individuals, companies and public agencies to channel their charitable giving locally and how we support voluntary and community organisations to secure the funding they need to carry out their vital work.

We are always happy to talk to you about what we do so please call us on 01245 355947 or contact us.

National schemes

Arts Council England – ‘Grants for the Arts’

Grants for the arts are for activities carried out over a set period and which engage people in England in arts activities, and help artists and arts organisations in England carry out their work and is funded by the National Lottery.

For more information tel: 0845 300 6200, textphone: 020 7973 6564, email:

Heritage Lottery Fund

The HLFuses money raised through the National Lottery,giving grants to sustain and transform our heritage. From museums, parks and historic places to archaeology, natural environment and cultural traditionsHLF invests in every part of our diverse heritage.

Big Lottery

Every year BIG gives out millions of pounds from the National Lottery to good causes. Our money goes to community groups and projects that improve health, education and the environment

Biffa Award

Biffa Award is a multi-million pound fund which awards grants to community and environmental projects across the UK. The fund's money comes from landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Group Limited. Biffa Award is managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT).
Biffa Award has been awarding grants since 1997. To date, we have awarded more than £145 million to thousands of worthy projects.

Comic Relief –UK Grants

Comic Relief are committed to funding work across the UK and are particularly keen to ensure we reach areas and groups of people who often miss out. As such, we accept applications from the voluntary and community sector throughout the UK including:

  • constituted voluntary and community groups
  • charities
  • social enterprises
  • co-operatives
  • faith organisations
  • community interest companies

Community Radio Fund
Grants can only be made to community radio licensees who are broadcasting under a community radio license (and not an RSL, for example).

The latest application form and guidance notes are available below. Please also see statements detailing the outcome of previous Panel meetings.

For further information, please contact Ofcom's Community Radio Team via email: or by telephone 020 7981 3870.

For more information and to download an application form and guidance notes visit the website:

Dance and Drama Awards

Dance and Drama Awards are available from some of England's leading private dance and drama schools. They can helpwith your course fees, whatever your financial circumstances. Youmay also get extra money to help with your living costs.

Awardsare dependent on you passing an audition to get into the school.

Into Film

After facilitating 32 filmmaking projects in the first round of our outreach programme, we're delighted to reopen applications to get even more of you into film.

This programme aims to engage young people aged 14-19, who are not in formal education, employment or training, in watching, making and understanding film. The programme gives young people the opportunity to build on soft skills such as confidence, team work and communication, as well as develop practical, transferrable skills through filmmaking.

The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA)
We support a small number of exceptional ideas that meet our aims as a charity, and if we can't help there are plenty who can.We have three different ways that we can support you - through grant funding, direct investment or challenge prizes.

Youth Music

We are the National Foundation for Youth Music. Every year, we provide more than 90,000 young people with the opportunity to make music, helping them to overcome the challenges they face in their lives. Our music projects support young people to develop their creative and social skills, make positive contributions to their community and improve their wellbeing.
Our on-going research allows us to identify the best ways to engage young people and drive fresh thinking in music education. We also provide a growing online community for thousands of music education professionals.

Essex trusts and charitable foundations

Awards for Young Musicians
AYM is a registered charity that helps exceptionally talented young musicians, between the ages of 5 and 18, by giving annual financial awards and advice. Award application forms are available from September each year. Applicants are required to have achieved distinction in their last music examination; be recommended by a music teacher and their parents must show evidence of financial need. An adjudication procedure takes place in the spring of each year and awards are made in May.

Awards are used to help with instrument purchase, music tuition, Saturday music school fees, or orchestra or special courses fees.

The Fowler Smith and Jones charitable trust
Grants to local voluntary and community groups who benefit the people of Essex, under the themes of young people, arts, health, community and churches.

The Mercers’ Charitable Foundation

The Mercers' Charitable Foundation provides grants for the arts (performing arts, fine art and design), heritage and the environment, social welfare and youth in deprived areas. Initial applications should be in the form of a letter (two sides of A4) giving details of the charity, its activities and the proposed project, with an indication of costs and a copy of the latest audited accounts.

The Jack Petchey Foundation

The Jack Petchey Foundation, established in 1999, gives grants to programmes and projects that benefit young people aged 11-25 years. The Foundation is eager to help young people take advantage of opportunities and to play a full part in society.

The Jack Petchey Foundation will consider sponsoring young people (usually 11-25 years old) living in areas of London andEssex who are undertaking projects, or participating in events, that will benefit other young people or specific charities.

Trusts and charitable foundations

Trusts, charities, foundations and private/business sponsorship are all sources of potential financial assistance. Research on the web or by subscription to one of the numerous funding directories and digests is one of the best ways of keeping up to date with opportunities.

The Association of Charitable Foundations provides an extensive range of links to related sites, including those of ACF’s members. They also provide a selection of advice leaflets for individuals seeking funding from UK trusts. Visit the website:

Santander Foundation – Community Plus

Community Plus grants of up to £5000 are available for small local charities or local projects of national charities, with funding available to cover salaries, equipment or materials. Grants must directly help disadvantaged people in your local area.

Baring Foundation
The Baring Foundation’s purpose is to “improve the quality of life of people suffering disadvantage and discrimination.” They aim to achieve this through making grants to strengthen voluntary sector organisations which serve them directly or indirectly.

The BRIT Trust The BRIT Trust was established in 1989 and is entirely funded by the music industry. Its mission is to give young people a chance to express their musical creativity regardless of race, class, sex or ability. Since its inception, over £8.8million has been donated by the BRIT Trust to various charities.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

We are an international charitable foundation with cultural, educational, social and scientific interests, based in Lisbon with offices in London and Paris. The purpose of the UK Branch in London is to bring about long-term improvements in well-being, particularly for the most vulnerable, by creating connections across boundaries (national borders, communities, disciplines and sectors) which deliver social, cultural and environmental value

The Carnegie UK Trust
The Carnegie UK Trust works to improve the lives of people throughout the UK and Ireland, by changing minds through influencing policy, and by changing lives through innovative practice and partnership work.

Charles Hayward Foundation Funding
The Charles Hayward Foundation is a grant-making charitable trust making awards to charities that are registered in the U.K

Clore Duffield Foundation
The Foundation is a grant-making charity which concentrates its support on cultural learning, creating learning spaces within arts and heritage organisations, leadership training for the cultural and social sectors, social care, and enhancing Jewish life.

Co-operative Community Fund
Community Fund grants, between £100 and £2,000 are awarded to community, voluntary, or self-help groups to run projects that meet the following criteria. To be successful, a group must:

  • Carry out positive work in the community

A project must:

  • Address a community issue
  • Provide a good long-term benefit to the community
  • Support co-operative values and principles
  • Ideally be innovative in its approach.

The Countess of Munster Musical Trust
The Trust's principal aim is to support young musicians, i.e. instrumentalists, singers, conductors and composers, of exceptional ability. Application forms may be obtained from the Secretary in January (December for overseas students) and the closing date is the end of the second full week in February.

The Fenton Arts Trust The Fenton Arts Trust aims to give encouragement and financial support to those actively contributing to the creative arts in the UK. It seeks to assist, through grants and bursaries, individuals and groups who are making a worthwhile contribution to the artistic and cultural life of this country. The Fenton Arts Trust grants are available to support individual works, activities, performances or prizes in the fields of drama, painting, sculpture, ballet, music and poetry.

The Foyle Foundation
The Foyle Foundation is an independent grantmaking trust that distributes grants to UK charities. The Foundation does not support applications from individuals.
Since it became operational in November 2001, The Foundation has disbursed £60M in grants (up to 31 December 2013).

The Garfield Weston Foundation
The Garfield Weston Foundation helps a wide range of UK organisations with grants of varying sizes. Their recent round of funding has helped projects in the following categories: Arts, Community, Education, Welfare, Medical, Social, Religion, Youth and Environment. Normally support cannot be considered for organisations or groups that are not UK registered charities. This restriction does not apply to churches, hospitals, educational establishments and housing corporations, which have exempt status.

In assessing applications, the following criteria are taken into consideration:

  • the financial viability of the organisation;
  • the degree of need for the project requiring funding;
  • the amount spent on administration and fundraising as compared to the charitable activities;
  • the ability to raise sufficient funding to meet the appeal target;
  • whether the aims of the organisation meet the trustees’ aspirations;
  • whether the organisation has the right priorities;
  • where possible, the ability of the organisation to achieve the goals.

The Grocers’ Charity The Grocers’ Charity supports a wide range of projects across the UK, with a recent focus being placed on work with young people and people with disabilities. The Charity is also interested in the arts, heritage, medicine (but not hospices), religious causes (but not for church fabric projects) and older people.

The Trustees meet four times a year to consider applications and applications must be submitted at least a couple of months ahead of each meeting. The Charity can support both capital and revenue projects and grants range from between: £1,000 and £5,000.

The Hattori Foundation
The aim of the Foundation in the field of music is to encourage and assist exceptionally talented young instrumental soloists or chamber ensembles who are British Nationals or resident in the UK and whose talent and achievements give promise of an international career.

Idlewild Trust The Idlewild Trust is a grant making trust that supports registered charities concerned with the encouragement of excellence in the performing and fine arts and the preservation for the benefit of the public of buildings and items of historical interest or national importance. Occasionally it also supports projects that conserve the natural environment. The total funding available each year is approximately £120,000 and registered charities can apply for grants ranging from £1,000 to £3,000.


Jerwood Foundation

The Jerwood Foundation is dedicated to imaginative and responsible funding and sponsorshp of the arts, education and other areas of human endeavour and excellence, particularly supporting artists and young professionals based in the UK. It has supported a range of activities across the visual and performing arts, as well as film, literature, conservation and some international work in Nepal.

There are a very large number of current capital appeals in the arts world. The Foundation can make an effective and tangible contribution by supporting projects which require funding over stated periods, usually between 2-5 years. The Foundation is inclined to support projects where there are existing relationships with the Foundation and the Charitable Foundation.

The LankellyChase Foundation
LankellyChase Foundation works to bring about change that will transform the quality of life of people who face severe and multiple disadvantage.

We focus on the persistent clustering of social harms such as homelessness, substance misuse, mental and physical illness, extreme poverty, and violence and abuse.

Lloyds TSB Foundation
The Lloyds TSB Foundations make up one of the largest grant-making trusts in the UK and support charities that enable people, especially those who are disadvantaged or disabled, to play a fuller role in the community. The Foundation's focus is on funding social and community projects as well as education and training initiatives.

The trustees are particularly keen to support small community-based charities where small amounts of funding can make a significant difference to local people's lives. They welcome applications from all sections of the community and especially from small under funded charities.