Grants database

Travelling Light Theatre will work with five Bristol schools to support teachers to explore how drama-based learning can develop oracy and emotional literacy, supporting wellbeing and addressing inequality of opportunity which affects educational outcomes. Together they will develop a progressive skills-based curriculum offer, expanding teachers’ practice and embedding drama into the wider curriculum.

Theatre Royal Norwich will partner with eight schools in the Wensum Trust to deliver Wild about Words. This programme will empower teachers and senior leaders working with artists to harness the power of story-sharing and reduce barriers to learning for pupils experiencing disadvantage. Wild About Words aims to establish a ​‘Story-sharing School’ model utilising drama-led practices which allow pupils to develop literacy skills and their executive functioning skills.

Through this project, digital artists and teachers and school leaders from six primary schools will work with the University of Sheffield’s MakerFutures and the National Videogame Museum on a programme of continued professional development and learning to increase teachers’ skills, knowledge, experience and confidence in using arts-based practices to teach digital literacies and ​‘Worldbuilding’.

Newlyn Art Gallery will partner with nine primary schools, led by Newlyn School, in rural West Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, to create an in-school gallery at each location. Artworks will be borrowed from the Arts Council Collection and Cornwall Council Schools Art Collection, and inspire a programme of live and digital continuing professional development and learning for teachers and senior staff led by artist-educators. Teachers’ learning will focus on practical sessions, exploring drawing, printmaking and 3D construction, along with thinking and talking about art, enabling them to harness the full potential of art across their curriculum.

Rehearsal for Life is a partnership between Mitcham Town Community Trust, seven Mitcham primary schools and Wimbledon Civic Theatre. This programme will act as a catalyst for change in approaches to teaching English language and literature at Key Stage 2 across the participating schools. Using applied drama and music practice, the project aims to improve learning outcomes, working with teachers to develop and embed innovative practice and creative approaches to learning across the curriculum.

Leeds Beckett University and Bowling Park Primary will work together with eight primary schools in Bradford to develop Empowering Voice. This programme aims to bring the curriculum to life through drama and storytelling with an explicit focus on children’s oracy – the ability to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken and non-verbal language. Working with diverse artists, teachers and children across inner city schools, the project will create imaginative and culturally relevant curriculum opportunities through drama.

Exploring The Story Of ME aims to build teachers’ skills in literacy development and language acquisition through representative and diverse models of storytelling and theatre making to overcome language-related barriers to learning. The project is a partnership between Beam County Primary, Inspiring Futures, the local authority education team, Ministry of Stories, Mercury Theatre and six additional local primary schools.

Bush Hill Park Primary, in partnership with Enfield Town Schools’ Partnership and nine local primary schools, will collaborate with Bow Arts to explore the types of learning that help teachers and school leaders develop and grow, using a blended approach to arts-based continuing professional development and learning. The project will combine art with other subject areas to develop pupils’ breadth and depth of vocabulary. Making a Mark aims to develop a sustainable programme of creativity by cascading learning across partner schools and developing art leaders.

Shift are a design charity with ten years of experience working in behaviour change and social innovation. They take a collective approach to tackling social problems and use design thinking to help organisations maximise their impact. Understanding the 10million is a research project through which Shift will find out more about the motivations, needs, obstacles and personas in communities who want to sustain volunteering and care giving taken up in lockdown. Through this research, they will develop a set of adaptable pathways for progression.

Liberty is the UK’s leading domestic human rights campaigning organisation. This grant will support Liberty in commissioning Britain Thinks to undertake thorough message-testing on public perceptions of judicial review. The findings will be shared across their network and inform a collaborative public campaign to build support for judicial review.

Black South West Network (BSWN) works to build independent Black, Asian and minoritized communities, businesses and organisations that are empowered to flourish while challenging systemic barriers and addressing racial inequality. BSWN work strategically as the newly appointed Secretariat to Bristol’s Mayoral Commission of Race Equality (CoRE). This project combines BSWN’s social capital, research input from University of Bristol, and policy co-ordination from the Mayor’s Office to test and learn from a One City approach to tackling systemic racism.

YouthAction Northern Ireland is a leading voice and representation organisation for young people in Northern Ireland. They run national programmes and a network of 150+ youth sector and community members, and provide training, infrastructure support and strategic leadership in areas such as collaboration, research and lobbying. This grant provides support to aid the organisation in dealing with the challenges posed by Covid-19.