Grants database

The Forge is an arts organisation specialising in participatory arts projects with children. They work closely with disadvantaged schools co-creating arts-based programmes to improve children’s outcomes. This grant will support the Forge to partner two Special Educational Needs Schools, Ashdale and Blythdale in Northumberland, to co-construct ​‘Talking Cameras’ with pupils who experience a range of significant speech, language and communication and learning challenges and/​or behavioural needs. The Forge is examining how photography and visual literacy methods can be used across the whole curriculum to support children’s personal, social and academic development in SEND settings

River of Hope explores river and water topics, using creative media, visual arts, music and poetry to challenge and provoke classroom discussion, in particular relating to environmental sustainability and climate change themes. The programme will reach Year 4 classes in 40 schools around England.

Settle Stories collaborate with communities and artists to create transformative experiences that ignite curiosity and reimagine storytelling. This grant will fund work with teachers and pupils in North Yorkshire to co-create new resources supporting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing through storytelling and mindfulness approaches. They will test the effectiveness of resources in live, hybrid and digital only delivery formats.

Freedom Foundation is an arts organisation who work with children to improve mental health, increase skills, resilience and self-esteem. This grant will support a two-year programme of work in two secondary schools in Nottingham to test the impact of a long-term arts-based approach on the learning, mental health and wellbeing of children who are most at risk of suspension or exclusion.

21Common is a dance collective producing performance and community collaborations nationally and internationally. This grant will enable them to work collaboratively with children and teaching staff in four Glasgow schools, enabling pupils to engage in performance arts and develop social and personal skills and a sense of agency over their own learning.

ZoieLogic Dance Theatre is a professional dance theatre company in Southampton; making and touring dance theatre work alongside youth and community projects. They challenge the perceptions of dance, who it’s for, and where and how it is shown. This grant will support ​‘We Are Holyrood’, an accessible creative dance programme delivered in the heart of the Holyrood Estate, Southampton, placing the needs of the community centre stage to raise aspirations and build community cohesion.

The One-Handed Musical Instrument (OHMI) Trust does pioneering work with and for people with congenital and acquired upper limb impairment. They aim to remove the physical barriers to learning and playing an instrument faced by children, young people and adults who do not have the full use and control of two upper limbs. This grant will enable OHMI to support Music Hubs in delivering full equitable access to early music making for physically disabled children and young people. They will do this through needs assessment, providing instruments and additional support to young learner musicians, providing training to music teachers and inclusion managers in Music Hubs. They will also deliver ongoing sector support and development through original research, refining and disseminating best practice; and partnership with others.

The Art House is home to over 50 artists, makers and creative businesses, and exists to champion equality of access and higher diversity in contemporary visual arts practice. Artists and audiences are invited to engage with the creative process through a rich programme of residencies, exhibitions, events, workshops and professional development opportunities. This grant will fund the consolidation of work supporting refugees and asylum seekers as artists and as participants through a Studio of Sanctuary (SoS) programme, offering bespoke support to people staying in the local Initial Accommodation Centre for people seeking asylum.

Albany Theatre is an arts centre and cultural hub in South East London. This grant will help The Albany to create a long-term shift in its operations, to centre co-design, co-creation and community participation across the organisation, with multiple points of entry for communities and artists to help lead this change, including Associate Artists and Young Creatives.

Strike A Light work with and for communities in Gloucester to create events, tell people’s stories through performance and provide participation opportunities for young people. This grant provides core funding to support creative opportunities for young people in Gloucester through Community Producers, youth theatre/​dance classes and annual training programme for new and emerging practitioners with a focus on Global Majority and diverse leaders in the city.

Stand and Be Counted Theatre (SBC Theatre) make live and digital theatre with a proud record for platforming new artists and welcoming new audiences. Their work is innovative, adventurous and political, merging lived experience with new ideas. This grant will fund core support to enable SBC Theatre to extend arts access for people seeking sanctuary (refugees, asylum seekers and new migrants) through developing and delivering long-term programmes of creative activity, leadership and performance.

People United is a socially engaged participatory arts charity based in East Kent. This grant will support Futures of Care 2 which evolves People United’s care-centred practice, building on partnerships and pilot projects developed over the last three years, including co-commissioning and a collaboration with Kent Refugee Action Network.