Deadline: 15-Feb-23
The Cheshire Community Foundation is accepting applications for its High Sheriff’s Fund 2023 to support local creative arts and cultural charities, voluntary organisations and community groups in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington.
Aims
- Increase opportunities for people to engage with culture, arts and creative activities;
- Support culture, arts and creative activities to bring communities together and increase a sense of belonging;
- Help individuals connect with help, advice and information through cultural, arts and creative activities acting as a conduit to wider support;
- Help people to make new friends and connections, to better cope with the stresses of life and to be more active through creative events or activities;
- Create inclusive opportunities for communities to celebrate shared interests or work to reduce disadvantage through creative, arts and cultural activities.
Thematic Priorities
- To improve mental health and wellbeing;
- To tackle poverty and disadvantage;
- To develop education, skills and employment opportunities;
- To build stronger communities across Cheshire and Warrington.
What can the High Sherriff’s Fund support?
- One-off grants of up to £2,500 to new or extended activities, or activities which are not currently receiving other financial support. In the case of larger, already-established events, the fund can support activities which are new elements of the event, but you must be able to specify exactly what your High Sherriff’s Fund grant will be used for;
- Activities which are accessible to all, including but not restricted to people with disabilities, carers, people in care or receiving accommodation from a local authority, people in contact with the criminal justice system, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people who may experience chaotic lifestyles and people with mental health issues;
- Activities in a range of contexts and settings, which can demonstrate how they will engage people to continue taking part beyond the life of the grant;
- Activities which have been planned and designed with input from those who will take part;
- Examples might include: art classes on a village green; fetes and community art exhibitions; performances held in a shared public space enabling participation in performance/music/dance; festivals which promote creativity, i.e. music, arts & crafts, literature, design, visual arts; tie-ins with creative themed days such as World Book Day fiction and poetry readings; projects offering open access to cultural events; projects using digital technologies, content and platforms to open the arts to wider or more diverse audiences; projects using the arts to address some form of disadvantage or effect social change.
Eligibility Criteria
- This fund is open to registered charities, constituted community groups and other charitable organisations including Social Enterprises and CICs delivering projects in Cheshire West and Chester, Cheshire East, Halton and Warrington;
- The fund is for micro and small charities (as defined here) – i.e. charities with annual incomes up to £100,000;
- Your organisation will need to have been running activities for a minimum of 12 months to apply;
- You can work in partnership with another organisation to deliver your activity, but there must be one lead applicant and all partners involved must be eligible for this funding.
For more information, visit Cheshire Community Foundation.