Ikigai Journal #005
15th July 2020
I hope this newsletter finds you healthy and coping with the diverse challenges we are all facing. I also hope that despite the strain and struggle, this global pause has provided you with moments of reflection and opportunity to develop genuine intentions for positive social change.
Here at Ikigai Journal, our team is working through a shifting terrain of funding opportunities, initiatives and awards to find you the information you need to move things forward. This week marks our 5th issue and we have searched further afield to explore opportunities from the USA that you are eligible for in the UK. Don't be disheartened by a dollar sign - you and your ideas may still fit the criteria.
Try and make use of the opportunities below or in the very least, use the time you save reading these summaries to do something that brings you joy and a deeper sense of purpose.
Solomon.O - Editor
John Brabourne Awards by The Film & TV Charity
Deadline – 31st of July
Funding range – £5,000
Notable Awardees -
Alex Browning - Writer/Director
Alex is the versatile filmmaker behind DAYLIGHT RULE, a BFI-developed Sci-Fi film shooting in 2020. Previous to this, Alex directed a number of shorts including AFTER DARK INFERNO for Channel 4.
Isaac Tomiczek- Writer/Director
Isaac is a writer and director from Brixton, South London. He began his career making videos for clients including Sony, Universal, Ministry Of Sound, and Beats By Dre, which earned him a large YouTube following and established his distinctive visual style.
The Film and TV Charity’s only talent award, the John Brabourne Award, has supported up and coming talent since 2007. We’re proud to now have over 100 alumni. The award provides financial assistance of up to £5,000 to people in the UK film and TV industry who have already demonstrated talent, but face barriers to taking their next steps. You may be facing financial or health barriers or a change in personal circumstances.
Deadline – Rolling Basis
Funding range – Not Specified
Film Festival Funds by Screen Scotland
Deadline – Rolling Basis
Funding range – Not specified
The Film Festivals Fund aims to increase the range and diversity of films available to audiences in Scotland. Projects supported through this fund should help to promote cinemagoing and cinemas in Scotland and to raise the profile of Film.
New Creatives Midland Fund by Rural Media
Deadline – 31 July 2020
Funding range – £3,000 – £5,000
Notable Awardees -
Luke Collins - Writer/Director
Luke Collins is a writer and director from Birmingham. Swiped which appears on BBC New Creatives is a short comedy about online dating.
Thomas Longstaff - Writer/Director
A Siren’s Song, a dark comedy about a young tired man trying to get up for work, told in the style of a Gothic poem, written and directed by Thomas Longstaff and appearing on BBC New Creatives.
Rural Media are looking for emerging talent between the ages of 16-30 with strong creative ideas and drive, to develop an original concept into a professional short-film, interactive media work or audio piece. We'll provide training to give you the skills needed to bring your idea to life and get it seen by audiences.
It’s worth noting, with the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the media industry has been widely affected. With this in mind, they are particularly interested in content that can be made at home, but as a minimum can be produced within safe social distancing and Covid19 Health and Safety measures.
Senior Awards 2020 by Hattori Foundation
Deadline – 24 July 2020
Funding range – Up to £6,000
Notable Awardees -
Oliver Wass - Harp (2017 Winner)
The harp takes centre stage in English composer William Alwyn's magical concerto, Lyra Angelica (Angels' Songs), performed by award-winning harpist Oliver Wass. Oliver Wass studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Imogen Barford.
Rose Hsein- Violin (2015 Winner)
Taiwanese violinist Rose Hsien, currently based in London, is building a strong international reputation as soloist, recitalist and chamber musician through distinctive and unusually mature performances across Europe, Asia and the United States.
The Hattori Foundation for Music and the Arts is a UK registered charitable trust offering awards to exceptionally talented young instrumental soloists or chamber ensembles whose talent and achievements give promise of an international career. Seniors (21-27 years old) are awarded on an annual basis.
Each year as part of the Senior Awards auditions process the Trustees of the Hattori Foundation consider whether from the applicants there is a performer ready to benefit from the challenge and professional exposure of a performance with a leading orchestra and if so they seek to create an opportunity for that performance to happen.
MU Coronavirus Hardship Fund by The MU
Deadline – N/A
Funding range – £200
The fund is open to any current MU member who is a full rate member, is a UK resident and is suffering genuine hardship from loss of work due to coronavirus.
You will only be able to apply to this hardship fund once.
Applicants will be notified within 3 working days to confirm whether they have been successful or not with funds being released to successful applicants within a further 5 working days.
Emergency Composers’ Fund by ORA Singers
Deadline – N/A
Funding range – £1,500 commission to write a new choral work
Notable Awardees –
Kemal Yusuf
Kemal has been commissioned, as part of ORA Singer’s Emergency Composers’ Fund, to write A reflection on Cildo Meireles’ Babel 2001.
Dani Howard
Dani has been commissioned, as part of ORA Singer’s Emergency Composers’ Fund, to write A reflection on Haegue Yang's Sol LeWitt Upside Down - Structure with Three Towers, Expanded 23 Times, Split in Three.
In response to the Covid-19 crisis, ORA Singers is launching a £12,000Emergency Composers’ Fund to provide work and income for composers during the COVID-19 outbreak, as part of a cross-genre collaboration with Tate Modern.
This Emergency Fund is open to any composer who is resident in the UK
Sustaining Creativity Fund by PRS Foundation
Deadline – 10 August 2020
Funding range – £750
PRS Foundation launched the Sustaining Creativity Fund to support artists, songwriters and composers to create and develop when they need it most. They have adapted Round 3 to provide targeted support for Black music creators who are affected by COVID-19 pandemic.
The Global Resilience Fund for Girls and Young Women
Deadline – N/A
Funding range –Up to $5,000 (Grants are fully flexible)
Resourcing girls’ and young women’s activism through the COVID-19 crisis. The Fund is prioritizing applications from girls and young women with disabilities, girls and young women of colour, LGBTQIA2S youth, afro-descendant, indigenous and immigrant girls and young women, as well as those living in urban slum areas, rural areas, refugee camps, occupied territories and in conflict affected settings.
Registered and unregistered community organisations led by girls, young women and/or trans and intersex youth with incomes of below $50,000 per year may apply.
Improving Lives - The Henry Smith Charity
Deadline – N/A
Funding range – Up to £20,000 per year for a maximum of three years
The Improving Lives grant programme provides grants to charitable organisations including social enterprises that help people when other sources of support have failed, are inappropriate, or are simply not available.
The Henry Smith Charity supports established organisations (with incomes of between £50,000 – £2 million) delivering services directly to beneficiaries. They are looking for services which can demonstrate a track record of success, and evidence the effectiveness of the work.
Charity Survival Fund by The Julia & Hans Rausing Trust
Deadline – 27 July 2020
Funding range – Minimum £5,000 - Maximum £250,000
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust’s Charity Survival Fund provides emergency core funding to help charities, especially small and medium-sized, to offset lost income in the current financial year due to Covid-19. To be eligible you must not have already received Covid-19 related funding from the Trust.
Arts and Mental Health by The Baring Foundation
Deadline – 18 August 2020
Funding range – £12,000 to £15,000 depending on demand
The Baring Foundation has opened its first funding round to support arts and mental health organisations. This fund is designed to support established organisations in the UK that focus solely on offering creative opportunities to people of any age living with mental health problems using the skills of professionally trained artists.
If you have any queries about this funding opportunity, particularly regarding eligibility, please get in touch with the Director on david.cutler@ing.com.
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant by Pollock-Krasner Foundation
Deadline – Ongoing
Funding range – Not stated
Pollock-Krasner grants have enabled artists to create new work, purchase needed materials and pay for studio rent, as well as their personal expenses. Past recipients of Pollock-Krasner grants acknowledge their critical impact in allowing concentrated time for studio work, and in preparing for exhibitions and other professional opportunities such as accepting a residency.
Artists can apply to The Pollock-Krasner Foundation by submitting an online application.
The Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant by Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation
Deadline – No deadline
Funding range – The maximum amount of this grant is $15,000; an award of $5,000 is typical.
Notable awardees by the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation –
Sarah Amos (2020 Grant Recipient): Sarah Amos, originally from Australia, lives in Vermont and maintains an active International and National exhibition schedule.
Greg Bray (2020 Grant Recipient): Greg Bray manipulates collage elements with painting, through which to explore the complexities of structure and memory. His awards include; Standard Oil Collection - Chicago, IL; Pollock-Krasner Grant - New York; NY, and Artist Fellowship Grant - New York, NY
The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Emergency Grant program is intended to provide interim financial assistance to qualified painters, printmakers, and sculptors whose needs are the result of an unforeseen, catastrophic incident, and who lack the resources to meet that situation. Each grant is given as one-time assistance for a specific emergency, examples of which are fire, flood, or emergency medical need.
To be eligible for this program, an artist must be able to demonstrate a minimum involvement of ten years in a mature phase of his or her work. Artists must work in the disciplines of painting, sculpture or printmaking.
Emerging and Young Artists Grant by The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation
Deadline – Rolling basis
Funding range – Up to $15,000
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant is one of the most prestigious grants available to emerging figurative artists, as well as one of the most substantial. It is one of the longest-standing foundations, with an illustrious history of recipients spanning more than half a century. It is also unique in its scope, in that it is available to students and artists around the world.
Backstage Trust
Deadline – Rolling Basis
Funding range – N/A
Notable awardees –
Wave and Weeping Window.
Wave and Weeping Window are from the installation ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’ – poppies and original concept by artist Paul Cummins and installation designed by Tom Piper
The Backstage Trust’s main focus is to support projects in the performing arts, mainly theatre, however, the Trust is open to hearing from arts organisations with projects in which the arts touch society in other ways.
Deadline – Rolling basis
Funding range – £500 – £5,000
Old Possum’s Practical Trust makes grants to projects which fall within artistic, aesthetic, literary, musical and theatrical criteria. All applications must demonstrate a high level of sustainability and contextual impact. Priority will be given to those which have an impact on future literary work and display enterprise in their artistic endeavour.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
Deadline – Rolling basis
Funding range – No maximum amount
The objects of the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation are to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit. As well as providing Musical Theatre scholarships and supporting projects through The Architectural Heritage Fund, the Trustees welcome applications to support projects in the areas of culture, heritage and the arts.
Connections Through Culture by The British Council
Deadline – 2 August 2020
Funding range – £2,500 (or equivalent monetary value in Taiwan Dollars) per project.
This programme aims to develop exciting cultural collaborations between artists and arts organisations, also to support long-lasting relationships between Taiwan and the UK. Celebrating the diverse cultural scenes in Taiwan and the UK, the programme offers support, information, advice, networking opportunities and development grants to artists and arts organisations.
I remain humbled and grateful to be part of a community of creators actively developing their boldest visions, willing to solve real-world problems and deliver urgent works of creativity. If you ever want to talk through your project or need any further assistance don't hesitate to get in touch.
- Solomon O