Ikigai Journal #032
What would you create with limitless resources?
”If we wait to know who we are before we start "being creative," we end up sitting around trying to figure ourselves out instead of making things. In my experience, it's in the act of making things and doing our work that we figure out who we are”
This week the borrowed quote above comes from prolific author Austin Kleon and has inspired me into action. It might seem like an overly utopian vision but I feel that creating Art, Music, Film, Performance or Social Impact projects should be for everyone that feels spurred into action - not just those with limitless resources.
Unfortunately, the scale of our vision is often subject to the limitation of our resources but that doesn’t mean we can’t get started using what we have. It’s often once we make the smaller version of our ideas that we find the collaborators who we will work with on the larger scale projects that we seek funding for.
I hope this weeks selection of opportunities reignite your passion projects.
Our featured creator this week is poignant artist Chukes - in his words he describes his art as a “way of giving gratitude to all women because without you, there is no us”.
Until next week comrades!
Grants to Help New, Innovative Visual Arts Projects
Visual Arts | Up to £5,000 | 11th April 2021
The Elephant Trust has announced that the next deadline for applications is the 11th April 2021. The Trust offers grants to artists and for new, innovative visual arts projects. It aims to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when confronted by lack of funds. Read more and apply here.
Deutsche Bank Awards for Creative Enterprise
Visual Arts | Between £2,000 & £20,000 | 31st March 2021
Deutsche Bank has announced that its Awards for Creative Enterprise (DBACE) is open for applications. The Awards will provide a cash prize fund of £60,000 and business support for a year to aspiring individuals who want to go into business in the creative industries. Read more and apply here.
Apply for the Nurturing Talent - Time to Shine Fund
Visual Arts | Between £50 & £1,000 | 14th March 2021
Young people living in Scotland who are aged between 11 and 25 and aspiring to careers in the creative industries can now apply for funding of between £50 and £1000 to develop their creative passions and talents. Applications are welcome from both individuals and groups. Read more and apply here.
Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers
Visual Arts | Between £50 & £1,000 | 14th March 2021
Young people living in Scotland who are aged between 11 and 25 and aspiring to careers in the creative industries can now apply for funding of between £50 and £1000 to develop their creative passions and talents. Applications are welcome from both individuals and groups. Read more and apply here.
The Arts Council National Lottery Project
Visual Arts | Between £1,000 & £100,000 | 31st March 2021
The fund is open to individuals, arts organisations, museums and libraries. Grants of between £1,000 and £100,000 will be available from the £59.8 million rolling funding programme until April 2021 to support those in the cultural sector and for work that has longer term positive impact such as Research and Development. Read more and apply here.
Funding to Help Musicians Build their Careers
Music | Between £500 & £3,000 | 15th March 2021
Funding is available to help independent, entrepreneurial music creators of all genres and disciplines build their career. The Help Musicians’ Do It Differently Fund offers a bespoke package of funding and expert advice, including wellbeing and development services, to empower musicians across the UK who are at a crucial point in their career. Read more and apply here.
Help Musicians' Postgraduate Awards
Music | Between £1,000 & £5,000 | 1st March 2021
Help Musicians' postgraduate awards offer support to students who wish to complete their studies at the leading UK conservatoires and performing arts colleges. The charity has been making educational awards of between £1,000 and £5,000 to conservatoire students since 1921. Read more and apply here.
Ian Fleming Musical Theatre Awards
Music | Unspecified | 1st March 2021
Help Musicians launched the Ian Fleming Musical Theatre Awards to help musical theatre students with the costs of final year undergraduate or postgraduate study. This year our Musical Theatre Awards are open to students who are either wishing to complete their final year of undergraduate study or undertake a postgraduate degree in September 2021. Read more and apply here.
The Agar Trust Grants
Music | £100 to £500 | 31st March 2021
The aim of the Agar Trust is to address the challenges faced by young people (8-21) resident in rural Scotland, who demonstrate exceptional musical ability or potential, and wish to further their musical education beyond their local area. Read more and apply here.
Hattori Foundation Junior Awards
Music | Up To £1,000 | No deadline
The Trustees of the Hattori Foundation invite instrumental soloists between the ages of 15 and 20 who are resident in the UK and have demonstrated both exceptional talent and achievement to apply at any time of the year for financial assistance in relation to their musical development. Read more and apply here.
Broadcast Content Fund
Film | Between £10,000 & £100,000 | No deadline
The Broadcast Content Fund aims to help the sustainable growth of Scotland’s broadcast production sector, encouraging the development of new projects, the scaling up of already successful activities and the production of commissioned programmes. Read more and apply here.
Professional Development Fund
Film | Between £250 & £5,000 | No deadline
The development of Scotland’s screen workforce is essential to meet the industry’s growth, and to increase its diversity. This fund aims to contribute to this by providing support for individuals working in film and television to access training, mentoring and other professional development activity, nationally and internationally. Read more and apply here.
Horizons: Career Development
Film | Up To £6,000 | No deadline
Under our BFI NETWORK Wales offer, we support talented emerging filmmakers in Wales with clear personal development plans that will help them to get to the next stage in their career. Read more and apply here.
Established Filmmaker Feature Film Development
Film | Up To £25,000 | 1st March 2021
Ffilm Cymru develops world-class live-action, documentary and animated feature films that tell universal stories from unique perspectives. We can guide you through the development process with tailored funding and expert advice. Read more and apply here.
The Edinburgh Pitch
Film | Not Specified | 5th April 2021
The Edinburgh Pitch is the only international documentary pitching forum in Scotland. It’s aimed at independent filmmakers and companies developing and raising finance for creative feature documentaries and considering international co-productions. Read more and apply here.
Equity Charitable Trust
Performing Arts | Between £350 & £500 | No Deadline
These emergency funds are available to all freelance professional performers and those who work in the theatre profession on a freelance basis. This includes: actors, choreographers, dancers, theatre directors, models, singers, stage management, stand ups, storytellers, stunt performers and co-ordinators, theatre designers, theatre fight directors, TV and radio presenters, variety, circus, cabaret and light entertainment artists, voice artists, walk-on and supporting artists. Read more and apply here.
Dance Professionals Fund
Performing Arts | Up To £2,000 | No Deadline
These funds are to support dancers, in the arts and cultural sector, who have suffered from the effects of the COVID-19 virus. The aim of this support is to enable dancers, facing financial challenges due to loss of work, to sustain themselves. Grants are awarded in line with what other support is available, including the many measures the government has taken so far, such as state benefits and other schemes for the self-employed. Read more and apply here.
Actors Benevolent Fund
Performing Arts | Not Specified | No Deadline
This grant programme is open to applications from professional actors, actresses and stage managers experiencing financial hardship owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Read more and apply here.
Dance Professionals Fund
Performing Arts | Not Specified | No Deadline
We provide financial support for ballet dancers, contemporary dancers and also choreographers and choreologists who are working in the same field. In particular, we help members of the Royal Ballet Companies and other established dance companies. Teachers and former teachers of dancing, in particular members and former members of recognised dance examining bodies can also apply. Read more and apply here.
Funding to Build Resilience in Rural Communities
Social Impact | £10,000 | 19th March 2021
Supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust, the Prince’s Countryside Fund will provide one year of grant funding to locally-focussed, legally-constituted not-for-profit organisations for innovative projects that build resilience through community-led solutions in villages and hamlets with populations of less than 3,000 residents. Read more and apply here.
Active Communities Programme Now Open
Social Impact | £5,000 to £20,000 | 17th March 2021
The Health Lottery has announced that it is seeking applications for funding through the Active Communities Programme in specific areas of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk that are most affected by health inequalities. Health Lottery East is part of the People's Health Trust’s Active Communities programme which provides grant funding of between £5,000 and £20,000 per year (for up to two years) for projects designed and led by local people which target areas most affected by health inequalities. Read more and apply here.
Enovert Community Trust
Social Impact | Up to £50,000 | 2nd April 2021
The Enovert Community Trust has announced that the next closing date for funding applications is the 2nd April 2021. The Trust is committed to supporting community and environmental projects, such as improving community halls, creating new children’s play areas, restoring green spaces and habitats, and enhancing community sports and recreation facilities. Read more and apply here.
NFU Mutual Community Giving Fund
Social Impact | Up to £1,000 | 31st March 2021
Charities, schools, and community groups can apply for grants of up to £1,000 through the NFU Mutual Community Giving Fund. The fund is available in areas that are local to NFU operations in the UK. In 2020, the Fund helped 49 community groups and charities across the UK, providing support for front-line charities dealing with the impact of Covid-19. Read more and apply here.
Innovative Ideas to Help Local Areas Recover from the Effects of the Covid-19 Crisis
Social Impact | Up to £15,000 | 21st March 2021
Residents, community organisations and businesses with innovative ideas to help local areas recover from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic are being offered the chance to win support worth up to £15,000. Read more and apply here.