From June 17 applications have gone live for Birmingham 2022 Creative City Grants – an extraordinary opportunity for community groups in Birmingham to apply for a grant of up to £20,000 to deliver creative projects that impact positively on their community.
Thanks to funding from Birmingham City Council, the projects will be a part of the upcoming the six-month festival of culture accompanying the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Up to 150 individual community groups will benefit from grants, with the goal to ensure that every ward in the city benefits from the £2m fund. To submit an application, or to find out more about Creative City Grants, visit: birmingham2022.com/culture/creativecitygrants.
A full breadth of community groups based in Birmingham are encouraged to apply, from local sporting teams and youth groups through to disability groups and LGBTQI+ networks who want to create arts as part of the six-month festival of culture accompanying the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Those who have never applied for grants of this kind before are welcomed and the Birmingham 2022 Culture Programme are ready to provide support and advice.
Encouraging artists and communities to work in partnership, the programme aims to be fully representative of the people of Birmingham with a panel of community leaders involved in the selection process. Thanks to generous investment from Birmingham City Council, the grants will provide an opportunity for Birmingham residents to come together to co-create artworks, creative works and performances to occupy the high streets, neighbourhoods, parks, waterways, venues and civic spaces of the city.
Lydia Harrington, Grants Programme Manager (Cultural Programme), said: “We want to build a programme of creative projects that showcase the people that make Birmingham so special. We’re a diverse and young city so we want to see that in the people who lead and participate in the projects. Successful applicants will also be offered training to increase their confidence in applying for further sources of funding in the future.”
Councillor Jayne Francis, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Culture at Birmingham City Council, said: “We always said the Games are more than 11 days of fantastic sporting competition. These grants will enable groups and organisations with their roots in Birmingham to showcase the very best of the city’s creativity to an international audience, and prove what we have always known – Birmingham is a great place in which to live, work or visit.”
Martin Green CBE, Chief Creative Officer of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games said: “Birmingham City Council’s significant commitment to the Games culture programme will see the work of residents and organisations from across the city standing proudly and equally next to that of major cultural and artistic institutions from across the region.”
To submit an application or to find out more about Creative City Grants visit birmingham2022.com/culture/creativecitygrants. Applications close at noon on Thursday 1 July 2021.
