Creative, Confident Communities priorities

We want to support work where local people can exercise greater power over their economic, social, cultural and environmental futures.

We have three funding priorities:

• Communities working together for change
• Community driven enterprise and regeneration
• Community-led art and creativity

Applying for support in Creative, Confident Communities

We look for work that:

• Puts the place first: by this, we mean reflects the unique character and needs of the local area and its people.
• Is community-led and collaborative: by this, we mean local people are at the heart of the change and have decision-making power. For us, the process is just as important as the outcomes.
• Leaves a positive legacy: by this, we mean developing long-term community capacity and resilience.
• Prioritises equity: by this, we mean the principles of fairness and equity are embedded in the approach, and the work engages and represents the diverse communities in a place.
• Creates long-term, sustainable change: by this, we mean aims to disrupt and change what does not work and to push things forward in a new way.
• Has scope to spread: by this, we mean projects that can expand their influence beyond their initial impact and our funding.

If you decide to submit an expression of interest, we will ask you which priority your work is most aligned to. You’ll also have the option to choose up to two other priorities your work contributes to.

In each priority, we have identified a number of long-term outcomes. We want to know how your work contributes to these. Unless specified, applications do not need to meet more than one long-term outcome.

Our strategy is underpinned by our commitments to make progress towards diversity, equity and inclusion; and to address the causes and impacts of climate change.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In Creative, Confident Communities, we are interested in work that reflects and engages the diverse communities in a place as well as work that demonstrates how diversity, equity and inclusion runs through all you do and how you work.

Across all areas of our work, we commit to funding more organisations led by communities experiencing racial inequity.

Climate change

Across all of our strategy, we are keen to support work which is led by local communities to address the causes and impacts of climate change.

Response times to your expression of interest

Due to limited capacity in our Creative, Confident Communities team, it is likely to take us a little bit longer to get back to you. We have updated the guidance to reflect this, and our response times to Expressions of Interest for Creative, Confident Communities is six weeks.

1. Local people come together to determine equitable and aspirational visions of what they want their community to be.

We want to support work that:

• Provides the opportunity for communities to safely connect, convene and organise themselves to identify what their local priorities for change are.
• Provides space for local people to create and share positive and hopeful narratives about what their community is and what they want it to be.
• Is representative of the diversity of the communities in the local area.

Case studies:

• People's Voice Media

2. Communities and their local corporate, cultural, public, voluntary and community sectors, work better together to achieve collective change.

We want to support work that:

• Takes a partnership approach where the corporate, cultural, public, voluntary, and community sectors work together with local people to deliver collective change.
• Strengthens and sustains collective decision making between local people and local public agencies and civil society organisations.

Case studies:

• We're Right Here

3. Local people are able to exert more influence over the decisions that affect their lives and are the drivers of change.

We want to support work that:

• Aims to foster and build leadership skills, knowledge, and capacity within communities.
• Identifies and dismantles barriers that prevent marginalised local people from participating in community-led decision making.
• Explores alternative models of local governance and sharing power that leads to greater depth and breadth of involvement by local people in decision making.

Case studies:

• Community Organisers

1. An increase in community owned assets and community wealth-building models drives greater reinvestment in local economies, reducing economic inequality

We want to support work that:

• Demonstrates models of asset ownership or re-investment in local economies that respond to local context and are community-led. We are particularly interested in work that is safeguarding social infrastructure for communities.
• Builds the capacity of communities to manage or own assets themselves through training, advice, access to finance and/or by creating local support infrastructure organisations and networks. We are particularly interested in work that is supporting communities that have been historically marginalised.
• Builds new partnerships and ways of working between the public, private and community stakeholders in a place to enable community asset ownership.

Case studies:

• Community Land Scotland

2. Community-led enterprises are a proven and widely adopted model that underpins fairer local economies

We want to support work that:

• Builds resilience in the community-led enterprise sector and helps it to scale – either at a national or local level. This could be through capacity building, advice, network building, funding etc.
• Is testing and building understanding of how community-led enterprises can access alternative models of finance.
• Addresses the systemic barriers that can prevent minority-led community enterprises from accessing advice and finance.
• Supports the community-led enterprise sector to become more established and helps to demonstrate its economic, social and environmental value to a wider audience

It is unlikely that we would fund a sole community-led enterprise under this long-term outcome unless they can demonstrate how they are delivering against the criteria above and can offer learning for the wider sector.

Case studies

• Participate Projects

3. Community-led approaches to the local economy positively contribute to nature and climate.

We want to support work that:

• Demonstrates alternative models or approaches to economic development which drive positive impacts for nature and climate (e.g. circular economy or Donut Economics principles).
• Builds community knowledge, trust and consensus around climate change and puts local people at the heart of decision-making and action.

Case studies:

• Northern Roots

1. Local people and local artists lead creative and cultural activity in their communities.

We want to support work that:

• Demonstrates the impact of community-led creativity and culture making change in neighbourhoods.
• Is representative of the diversity of the communities in the local area.
• Is managed using co-leadership models between local people and organisations.

Case studies:

• Back to Ours
• Restoke

2. A collaborative approach to creativity and culture enables people to work together to strengthen their community.

We want to support work that:

• Involves collaboration between local people and organisations from the arts and other sectors.
• Strengthens and sustains collaborations between local people and organisations to create change.
• Is part of local, regional or national alliances or networks that share learning and demonstrate the benefits of community-led creativity.

Case studies:

• Create Gloucestershire

3. Local and regional cultural strategies are shaped by citizens and impact wider decision making and agendas for change.

We want to support work that:

• Uses creativity to create routes for people to set local agendas and take part in decision-making in their neighbourhoods.
• Aims to build support from policy-makers and funders for involving local people in designing strategies for culture and creativity and other local decision-making.

Case studies:

• Citizens in Power