The following were given written answers during or shortly after our Q&A webinar about the Learning Partner tender for Esmée's Youth-Led Creativity programme. You can watch the recording and see the full invitation to tender here.
The Learning Programme
1. The Programme sounds like a mentoring and support programme for your cohort. Is that correct?
Peer learning and support is important. The co-design process will confirm what the priorities are, but we currently have four goals for the programme in the first year:
- Support the funded organisations to develop and share their models of practice.
- Enable peer support and learning in and between the funded organisations, and the young people they work with.
- Inform Esmée’s future support of Youth-Led Creativity.
- Share learning from the Programme with the wider arts and youth sectors.
2. Do the organisations have allocated time to work on the Learning Programme?
Yes they do have allocated time and resources to engage in the learning programme.
3. Is this an ongoing piece of work - over the 3 years of the funded programmes / in parallel/ support of them or is this an advisory piece of work with a fixed deadline to be delivered in advance of the programmes starting?
This is an ongoing piece.
4. To what extent would the cohort value capacity-building approaches that enables the Learning Programme to continue to add value beyond our engagement, and the contract? Would that value most likely be in generative peer support processes?
That would be great. We would love the process to be iterative and evolve beyond the allocated timeframe.
5. Are there any key outputs that you are looking for?
As this is a co-designed process, we don't have defined outputs yet. However deliverables should include:
- Regular communication between the Learning Partner and funded organisations
- Co-design of learning programme for first year
- Co-design of a reporting process for grants which prioritises creativity, inclusivity, and youth voice
- Build the foundations for a collective approach to evaluation and sharing learning for funded organisations – built on the principles of the funding
- Gather learning to inform how Esmée offers funding for Youth-Led Creativity in 2026
- Identify what additional support is needed by funded organisations that it might be beneficial to deliver or co-ordinate through the Learning Programme in years 2 and 3.
6. Is there a communication system in place already?
The organisations have been recently funded so there is no specific communications system in space at the moment.
7.Can the young consultants share the age range of the young people groups?
The young people supported are aged 14 to 30.
8. Can you tell us a little more about whether funded organisations have worked with learning partners before?
Sorry, we do not have this information.
9. What does creative learning evaluation look like to you? What is your expectation of how creativity will show up in this work?
We don't have a set expectation of how it will look or show up. We are open to different models and methods.
10. How many days are you expecting consultants to spend on this project and how frequently would you want the consultant(s) to touch base with the core project team from your side?
This would be confirmed once a draft plan for delivery for the first year was in place, and then amended after the co-design process. For contact with the core project team, more meetings are likely to be needed at the start, perhaps 1 hour (plus prep time) once a fortnight, but this could shift to less often as the work develops.
11. Do you have an indication of how much the young people organisations are comfortable about ‘learning’ and being part of an emergent process, because co-design is emergent, and this process feels very much we will discover things as we go through.
All of the organisations in the cohort expressed interest and openness to the learning programme.
12. Is there a Theory of Change for the programme?
No.
13. The Involving Young People Collective have work, education and life commitments outside of their involvement with Esmée – are there any existing parameters around time required from them for this work to ensure they’re involved in the most valuable ways without being overstretched? Similarly with the funded project young people – is there any reference for example within the funding agreements re time commitments to learning and evaluation?
We work with Hudl Youth Development Agency to manage our relationship with the Involving Young People Collective, and ensure they are supported and not over stretched. With the funded organisations there aren't agreements on time commitments, this would be part of the co-design process.
14. I know you’re at the start of this (exciting!) journey but what have you learnt so far from this youth-led co creation programme during its formative stages?
We plan to share more about this soon, so watch this space.
15. Are there locations that your are keen to get into or do you lean towards large localities such as cities such as Manchester/London?
We don't have a location preference within the UK.
16. How many people from each of the 10 organisations do you expect to get involved in the learning programme on an ongoing basis?
This is difficult to say as this will be decided during the co-design process. But we think, as a minimum, there would be 1 to 2 people from each of the funded cohort (so 10 to 20 people), plus up to 4 IYPC consultants, and then Esmée staff will vary from 1 to 5 people. If, during the co-design phase, organisations want to invite more of their young people to the sessions or to the co-design process, then it may be more like 4 people from each organisation. But we want to emphasis that this will be decided during the co-design process.
The Learning Partner role
17. Does the learning partner need to be based in the UK or can they be based outside of the UK, if they have right to work?
The Learning Partner should be based in the UK as there could be in-person elements and visits as part of the learning process.
18. Are you open to someone outside of the UK but based in a nearby country and who is willing to do regular travel to the UK (with travel being factored into the budget)?
This is possible, but if the travel includes air travel this will be a negative factor for us - we want to minimise carbon emissions in everything we do.
19. Is there an age group for the tender services?
There is no age specification for the Learning Partner. The Learning Partner would be working with the youth-led organisations, and therefore we would like to see a Learning Partner with experience in working with young people.
20. With regards to delivery, what would be the anticipated ratio of in-person to online?
This will need to be assessed during the co-design process to ensure the flow works for all parties involved. As the cohort of funded organisations and Involving Young People Collective are based in different locations, it will have to rely on online but in person is key if it works for all stakeholders.
21. Can you clarify: did you say that you wouldn’t work with someone you haven’t already worked with or know of?
No, sorry to give that impression. We have a lot of networks in the youth sector and with learning consultants so it's possible we might work with someone we have worked with in the past. But our two most recent tenders have gone to people we've not worked with before.
22. What is the description for youth? Do you have preference for the Learning Partner to be a youth themselves?
We have a broad definition, looking at a broad age between 14 and 30. We’d love if the learning partner is youth led but it is not a must.
23. How important is it for this Learning Partner to be also youth-led or are you more interested that the partner has experience of working with young people?
We would love it if it’s youth-led but the experience of working with young people is also valuable to this programme.
24. To what extent is remote work feasible for this role, particularly regarding engagement with the funded organisations and young participants? Understanding the balance between in-person and remote work would help us plan our approach effectively.
Our funded organisations, Involving Young People Collective and Esmée staff members live all across the UK. We want this work to happen in person when possible, but we are mindful it will need to be hybrid and heavily online to be inclusive to everyone.
25. How do you see the role of the arts and creative industries in the learning partnership - the Invitation to Tender mentions having a connection to the arts?
We would like a Learning Partner with experience of working in the arts and creative industries in some sort of way. We are open to and interested in creative ways of delivering the learning.
26. Would you consider someone you have not worked / partnered with before, or would they be unlikely to be appointed?
We would love to expand who we work with so we are definitely considering people and organisations we haven’t worked with yet.
27. Are universities eligible to apply? Do you have to be a charity? We are an asset locked social enterprise.
Yes, universities are eligible to apply. As this is not grant funding, we can work with any organisation or group of individuals. We will agree a contract for the work and payments will be made in response to invoices.
28. Would you prioritise organisations with more experience or specialised in working with young people? or general expertise in co-production would be as valuable?
The Learning Partner should have some experience in working with young people, but having expertise in co-production with other groups is also valuable and is good to hear about. However, I would reiterate that it is important the the learning partner has some sort of experience working with young people.
29. If we’re an individual who would like to partner with other individuals for this tender - is there a way Esmée can link individuals together with different skill sets?
Sorry, but we won't be able to do this.
30. What is the expected time commitment from the Learning Partner? Do you have any expectations around minimum days per month/quarter?
This would be confirmed once a draft plan for delivery for the first year was in place, and then amended after the co-design process. For contact with the core project team, more meetings are likely to be needed at the start, perhaps 1 hour (plus prep time) once a fortnight, but this could shift to less often as the work develops. For contact with the funded organisations, this is likely to be concentrated around events rather than regular monthly contact.
Budget
31. You give an indication of budget £25K for the first year, but also indicate that there could be more budget for events. In the application you ask for an indicative budget. Two questions: does this indicative budget need to go beyond the 1st year. Does this indicative budget need to include events and therefore may go above the £25K?
We're just looking for a first year budget. The budget only needs to include your costs - so not any additional event costs (catering, hire, travel).
32. Could we include the creation of a Youth Advisor(s) role in our proposal, along with a budget allocation to cover their fees?
Absolutely.
33. How important is cost/number of days? Are you open to individuals and collectives who charge VAT?
We will compare day rates to think about value for money, but that doesn't mean we'll go with the cheapest option. We would pay VAT.
34. Can you provide some more guidance and transparency about your available budget and resources for this work? Is it £25k for first year but it’s flexible? What about the following years? And what are the review processes for these?
The first year's budget would be agreed in principle on signing the contract, then revised if needed once the co-design process had fixed deliverables for the first year. This might be at the 6 or 9 month point when we could also set budgets for years 2 and 3.
35. As this will be a co-designed project, it's difficult to be too specific on how the budget will be spent at this stage. Is it ok to provide a general idea of the budget, i.e. a certain number of meetings and an idea of daily rates, but keep some budget earmarked to be spent as needed by the cohort?
We completely understand that. We are not expecting for you to be very specific at this point.
36. Given the expectation of a team of perhaps 2 to 3 people, could you share any insights into how the financial allocation was determined as suitable for this scope? Additionally, is there any opportunity for negotiation or expansion of this amount to accommodate a larger team if required?
We are going to fix costs once the initial co-design is complete and the cohort has decided together with the Learning Partner what will be delivered. Costs are indicative now, but based on a similar Network role we have appointed. If you think this work needs a larger team, you can make the case for that in your bid.
37. Is there flexibility in the budget depending on the outcome of the co-design of the programme, or would we be designing to this budget?
There is flexibility, but please use the budget as a guide to show us what you could deliver with this amount. If you think it needs more, you can make the case for that in your bid.
38. Do you have budget for the funded organisations' participation or is it already part of their grants - including for the young people to engage in this learning journey?
In addition to the budget for the Learning Partner, Esmée will:
- Compensate funded organisations (and their young people) for their time and travel, to enable and incentivise them to participate in the Learning Programme
- Arrange or provide any meeting rooms for learning events and pay for catering and travel expenses for participants.
39. Will you assess what is realistic and feasible in the £25k.
We will be looking at day rates to see how peoples' plans compare. However, the main thing we are assessing is why you, or your organisation, is well placed to deliver the work. We will be looking for a match to the criteria – what we’re looking for in a Learning Partner: Co-design; Evaluation; Inclusivity; Creativity; Influence.
Applying for the role
40. Do you prefer video to written or do you not mind?
We are happy for you to use what works best for you. It won’t make a difference in the way we assess applications.
41. If we were to submit a video, would we be able to submit the written script for this alongside the video?
Absolutely.
42. If we tender we would do so in partnership with another organisation - are you open to tenders from partnerships?
That is absolutely fine as long as you have clarity on how you will be delivering and splitting roles.
43. If our expression of interest has been declined for a specific project idea, is it likely that this would be declined as an expression to tender in this process?
This shouldn’t impact your application as a Learning Partner. Your application will be assessed based on the criteria we shared.
44. Could anyone who has been involved in the co-design of the actual fund be involved in an applicant’s proposal?
The Involving Young People Collective have been involved in the co-design of the fund along with Esmée staff. We have not, and will not, be involved in any Learning Partner's application proposal. We will be assessing the applications and leading the interviews, having also consulted the funded organisations on this process.
45. For our approach in the first year, could we also share a few examples of creative methods or art forms (i.e. comics, spoken word, video) we might use to engage people in co-designing the programme(s).
Yes, we’d love to hear in the proposal what creative methods you’d like to use part of this work or any example of previous work where you employed them.
46. In our proposal do we discuss the first year within the 3 year structure of this project?
We only need to hear about the first year - not enough space for 3.
47. Writing tenders takes time - it would be helpful to know how many have signed up for the webinar to help assess how competitive it will be.
As an indication, we have had over 150 people registered to this webinar.
Esmée's funding support
48. Do you fund outside UK, if so is the an opportunity to apply for this programme?
We only fund work in the UK. You can see more about our funding criteria here.