Opportunities from across the sector

We like to keep our networks up to date and informed about other opportunities, research and resources from our partners and others working within the sector.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of things that we hope you find useful or interesting.

 

 

Currently open for applications

 

➡️ Creative Futures Writers Award celebrates celebrates talented, underrepresented writers who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, identity, health or social circumstance.

Deadline: 19 May

 

➡️  Apply for a British Council International Collaboration Grant of up to £75k.  Grants encourage new partnerships, providing funding to enable organisations to make and develop creative artwork with international peers, and help artists find innovative ways of collaborating.

Deadline: 30 April

 

➡️  Creative Future Writers Award seeks talented, underrepresented writers who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, identity, health or social circumstance.  Submissions can include poetry, fiction and creative-non fiction on the theme of ‘Reveal’.

Deadline is: 19 May

 

➡️ Applications to the BFI Network Short Film Fund are open. Filmmaking teams can apply for £5,000 – £25,000 for fiction shorts up to 15 mins long in live action, animation, VR and immersive.

Deadline: 9 May

 

➡️  Grand Plan is awarding £1,000 grants to people of colour based in the UK who want to bring a new creative project to life. It supports creativity in all its forms including: poetry, paintings, fashion, zines, music, food, flowers, photographs, workshops, events or something else completely.

Deadline: 7 May, 6pm

 

➡️  Riverside Studios is calling for artists to be part of the Bitesize Festival. Theatre, comedy, cabaret, cross-performance and pre-Edinburgh artists welcome to apply.

Application deadline: end of April

 

➡️  Support is available from Creative UK for companies working in moving image for storytelling, film, TV, games, animation and immersive industries. Organisations can apply for grants up to £2,500 to work with specialists on strategy, marketing, IP or monetisation.

 

➡️  Channel 4‘s Digital Commissioning team are on the hunt for brilliant youth focused ideas for their ‘Social first’ platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Snap, Instagram and TikTok. To find out more and download the briefs go to the website.

 

➡️  For the first time, BBC Studios Social is reaching out to creative digital studios and has published a series of open briefs to create content for a range of programmes.

 

 

 

West Midlands opportunities

 

➡️ Birmingham City Council‘s Cultural Action Areas Programme. Investing in culture to help grow local economies by creating a diverse cultural and heritage offer. Grants can be used in any Birmingham ward, ranging from £20,000 to £100,000,

 

➡️  The West Midlands Create Growth Programme can support organisations working within design, fashion, architecture, film, broadcast, creative tech, gaming, immersive, publishing, music, theatre, art, heritage, craft or media across the West Mids.

 

➡️  The West Midlands Combined Authority, in partnership with British Council, are launching a new small grants ranging from £2,500 to £8,000 designed to catapult your work abroad and onto the international stage. Amplify your international profile, forge ground-breaking partnerships, or showcase your talents worldwide.

Deadline: 29 April

 

➡️  A database of support for creative freelancers from West Midlands Combined Authority.

 

Events and Conferences: sign up to attend

 

➡️ Want to find out more about subtitling? Digital Culture Network are hosting a webinar on 16 May at 3pm – Everything you wanted to know about subtitling (but were afraid to ask)

 

➡️ 3 – 5 July – AMA Conference, Brighton

 

➡️  Wednesday 26 June – A practical guide to editing from Arts Council England Digital Culture Network

 

➡️ 4 – 8 September, Linz, Austria – Ars Electronica – The festival for art, technology and science. Experience firsthand how new technologies are changing lives

 

Resources

 

➡️ A round-up of digital funding opportunities from Catalyst.

 

➡️ A great resource from Unlimited – Top tips to help arts organisations make recruitment and employment more accessible.

 

➡️ The AMA takes a look ahead to arts marketing in 2024

 

➡️ The Digital Cultural Network is teaming up with Google Arts & Culture for a series of in-person training sessions to support digital content creation.

 

➡️ A range of filmmaking toolkits and resources from the BFI Network.

 

 

Catch up on our latest webinars

 

➡️ How to write a kick ass application

 

➡️ Sustainable cultural productions

 

➡️ ‘Social Media Trends for 2024‘

 

➡️  ‘Ethical risks and safeguarding digital projects‘

 

Take part in research

➡️ Freelancers Make Theatre Work – The Big Freelancer Survey aims to provide detailed analysis of the past 12 months. The data feeds into ongoing lobbying of both industry bodies and government, informing them where support is most needed and what the greatest issues facing arts freelancers are.

 

➡️ Innovate UK Immersive Tech Network is working on a project to map the immersive technology landscape in the UK. The person filling in the survey should be a senior staff member who understands the full range of immersive technology activities in your organisation – take the survey.