Creative Impact Grant

Apply for round 2 of the Creative Impact Grant

A key objective for Creative Central NCL is to support the skills and business development of the creative industries in the North East, particularly for creatives and organisations working in or based in the Creative Central NCL footprint, shown below or in more detail here.

This open call for their Creative Impact grant follows the commissioning and delivery of 12 successful pilot projects funded in 2023 and 2024 (Round 1), which focused on skills development and business support for creative individuals, creative organisations, and young people.  

All the pilot projects addressed the self-identified needs of the sector and gaps in provision across a wide range of creative practices, challenges, and opportunities. All were led or co-led by creatives and creative organisations themselves.

Now that those projects are complete, Round 2 of the fund is opening.

What are they looking for?

Taking the learning from Round 1, while still addressing the skills and business needs of the sector, they are particularly keen to see activity that is new or enhances existing good practice available to the sector, and welcome applications for projects that can demonstrate a direct impact within the footprint of Creative Central NCL. 

This could mean, for example, that you are an organisation or venue already based (or hoping to be) within Creative Central NCL and will deliver your skills development or training opportunities in the area, or that you are working in partnership with such organisations or venues. 

There are three broad strands of activity that this open call focuses on, all applications should deliver against at least one of these:

1. Encouraging young people (16-25) and those not currently working in, or without access to, the sector, to grow their creative potential.
2. Forging connections, and sharing knowledge between creatives and non-creatives and our growing Creative Central NCL community.
3. Building upon our built environment, public spaces, venues, places of creative work, and heritage assets to unlock real economic and social impact.

Read the Guidelines in full for more details and requirements.

Who can apply?

Applications are encourage from a eclectic range of creatives and creative organisations. 

To apply you must be a legally constituted body, this means you must be:

• a voluntary and community organisation
• a social enterprise
• a private business/limited company
• a registered charity
• a statutory or non-statutory public organisation

Creative Central NCL do not approve projects submitted by informal groups, individuals or sole traders. If this excludes you from applying, you might consider submitting a partnership bid, find out more about this in the Guidelines.

Information session

To find out more and ask any questions you have, you can attend an online information session on Wednesday 2 April. Find out more and sign up.