LCCC Arts Grants Scheme Individual Artists 2024/25
Contents
– Introduction
– Guidance notes:
– Who can apply? - eligibility
– Funding criteria
– Application process
– Apply
Introduction
PURPOSE OF THE FUND
The importance of the arts, culture and heritage in everyday life builds our sense of who we are and where we are from, affirming our identity and helps us to build our resilience and self-esteem which is key to Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council’s Community Support Plan. In support of this, the council’s Individual Artist Arts Grants Scheme has been designed to support the amateur and professional arts sector in the delivery of arts events, projects or activities through the provision of direct grants.
CLOSING DATE FOR COMPLETED APPLICATIONS IS 12 NOON ON FRIDAY 15th DECEMBER 2023.
FUNDING LIMITS
A maximum grant of up to £3,000 is available for any one organisation in each financial year.
GENERAL FUNDING PRINCIPLES
Applicants in receipt of a grant must comply with all statutory obligations regarding the delivery of and access to their programme, including Council procurement/ Health & Safety/Safeguarding and licensing requirements.
This is a competitive scheme and applications will be determined on the basis of merit.
Applicants can apply to other sources of public support, outside of the council, but must declare this in their application form.
It is a prime responsibility of the council to ensure the proper and efficient use of, and accountability for, public monies. To this end, applicants must forward all supporting documentation requested along with the application. The council will be unable to assess applications without all supporting documentation being received.
Applicants will be required to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of their project, and adequately show how it will have a positive and measurable impact on the local community.
Future funding may be withheld if any required closing documentation is still outstanding for previous grants administered by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, including invoices, receipts, accounts, bank statements and evaluation reports.
Successful applicants in any given year should not presume continued support in subsequent years.
Evidence that the project is not organised on a profit/commercial basis.
Evidence that the projects administration/equipment costs are proportionate to the overall programme costs.
Evidence that the application is not for trade or professional conferences / conventions.
Evidence that the application is not primarily fundraising for charitable purposes, or deploying potential sources of income to a charity.
Evidence that the application is not for a social event that has no community benefit.
Evidence that the proposed project clearly contributes to the objectives of the Arts Grants Scheme.
Guidance notes:
Who can apply? - eligibility
Applicants must be able to demonstrate the following basic eligibility criteria:
- Born in, reside in or have their main base and deliver services in the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area (with the exception of specialist training to enhance professional development).
- Evidence of Public Liability insurance (where applicable) to cover of a minimum £5 million for the activities of the proposed project, or confirmation from a broker that this can be produced.
- Evidence of Employers Liability insurance (where applicable) to cover a minimum £10 million for the activities of the proposed project, or confirmation from a broker that this can be produced.
- Evidence of appropriate Health and Safety measures including Risk Assessments
- Evidence of any appropriate Safeguarding measures in relation to the project activity.
- Funding must be spent between the date of their signed Terms & Conditions being received and 31st March 2025.
We do not fund applicants who are:
- not operating on a not-for-profit basis as we cannot support commercial projects or projects that could be carried out commercially. If, in the reasonable opinion of the council, the applicant applying for funding is a de facto commercial entity, whatever the legal make-up, then the council shall not fund that applicant. The decision of the council shall be final in this regard.
- not prepared to share learning from their project with us and others.
Projects that:
- take place outside of the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area (with the exception of specialist training to enhance professional development)
- provide no potential benefit to the public, either in the short or long term
- are of a commercial nature, organised on a profit / commercial basis
- are aimed at funding the normal running costs of an arts practice
- have already taken place or are already under way at the time of the assessment
- duplicate what already exists
- are party political in intention, use or presentation
- promote a particular religion
- are primarily fundraising events, for charitable purposes, or deploy potential sources of income to a charity
- are contrary to any Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council policies
As well as the above, the following are considered ineligible for all grants:
- Application forms that are not completed
- Contributions towards general appeals
- Funding towards campaigning around a single issue
- Activities related to the promotion of religion or political parties
- Areas of statutory responsibility or where such funding has been withdrawn
- Retrospective payments or the repayment of loans
- Awards ceremony or industry events
- Holiday schemes
- Applicants that are in poor financial health or cannot show effective financial control
- Applicants who have previously received a grant from us that was not managed satisfactorily or was not completed. This includes if you did not send us the monitoring and evaluation forms within the agreed timescales or if you did not seek approval for changes to your project.
- Overheads allocated or apportioned at rates in excess of those used for any similar work you carry out
- Building/capital costs
- Costs which are not clearly linked to the project
- Costs that are poor value for money, or procured outside of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council’s procurement guidelines (services or items over £3,000 require 3 written quotes)
- Costs that are already covered by other funding or income sources
- Costs related to private or unfunded pensions
- Amounts for gifts and donations
- Reclaimable VAT
- Alcohol
- Prizes and trophies
- Funding towards uniforms
- Equipment costs unless they have an ongoing use throughout the project and are essential and necessary to complete the project.
Funding criteria
In order to deliver the Arts Grants Scheme aims and principles, applicants will need to demonstrate how their project aims to address a minimum of two of the schemes key objectives.
- To support a stronger and more sustainable creative and vibrant economy
- To demonstrate excellence in ambition, creativity and delivery through strategic partnership working
- To support cultural and digital activity that increases community engagement in culture
- To establish the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council as an area where creativity is at the heart of everyday life, and every person has access to arts-based activities to enable culture-led regeneration.
To support a stronger and more sustainable creative and vibrant economy
- Demonstrate an approach to arts sector specific business that champions innovation, sustainability and creativity.
- Demonstrate the production of ambitious high quality work and showcase Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council’s reputation as a creative area locally, nationally and internationally.
To demonstrate excellence in ambition, creativity and delivery through strategic partnership working
- Encourage and support the creation of qualitative work that demonstrates collaboration across a wide range of diverse backgrounds, organisations, disciplines and perspectives.
- Develop investment opportunities to enable creative cross-sector collaboration and risk taking and encourage growth of creative clusters.
To support cultural and digital activity that increases community engagement in culture
- Embrace advances in technology as essential components of the cultural landscape maximizing the role of digital distribution to showcase and promote your work and reach new audiences.
- Demonstrate new opportunities for the interpretation and recognition of our cultural and heritage assets.
To establish the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council as an area where creativity is at the heart of everyday life, and every person has access to arts-based activities to enable culture-led regeneration
- Provide exciting and challenging creative experiences that will have a long-lasting impact upon participants and audiences ensuring access for all groups.
- Collaborate with other sectors such as education and health, to embed the arts and creativity within their work, create models of good practice, and develop the knowledge and skills within the creative sector to deliver new programmes.
Application process
The Awarding Process
A panel made up of representatives of council officers will review all eligible grant applications and make recommendations to the council based on the results of an assessment process.
The Assessment Process
Part 1: Applicant & Eligibility
Applications received shall initially go through an eligibility check, based on the information provided in Sections 1, 2 & 3 of the application form.
Each section will be marked as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ based on your answers and supporting documentation/evidence.All sections must be rated ‘pass’ for an application to move on to the next phase of assessment.
Part 2: Project Needs, Delivery & Funding
Sections 4, 5 & 6 will be assessed drawing on the evidence you provide in relation to each of the questions asked. Each question will be given a score out of 3 as follows:
0 No evidence presented
1 Very little, weak or irrelevant evidence presented
2 Some evidence presented but lacks in either conviction or relevance
3 Clear, relevant answers with limited evidence
4 Clear, convincing answers with strong evidence
5 Strong, clear and relevant convincing evidence from a variety of sources (Proportionate to scal
Each question will be weighted to reflect its importance. This means the score is multiplied by the weighting number to give a weighted score.
Part 3: Details and Declarations
Section 7 must be completed before a grant can be awarded and processed.
The Allocation Process
All eligible applications that have scored over 50% and provided all necessary documentation and declarations will enter the allocation process. If the total funds requested exceed those available the moderation team may select to fund the strongest festivals by raising the bar on the total weighted score (eg to 55% or 60%); or to reduce the sum offered to each applicant by the percentage of the shortfall (eg if there is a 3% gap between funds requested and funds available, all grants offered will be 3% less that the grant requested); or they may combine both approaches to give a balanced grant portfolio.
THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS
Scoring system overview
| Sections 1, 2 & 3: About You | ||
|---|---|---|
| All sections must pass to move to Section 4 | Pass / Fail | |
|
Sections 4, 5 & 6: About Your Project |
Max weighted score |
Pass mark to move to next section |
| Arts Programme & meeting needs | 35 | 17 |
| Capacity to deliver | 45 | 23 |
| Funding requested | 20 | 10 |
| Total score | 100 | |
| Section 7: Details and Declaration | Pass / Fail |
Sections 1, 2 & 3: About You
| Pass / Fail | |
|---|---|
| Name | Name |
| Professional Name (if different) | Professional name |
| Based in Lisburn & Castlereagh | Statement that funded service is 100% in LCCC unless relating to specialist training for professional development purposes |
| Contact address | Applicant has a registered address |
| Studio address | Applicant may have a studio address |
| Education/Training/Qualification | Details completed |
| Employment | Details completed |
| Artform | Meets artform criteria |
| Operating date | Details completed |
| Born/Reside/Main Base/Deliver | Details completed |
| Purpose of Practice | Details completed |
| Pass / Fail | |
|---|---|
| Bank Account | Meets eligibility |
| Most recent signed accounts | For accounts less than 18 months old, an income and expenditure summary must be supplied which adds up and matches accounts. |
| Independently signed and checked accounts supplied. | |
| Insurance | Evidence provided |
| Policies | All appropriate policies provided e.g. H&S, Safeguarding etc. |
If all passed, application can move to section 4.
Section 4: About Your Arts Programme
| Section D: What needs you plan to meet and for whom | Evidence | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Programme | Clear outline of project that meets with the scheme criteria and set timeline requirements | 3 |
| Need and response | There is evidence of proportionate efforts to demonstrate needs. | 2 |
| Work in Partnership or complement the work of others | There is evidence that the applicant is aware of other services and can identify the gaps it fills or added value it brings (e.g. different people, locations, particular approaches, skills, experience ) | 1 |
| Activity, dates and number of participants | Clear indication of activities, dates of when activities will take and number of participants | 1 |
Requires a minimum score of 17 to pass and move to the next section
Section 5: Delivery
| Evidence | Weighting | |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity to deliver | Skills, past experience & projects. | 3 |
| Promotion | There is evidence that the applicant is aware of appropriate means to communicate with intended users or participants and has a system in place to do this. | 3 |
| There is evidence of thought being given to reaching specific groups as relevant to the list of main beneficiaries. | ||
| Barriers | There is evidence that the applicant has thought about what may stop people taking part and has made reasonable plans to address them e.g. timing, cost, physical, sensory or intellectual access, transport, culture. | 2 |
| Risk management Contingency Plans | There is evidence that the applicant has considered and identified those risks most likely to occur and have the greatest impact and has taken reasonable and proportionate steps to manage them. | 1 |
Requires a minimum score of 23 to pass and move to the next section
Section 6: Funds & Value for Money
| Evidence | Weighting | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding needed | The funding requested falls within the rules and parameters of the scheme. | 1 |
| The budget adds up, appears to cover key elements and is proportionate to the scale of work and the nature of the needs of users or participants. | ||
| Other sources | There is evidence that the applicant has made efforts to raise funds from elsewhere and is meeting with some success. | 2 |
| Value for Money | TThe funding requested offers value for money given the number of people engaged and the nature of the needs being met. | 1 |
Requires a minimum score of 10 to pass and move to the next section
Section 7: Bank Details and Declaration
| Pass/Fail | |
|---|---|
| Account information | Details completed |
| Acknowledgment Agreement | Accepted with signature, below |
| Declaration | Signed by contact |
Application will proceed to allocation if section 7 is completed in full.
If you are applying for grant aid to work with other artists or groups it is essential that you talk to your partner groups before you apply for funding. You must also submit evidence demonstrating their support and level of involvement.
Successful applicants must ensure that all spend relating to their project proposal has been processed by 31 March 2025, along with the submission of all invoices and grant evaluation form.
Before submiting your application, please ensure:
- That it contains full details of the programme or project which you are applying and that you have clearly linked these to the Aims and Principles of the funding scheme.
- That it includes a full and clear breakdown of the project cost and that it clearly indicates the amount of funding that you are requesting from the council; (Please note that this should not exceed the maximum amount available for the scheme, i.e. £3,000)
- That it includes full financial details for your arts practice; (The council may conduct a further review of the organisation’s accounts and procedures and the applicant must be prepared to make all relevant documentation available for inspection and/or scrutiny.)
- That it details all other funding applications that you have applied for in support of the project, for which the application relates to;
- That the relevant enclosures are submitted with your application.
PLEASE NOTE: If you are awarded a grant, Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council does not provide insurance for any activity you undertake. We strongly advise you to consult an insurance broker or advisor about the possible insurance requirements for your proposed activities.
Completing your budget:
You must show that all costs are reasonable and necessary to complete the programme or project, and you should give us enough detail to assess this. For example, you should give us the unit costs and quantities needed, 10 Artists x £50 = total cost £500. We will not consider your application as eligible if you do not provide a detailed Project Budget.
Restricted costs:
- Costs must be proportionate to the overall cost of your project and essential for delivering it. If we do not think that the amount you have asked for is good value for money, we may offer you less than the amount you applied for. To make sure you provide value for money we can cap any project costs we are funding. If you are successful these costs will be shown in the Letter of Offer, for example, facilitators, catering, and so on.
- Where eligible we will only give funding for catering, hospitality or refreshments if these are clearly detailed in your application form and are essential to the project. If you need to provide catering, hospitality or refreshments, you must explain why it is essential.
- You must clearly list any costs for facilitators, mediators, consultants or project evaluators clearly in the budget. You must also describe the work they intend to carry out and how it is reasonable and necessary to your project.
- Any item or service over £1,500 must have three written quotes included.
What happens after assessment?
Successful Applications - Letter of offer
If your organisation is successful, we will send you a letter of offer outlining:
- the general conditions of the grant;
- any special conditions;
- the stages we will pay the grant in.
Before we can release any grant payments, you must sign the Terms & Conditions of the grant. This must happen within one month of the date of the Letter of Offer or we may withdraw the offer of the grant.
We will not fund any project costs you pay or agree to pay before you have signed and returned the Terms & Conditions.
You must get our approval before you make any changes to the project or the budget.
If you receive a grant offer and no longer want to take it up, please tell us in writing as soon as possible but not less than 14 days of the date of your Letter of Offer or the grant offer will be withdrawn.
Paying the funds:
We will pay 100% of your grant when we receive your signed Terms & Conditions. If your group has previously been in receipt of council funding, any advances will only be released if your previous grant file(s) have been closed satisfactorily and all necessary paperwork has been received. All invoices, claim forms and bank statements must be submitted within one month of the programe or project taking place.
Monitoring and evaluation:
Given you are receiving public funding, you must answer for what you do with this money. Because of this, we will expect you to complete a Monitoring and Evaluation Form based on information provided in the grants application. Please note that monitoring and evaluation is a condition of all our grants and final payments will only be released on receipt of a fully completed Monitoring and Evaluation Form.
Marketing and promotion:
You must acknowledge our support by including our logo on all printed materials associated with your programme of work. We will give you more information about logos if your application is successful.
If you receive funding from us it does not mean we endorse your project. When you display the council logo on published material, you must include the following sentence:
‘‘This publication is grant-aided by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council. The views expressed are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the council. The council does not accept any responsibility for these views.’’
Occasionally you may be asked to make appearances and assist us with launches and photo shoots. Successful applicants will be expected to ensure invitations to events are extended to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the council’s Leisure & Community Development Committee.
Unsuccessful Applications – Appeals Process:
Should your application be unsuccessful you will be notified in writing. All applicants have a right of appeal to the council. A full copy of the council’s appeals process will be issued with the unsuccessful outcome letter.