This fund is now closed

The Youth Arts Targeted fund was one strand of the Youth Arts Fund.

Purpose of the fund

The purpose of this fund is to offer strategic youth music and wider youth arts organisations targeted funding to support infrastructure and project delivery. 20 targeted national and regional arts organisations, who have an established track record and existing relationships with freelancers working with the fund’s priority groups, will be invited to apply.

We trust and value the expertise within the targeted organisations to deliver ambitious projects that support the recovery and renewal of youth arts provision as the COVID-19 restrictions lift. We expect that each targeted organisation will have their own approaches and we have therefore set guiding principles for the fund that should help to shape your projects rather than outlining set outcomes.

All applications must clearly demonstrate how they address the guiding principles below, with project activity having a strong emphasis on at least one area:

• Delivery of project activity working across early learning, schools, and other family support and community settings, focused on tackling inequality through targeting priority groups of children and young people.
• Enhancing the current capacity of Scotland’s youth arts infrastructure.
• Increasing the commissioning and employment of freelance artists and creative practitioners to support project activity.

Who can submit an application to this fund?

This fund is open to the 20 targeted national and regional organisations (listed on Page 4 of the guidance document) with established track record, wide reach and who have the potential to employ and support a high number of freelancers to work with children and young people who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note, targeted organisations will be invited to apply for funding; however, this is not a guarantee of funding. All applications will be reviewed by an assessor and panel who will prioritise applications that make the strongest case against the guiding principles, priorities and criteria of the fund.

Whilst this fund is an offer to individual organisations, we would be willing to accept a consortium application from more than one of the 20 targeted organisations should a collaborative approach be deemed an appropriate way of delivering on the principles. In this instance, one organisation would need to act as the lead and would be responsible for submitting the application and managing the funding on behalf of the consortium. Organisations cannot apply individually if part of a consortium application and can only apply as part of one consortium.

Targeted organisations are eligible to apply to the Access Fund and the Small Grants Scheme, however applicants will be required to make a strong case to evidence the need for additional funding. If you are intending on applying to the Access Fund or the Small Grants Scheme, please make Creative Scotland staff aware before your pre-application conversation so that you can discuss your proposal in further detail.

What is the overall budget for this fund and how much can we apply for?

The overall budget for this fund is £1.05m with at least £700k for youth music activity and up to £350k for activity across the wider art forms.

All targeted applicants can apply for between £30k–£70k for up to one year’s delivery. We anticipate activity should be scheduled to begin from October 2020. It is anticipated that only a few awards at the upper limit will be possible within the available budget. Please therefore consider carefully the level of budget required.

In the case of a consortium application, applicants can apply for between £30k–£70k per partner organisation up to, but not exceeding, the combined amount of £70k per organisation (ie if 3 organisations apply as a partnership, the maximum amount which can be applied for is £210k).

All applicants can apply for 100% of their proposed programme but applicants are welcome to include additional partnership funding.

How to apply

Step 1: The funding guidance will be published on Thursday 17 September 2020, and it will be sent to all eligible organisations along with the application form to make them aware of their opportunity to submit an application to the fund.

Step 2: A pre-application conversation between eligible applicants and Creative Scotland staff will be required to agree the scope of the application and approximate funding request. We will contact you
as soon as possible after Thursday 17 September 2020 to allow you time to develop your application.

Step 3: Completion of an application form by all eligible organisations to be returned no later than 5pm on Tuesday 13 October 2020.

Step 4: Decisions will be communicated no later than Thursday 5 November 2020.