Hi folks,
We hope you enjoyed the feast of conferences at the end of last week, which will be available online at some point if you missed them and want to catch up. Plus, the Community Heritage Conversations are also a long running programme, and plans are already being laid for December’s session so watch both this space and social media.
This bulletin is to give a heads up on a few things. 1. Arts and Business Scotland SURVEY: building capacity – developing skills
Some of you have had interviews with Elisa de Waal at ABSS over the last few months, and as a result a set of themes has emerged:
· Community Engagement
· Business Engagement
· Governance
· Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
· Staff and Volunteer Wellbeing
· Income generation
They are going to drill down into these a bit more through this survey as part of trying to ‘get it right’ then their programme of support and capacity building comes out.It’s a ten minute snapshot survey ending soon – although the deadline is being extended (because I asked them to!) so please find a moment to fill it in:Please access the survey here: https://wh1.snapsurveys.com/s.asp?k=160432466506 2. National Lottery Heritage Fund re-opening soon for sort of “normal” businessThe great news is that the Heritage Fund is opening up grant streams for what we might think of as normal projects – however nothing is normal in these Covid times, and the new grant streams will look different from what went before. From 25 November the smaller streams open for grants from £3,000-£10,000 and £10,000-£100,000. From 8 February 2021, they will be accepting applications for grants from £100,000-£250,000 and £250,000-£5m. What has changed? Firstly, throughout Covid the Heritage Fund has only been open to organisations who had already been funded by them. These new grant streams are open to EVERYBODY (although there will still obviously be other eligibility checks). Essentially the emphasis going forward is about sustainability and people – all part of getting heritage, your organisation and your community back on its feet. Projects that:
· boost the local economy
· provide job creation and encourage skills development
· support local health and wellbeing
· encourage rebuilding community cohesion.
Read the announcement here for full details:https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/blogs/were-backing-heritage-sector-adapt-and-thrive-again 3. Change and changing – getting into the groove We are all now used to having to rethink how we go forward but it can still be daunting to change old habits. There is any amount of support out there, and we would really recommend that you, or someone in your organisation, attends online workshops and webinars in order to ‘get into the groove’ of what funders are looking for and expect. This doesn’t mean making up projects to fit, it means allowing more air and ideas into things that you want to do anyway. You will find that changing the thought process slightly, factoring in resilience, legacy, inclusion, health and wellbeing makes the project better. These are all words we are used to hearing, but what do they actually mean in practical terms for projects? Webinars and courses are still coming thick and fast and from a’ the airts. Here is a sample of what is out there:
Museums, built environment and greenspace agencies have got together to deliver the ‘Surviving to Thriving’ programme, funded by NLHF. This is the catch all for everyone in the heritage sector and is really worth doing.https://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk/projects/surviving-to-thriving-supporting-sustainable-scottish-heritage-businesses/
Senscot www.senscot.net is a good place to look at a wider spectrum of webinars and events, on subjects that will be very relevant for funding applications in future. For example: Health and wellbeing: achieving more, making the ask https://senscot.net/events/mental-health-wellbeing-knowledge-exchange/ Glasgow Connected Art Network are running funding workshopshttps://senscot.net/events/get-that-funding-free-webinar-with-glasgow-can/ Great case studies of heritage projects which are really meeting community needs to give you ideas: https://senscot.net/resources/case-studies/
Business: if you want to skill up on the business front then Business Gateway offer webinars and tutorials in every region of Scotland: https://www.bgateway.com/events. This can be about improving your processes or just understanding parts of it better.
The Social Enterprise Academy run a rolling programme of webinars such as this batch on; Managing Changehttps://your.socialenterprise.academy/course/view.php?id=247 Rebuilding Income Streams https://your.socialenterprise.academy/course/view.php?id=248
The Heritage Fund have an advice page, and all round keep an eye on their website https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/help-resources/get-advice
Arts and Business Scotland are forging ahead – do the survey (above), watch their website https://www.aandbscotland.org.uk/
These are just some of the events on offer.
We can maybe guess what you are thinking – many of us are fed up with staring at a screen and perhaps have dodged the endless diet of webinars. However they are probably necessary for getting into the new groove for the next year of funding. All round It is not too late, and just keep an eye out for what’s coming up.
Stay safe, chin up.
All the best
Catherine
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