Taking place on Monday 28 October, 7-8.30pm, this BSL interpreted workshop for London-based writers will cover how to approach the application process for Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) fund.
This workshop will:
- Give you an insight into the purpose of the fund
- Help you think through your project
- Take you through key stages of the application process and application form
- Look at what makes a strong application
- Provide opportunities for you to ask questions about your own proposal
Led by Ruth Harrison, director of Spread the Word and freelance literature producer Tom MacAndrew, it will talk you through the different questions in the DYCP form to help you think about how you can respond to them. They’ll give examples of what sort of projects have previously been funded and how Spread the Word has supported writers to achieve funding.
Arts Council England’s DYCP Fund is for individual artists to apply for lottery funding to develop a new piece of creative work and/or a new way of working. You can apply for up to £12,000 towards, for example: mentoring, time to create new work, research, training or professional development costs. Whatever it is you want to do, the project you have in mind must be a clear development opportunity.
Please note the next round of DYCP funding opens for applications on 14 November 2024 and closes for applications on 12 December 2023, with decisions announced 6 March 2025.
What you will need for the workshop:
- A clear idea of what your proposed project is, what you want to achieve and how you are going to go about it
- To be able to show how your project is a real development opportunity for your creative practice and/or professional profile, networks and partnerships
- To have read through the Arts Council’s DYCP guidance
- To have read the successful applicant case studies on the Arts Council’s website
Please read through all the Arts Council’s DYCP guidance beforehand, so that you are reasonably sure that what you have in mind is suitable for DYCP funding. If what you want to do involves engaging audiences or participants, then you should likely apply for a National Lottery Project Grant (NLPG) instead. We have a separate workshop for that fund, on Monday 21 October. Places available here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arts-council-england-national-lottery-project-grants-workshop-tickets-1000618265167?aff=oddtdtcreator
We want to make sure that the funding sessions are open to as many people as possible. Due to the limited number of places available for the DYCP and NLPG workshops, please only sign up for the session which is most suitable for the project you are planning. We will be running both sessions again in spring 2025.
Eligibility
To be considered for DYCP you will also need to show at least one year’s track record as a writer outside of a formal educational setting. This could include being published or produced (e.g.: by small independent publisher or producer or mainstream publisher/producer), published in magazines, shortlisted for writing competitions or expression of interest from an agent, editor or producer, or working professionally on the poetry circuit).
We anticipate that demand will be high for this workshop so please only book a place if you are committed to attending. It is open to writers of any literary form including playwriting and graphic novels. Please note, this session is specifically tailored to writers in London, and it is not open to artists working in other media or writers living outside London.
Booking Your Place
The workshop is FREE but places are limited. Please note that the workshop will not be recorded. Workshop notes will be circulated to attendees.
The Zoom workshop will be auto-captioned and BSL interpreted. You are welcome to attend with your camera off and the workshop will be a relaxed space If you have other access needs please get in touch with us on [email protected] so we can support you as best we can to participate in the workshop.
Date: Monday 28 October
Time: 7.00 – 8.30pm
Cost: FREE
Location: online via Zoom - the Zoom link will be emailed to participants in advance of the event
Book now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arts-council-englands-developing-your-creative-practice-fund-workshop-tickets-1000646439437?aff=oddtdtcreator
About Ruth and Tom
Ruth Harrison joined Spread the Word in 2015. Her working life has been in the field of the arts and particularly in literature. She has been Director of Apples and Snakes, a literature development officer and programme manager at The Reading Agency. She is passionate about not only widening people’s engagement with writers and writing but also in developing writing talent. Widening participation and engagement alongside developing and building awareness of new voices has been core to her work.
At Spread the Word, Ruth is responsible for leading the company artistically and strategically and working with our highly skilled and dedicated team to make a difference to and for writers and their audiences in London.
Tom MacAndrew is a freelance consultant specialising in poetry, spoken word and live literature. He has delivered projects for clients including Apples & Snakes, the British Museum, CLPE, Forward Arts Foundation, Poet in the City, Roundhouse, Spread the Word and World Book Day.
As a creative producer he has delivered work for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Arts; he edited the anthology Bedtime Stories for the End of the World; and runs Propel Magazine which promotes work by emerging poets. He has developed and toured shows nationally and internationally with poets including Joelle Taylor, Adam Kammerling, Joshua Idehen, Francesca Beard and John Hegley. Tom is the producer for Out-Spoken, London’s largest regular poetry night, resident at Southbank Centre, and for their publishing house Out-Spoken Press. In partnership with Spread the Word he runs the annual Deptford Literature Festival. He is a trustee at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre.