Development Programme Launch

Arts Connect has today launched a Development Programme for Early Career Practitioners whose practice involves working with children and young people. We are offering up to £2,000 to support development opportunities. Find more information below:

What is the Arts Connect Development programme?

We are inviting professional development proposals from early career artists, individual practitioners and organisations [1] whose practice involves working with children and young people. We recognise that individual practitioners and smaller independent organisations are a crucial part of the cultural ecology for young people but there are limited opportunities to support professional learning.

Aims of the Programme:

Through this programme we aim to support development opportunities that will lead to a positive impact on i) the quality of work produced for and with young people and ii) the sustainability and viability of employment for practitioners at a relatively early point in their careers. We are particularly interested in hearing from practitioners who work with children and young people that are underserved or are from those communities.

What activities might this support?

We are encouraging you to propose activities that you identify as being important to your next stage of development and we are happy to discuss these with you before you apply. Details about this can be found later in the document.

We are looking to support activities that develop new skills and opportunities, expand knowledge or introduce you to new approaches in an area of practice with young people. These activities might include:

• a formal course or other professional development activity
• mentoring or coaching
• visiting other practitioners or projects that demonstrate best practice
• placements with inspiring practitioner
• building on, developing or creating new business partnerships
• consultancy support on education practice, strategy development
• testing a new idea with other practitioners, young people, educationalists
• setting up pilots or market testing new services

Applicants must be able to provide evidence of their artistic/cultural achievement, their work with young people and/or experience of creating or producing activities for young people (either through resume, company biography, CV or governance documents).

What are the criteria?

Your proposal will need to show how it will meet at least one of the aims of the programme, set out in section 1.

How much is available?

You can apply for up to £2,000 and no match funding is required. Costs can go towards visits, travel, accommodation, course/conference fees, space hire – we leave it to you to put the case to us about what you need.

What we cannot support:

• proposals about property or are mainly about equipment or other capital items
• promotion of religion or political activity
• proposals that benefit people living outside the West Midlands
• fees for higher education courses

How can I find out more and apply?

For the full guidance and an application form please contact Jemima Waltho jemima.waltho@wlv.ac.uk or call 0121 446 3204

[1] Qualifying organisations are those that have been established since 2010 and have a turnover of less than £60,000 per annum