Step 1: Grow: Project guidance on eligibility

• New, non-profit cultural projects in Leeds  
• We define cultural projects as original, not-for-profit artistic activities in: Circus, Combined Arts, Crafts, Dance, Design, Digital Media, Festival / Carnival, Film, Literature / Poetry / Spoken Word, Live Art, Music, Photography, Theatre, Visual Art  
• To build on the legacies of LEEDS 2023  
• To support new activity (this can be as part of a reoccurring event – e.g., an annual festival)  
• To encourage Leeds artists, producers, co-producers, promoters, and creative partners to make larger scale work across the city  
• To provide leverage for you to draw in additional funding to your project and to Leeds  
• To support delivery of Leeds City Council’s Best City Ambition  
• To support activities that, on balance for each funding round, deliver opportunities and benefits across all areas of the city  
• We are particularly keen to support activities that reflect the creative and cultural diversity of Leeds. This includes activities by, with or for those with protected characteristics and those living in the most disadvantaged areas of the city. We will accrue the data of applicants and beneficiaries over time and will respond to gaps in provision across the wider Leeds Cultural Investment Programme

• Individuals registered as living in Leeds
• Cultural and creative organisations registered in Leeds
• Community or voluntary groups registered in Leeds to a non-profit cultural project 
• Commercial (for-profit) organisations registered in Leeds to run a non-profit free to access cultural project 
• Groups of organisations or individuals, registered in Leeds, working in partnership. One organisation or individual will need to take the lead and have the responsibility for managing the application and being accountable for any grant given. We expect that a form of partnership agreement will be in place if your application is successful.

• Repeat activity – your project activity must be new
• Educational establishments (schools, colleges, universities)
• Activity that does not involve work by artists
• Activity that is not cultural (defined as original not-for-profit artistic activities in: Circus, Combined Arts, Crafts, Dance, Design, Digital Media, Festival / Carnival, Film, Literature / Poetry / Spoken Word, Live Art, Music, Photography, Theatre or Visual Arts)
• Core costs, that are not directly related to the delivery of the project, including general running costs, which are already covered by other funding or that should be covered by your own resources
• Ongoing overheads relating to equipment or buildings, such as salaries, insurance, building repairs and maintenance costs
• Activities that provide no benefit or engagement opportunity to people in Leeds
• Student/school projects or activities
• Organisations with any other Leeds Cultural Investment Programme funding
• Leeds Council operated organisations
• Individuals and organisations with a registered address outside of Leeds
• Capital equipment
• Sports activity, kit or equipment
• Charity fundraising events
• Competitions or lotteries
• Redistribution of funds as grants to other parties
• Activities that promote party political or religious views

Between £4,000 to £8,000 per project

We aim to notify you of the outcome of your application within ten weeks of the submission deadline. 

We cannot fund activity which has already started so please do not start your project until we have received your signed funding agreement and we have issued the first grant payment.  

Your activity will have completed by approximately a year after the award has been made.

You will be unable to receive any other funding from Leeds Cultural Investment Programme until you have completed your project and returned an End of Project Report.

Yes, you will be required to evidence a minimum of 10% eligible cash funding within your application, we do not provide 100% funding for any projects.

Additional funding means:

• Cash from other sources.
• We welcome the inclusion of in-kind support in your application but in-kind cannot be counted as your match funding requirement.
• You cannot include funding from other Leeds City Council departments as a contribution to your match funding.

Cash funding could be from earned income, sponsorships, trusts and foundations or other cultural funders e.g. Arts Council England or National Lottery Heritage Fund.

You will be required to submit evidence of any additional cash funding you have in place, e.g. an offer letter, redacted bank statement, funding contract.

Applications that deliver more match funding or have match funding already confirmed might be considered stronger in assessment. You should consider this when planning your project.

First you must arrange a 1-1 meeting with a member of the Culture Programmes Team. This meeting is compulsory. During this meeting you will be able to share your ambitions, tell us about your project and discuss what a realistic bid for support might be.

Meetings are booked through our Eventbrite find the latest booking links here.

You should then complete the Grow: Project application form, alongside the budget and EDI form from the website here.

To apply to Grow: Project you will also need to complete and attach the following documents with your application:

An Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Monitoring form - which we provide

Budget for your project showing income and expenditure and balanced outcome

Most recent set of end of year or audited accounts (if you are an organisation) 

• Completed applications will be assessed by a panel of Leeds City Council officers and/or external assessors
• Incomplete applications cannot be assessed
• We may also take references from other relevant funders
• Following assessment, we will balance applications to ensure that there is a spread of investment across the city, a broad representation of the diversity of our city and a range of activity in different art forms. Balancing means that you may make a strong application but still not be successful
• It is possible that we will not invest in you if you did not follow previous funding requirements or complete the annual survey/ end of project report within the agreed timescales or if you did not seek approval for changes to your activity

Yes, you are welcome to reapply at the next opportunity. Meanwhile you may wish to consider other funding opportunities, we have collated a list of other funding sources here.

Due to the volume of expected submissions, we are unable to give feedback for specific applications.

We aim to notify you of the outcome of your application within ten weeks of the published application deadline.

If your application is successful, you will receive 90% of the award on receipt of a signed Grant Agreement and subject to you meeting any additional funding requirements that might be necessary. This process might take a further 2 - 3 weeks.

You will receive the final 10% of the grant award on completion of your project and on the return of a Project Completion Form.

Please note: For projects over 12 months, we reserve the right to vary your payment schedule.

We will also require that you complete the annual Leeds Cultural Impacts Survey (further details will be provided in due course).

Leeds City Council considers most Grow: Project grant funding from its Cultural Investment Programme will be a subsidy as defined under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (“the Act”) and will be subject to the conditions in the Act. If your application is successful, it may be awarded under the Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) exemption of the Act; the MFA exemption permits an organisation to receive up to £315,000 total MFA funding from all sources, within any three financial year period. In this case you will be sent a declaration form to notify us of any previous MFA funding you have received so far in the current financial year and the preceding two financial years, and to confirm that the proposed Inspire grant from Leeds City Council will not take you over your £315,000 MFA limit.  If the Grow (project) grant would take you over the MFA limit, then Leeds City Council will have to carry out a further assessment of your eligibility under the Act to receive this funding.

What if the application form isn’t accessible to me? 

If our application form isn’t accessible to you, please get in touch.  We can explore how we can support you to apply for the funding, in a way that meets your needs.  Please email culturalgrants@leeds.gov.uk