Flash Fund for Fun Palaces Makers in Coventry & Warwickshire

Do you have a skill you’d like to share with your community? Whether you’re a dancer, quilter, painter or astrophysicist, we want to help!

Coventry City of Culture Trust is supporting local co-created activity throughout the city and wider county. We are offering Micro-Grants of up to £200 to residents who would like to create a Fun Palace as part of the international Fun Palaces Weekend of Action on the 3rd and 4th October 2020. 

What is a Fun Palace?

A Fun Palace is a community-led event (physical or digital) where you learn and share skills with other people in your local area. If you have a skill you would like to share with your community in Coventry and Warwickshire, why not get involved?

Fun Palaces have several guides to help you make safe local events this year, including a Shielders' Guide, Covid-19-safety suggestions and Digital Ideas, along with some amazing artworks and a short Fun Palaces film to help inspire you. 

As well as being a year round campaign, the Fun Palaces Weekend of Action, on the 3rd & 4th October, will see community-led projects come to life across the country and beyond.

Who are ‘Fun Palaces’?

Fun Palaces is a UK-based international campaigning organisation supporting local people to co-create free events that bring communities together, using skills-sharing as a way to get to know your neighbours. 

Your skill might be in street dance, watercolour, quilting or astro-physics - if you can share it with your neighbours, in real life or online, then you can make a Fun Palace!

 1000 Tiny Fun Palaces; Response to COVID-19.

Usually Fun Palaces welcome dozens of people to share their skills all at once with hundreds of participants, and there have been thousands of Fun Palaces across the UK since 2014. This year, in response to COVID-19, we want to encourage people to connect through TINY Fun Palaces instead.

“Maybe you'll teach three neighbours to play guitar from your front window, run a 15-minute online mask-sewing workshop, or share keepy-uppy skills with the (socially-distanced) supermarket queue - anything that connects people through sharing creativity in community is a Fun Palace, the smaller and safer the better.”

- Fun Palaces Co-Director, Stella Duffy.More info at: https://funpalaces.co.uk/1000-tiny/

More inspiration at: https://makemusicday.co.uk/blog-fun-palaces-2020/

Micro-Grants

The Fun Palaces Micro-Grant Scheme is delivered by Voluntary Arts England in Partnership with Coventry City of Culture Trust.

The fund is now open to applications to residents of Coventry & Warwickshire for any amount up to a maximum of £200. This can be used to purchase or hire equipment, buy materials, print posters/banners, hire a space etc. 

While Fun Palaces may be encouraging smaller than usual events this year, we appreciate that setting up a Fun Palace may require extra safety measures and equipment to make you and your community feel protected. Therefore the fund is designed to cover the cost of any PPE you might need, as well as IT equipment and software if you plan to deliver your activity remotely. 

How to Apply

The fund is limited, and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis. You can apply for a grant by emailing microgrants@voluntaryarts.org with a brief summary of your activity and where you’ll be doing it (250 words) and how much you need to run it, with a simple breakdown of costs. If your activity meets the criteria*, we will inform you as soon as we can so that you can register your activity on the Fun Palaces Map and we can release the funds to you. 

*Criteria

Anyone living in Coventry and Warwickshire with a CV postcode is eligible to apply.

Fun Palaces and this Micro-Grant fund is aimed at supporting activities that are community-led, rather than specifically artist-led. 

So long as your activity is free and involves sharing your skills or enthusiasm to connect with neighbours/ local community in Coventry and Warwickshire, your activity should be eligible. 

Any funding you apply for should be directly related to the delivery of your activity. 

Funds will be released to you via bank transfer once you have created an account on the Fun Palaces website, verified your account, and registered your activity. Support is available should you have any problems with this process. 

If you have any questions or queries you can call West Midlands Development Officer Nicola on 07748 718 230 or email her at nicola@vaengland.org.uk for advice and support.