An important message from Northern Rock Foundation about grant programmes in 2008
Northern Rock Foundation has reopened its grants programme for high-quality and high-profile culture and heritage projects in North East England and Cumbria. The programme will be worth £2 million in 2008. We are now seeking applications to support performing arts, contemporary craft, design and new media, exhibitions, festivals and collaborations, as well as professional training for people working in these areas.
The Foundation plans to invest in a wide range of imaginative and ambitious work, and to promote the region’s creative talent. We know that cultural activities transform lives. Through our work on disadvantage, we support projects that, for example, use the arts to work with young people at risk, people with mental health problems and homeless people. The Culture and Heritage programme will continue to complement that, by providing dedicated investment in excellent, high-profile projects that everyone can enjoy, but which also contribute to our area’s continuing regeneration and growing pride.
Alongside Culture and Heritage, the Foundation’s programmes which are open for applications are:
- Independence and Choice – services for people with mental health problems, people with learning disabilities, older people and carers;
- Building Positive Lives – one-to-one help for young people at risk, homeless people, substance misusers and groups that face prejudice and discrimination;
- Safety and Justice – reducing the incidence and impact of domestic and sexual violence, abuse and hate crimes.
The Trustees have also decided that as part of their support for older people’s projects in Independence and Choice, they will now invest in organisations providing welfare benefits advice and targeted benefit take-up campaigns.
Overall, we are continuing our policy of funding fewer, better grants, and engaging with applicants and grant-holders to help them maximise their effectiveness. We are also making grants for work across the North East and Cumbria. If your work fits within one of these four programmes, you can apply now in the normal way. All the information you need is on this website.
In February 2008, the Chancellor announced that the Foundation would receive a minimum of £15m a year in 2008, 2009 and 2010 from Northern Rock, as part of the arrangement under which the bank was taken into temporary public ownership. The Foundation’s Trustees intend to spend at least £11 million through their grant programmes this year.
Organisations that already have grants and those that receive them in the future can be absolutely assured that we have funds set aside to meet all our outstanding commitments. Grants awarded over several years will be paid as planned.