Expression of Interest - Youth-Led Creativity Fund

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ADMIN FIELDS








This application has already been submitted
Completing your Expression of Interest:
You'll first be asked for some details about your organisation and work, what you are seeking support for, and your contact details.

You will then have space to tell us more about your work. We will ask you four questions about your work and how it meets our criteria for Youth-Led Creativity. You'll have a total of 1200 words to answer three questions. You can submit your answers either by:
  • Writing your answers in the space provided.
  • Uploading an audio or video recording with your answers to all four questions. As a guide on recording length, 1200 words is usually between 5 to 10 minutes of speaking. 
Your answers are meant to be short. We'll use your answers along with your organisation details, your website, and social media, to judge whether your work is a potential match for the programme.

The questions you will be asked in this second part are:
  1. Tell us, briefly, about what you want Esmée to fund and why (150 words)
  2. How is your work led by and shaped by young people from communities currently under-represented in arts and culture? (350 words) 
  3. In what ways do you prioritise the joy and care of young people? (350 words) 
  4. Can you give us an example of how you have collaborated or worked with others to develop youth-led practice and your learning around this? (350 words) 
Please note that you will not be able to save the form, so if you’re not ready 
to complete your Expression of Interest, you will need to start again. 
You may prefer to draft your answers using the sample form or in another document before copying your answers into our online form.

Response times and feedback: 
Your EOI will be reviewed at a fortnightly meeting with Esmée staff and IYPC consultants. We’ll consider its potential alongside other work we’re funding and requests we’ve received. Together, we’ll make a decision about whether to take it forward based on what we think is the most effective use of our resources. We will get back to you within four weeks. If we decide not to take your application further, we will give you some feedback, which we hope is helpful.

Are we the right funder for you:

The Youth-Led Creativity programme builds on young people’s power to make change, use creativity to enhance their lives, develop their careers, and influence the world around them. In 2026 and 2027, the programme will focus organisations based and working in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We are particularly interested in organisations who can demonstrate a strong commitment to youth-led practice and its development.


We expect to make 12 to 16 grants over the next two years.


Before continuing, please check that we are the right funder for your work. 

 

Criteria: who and what we're looking to support

Types of organisations:

●     Constituted organisations – e.g. charities, community interest companies (CICs), community benefit societies, and social enterprises. For organisations that are not registered charities, we want to know what measures they put in place to guard against disproportionate ‘personal benefit’. Some organisations such as CICs have protections against personal benefit built into their Articles of Association – others can choose to add these. An example is an ‘asset lock’ – a set of rules that determine what assets can be used for.

●     Based and working in Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales

●     Primarily arts and culture focused

●     Have an annual turnover of more than £50,000

 

Types of work:

●      Is youth-led: where young people are involved in designing, delivering and evaluating the work; and/or where young people are part of decision-making mechanisms such as advisors or as trustees. Most of the young people supported need to be aged 14 to 30.

●      Centres the voices of underrepresented young people: has a strong record of centering the voices of young people from communities underrepresented in arts and culture, and understands the barriers they face. This includes: young people who are:

o   D/deaf, disabled or neurodivergent

o   Are from communities experiencing racial inequity

o   Are economically disadvantaged

o   Identify as LGBT+

o   Have migration or care experience

o   Living outside of a big city

●      Prioritises the joy and care of young people: can demonstrate an intentional and holistic approach to this that goes beyond safeguarding.

●      Are collaborative and committed to learning with others to develop youth-led practice: understands the importance of this for creating change more widely and can demonstrate how they do this.

●      Creates change for young people: uses art and creativity as a tool for young people to use their voice and influence change in their own lives and the world around them.


Exclusions: who or what can't be funded

●     Organisations not based and working in Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales

●     Work that is part of the school curriculum

●     Work that is not legally charitable – defined as work that falls within one of 13 descriptions of charitable purposes and is for the public benefit

●     Grants to individuals

●     Capital costs including building work, renovations, and equipment

●     Academic research – unless it can demonstrate real potential for practical outcomes

●     Healthcare with a clinical basis, including medical research, hospices, counselling and therapy, arts therapy, education about and treatment for drug and alcohol misuse

●     Independent education

●     Work that is primarily the responsibility of statutory authorities to provide using public funds (for example: social services for children and older people)

●     The advancement of religion

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
We are also gathering Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) data from organisations who apply for our funding. Once you’ve submitted your Expression of Interest, you will be redirected to a DEI monitoring form. You will need to complete this for your organisation. We will use this information to make sure that the reach of our funding and our funding practices are fair and just. We will also use it to help us identify and address structural inequity.
If you would like to continue to make an application, click the 'Next Page' button. 

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Your Organisation

A fiscal host is an organisation that helps manage the financial and regulatory responsibilities for a group, project or organisation that may not have its own Legal Structure

Please note: For the remaining questions about the organisation (including type/structure, annual turnover), please enter the details of the lead organisation or fiscal host who will be hosting the funding.

Search for your Charity Name or Number

Please make sure this is correct.


You have the option to enter up to 3 social media accounts (please enter the link e.g. www.instagram.com/X):
FTE (full time equivalent)
Please enter a round number, without commas or a currency sign







Communities experiencing racial inequity: by this we mean that 75% or more of the Board/Management committee AND 50% of senior staff (where staff exist) are from communities experiencing racial inequity. This is often referred to as 'Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic', 'BAME' or 'Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)'.

Disabled: by this we mean that 75% or more of the Board/Management committee AND 50% of senior staff (where staff exist) are D/deaf or disabled.

In addition to this question, applicants will also be asked to complete a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion monitoring form, which you will be directed to after completing your Expression of Interest.
Your Contact details







This question is not compulsory - please only answer if you would like to

Your Work






(This does not mean funding for a post within your organisation)







Please select from the fields below the Level and Geographic that will benefit from the work proposed.  (Note: you should only go down to the level relevant to your work so if you work on a national level you should select Level = 'Country' and then select Geographic as the relevant country. If you work at local authority level, you should select Level = 'Local Authority'.  If you benefit from more than one Level or Geographic, then you can select 'Add another geographical area'.



Please enter a round number (no decimals) and do not include the currency sign or comma.

Please enter the number of months (to the nearest whole month) and do not write "months". 
Expression of Interest
Tell us more about your work and how it meets our criteria for Youth-Led Creativity by answering the following three questions:
  1. Tell us, briefly, about what you want Esmée to fund and why (150 words)
  2. How is your work led by and shaped by young people from communities currently under-represented in arts and culture? (350 words) 
  3. In what ways do you prioritise the joy and care of young people? (350 words) 
  4. Can you give us an example of how you have collaborated or worked with others to develop youth-led practice and your learning around this? (350 words)

You'll have a total of 1200 words to answer all three questions. You can submit your answers either by:
  • Writing your answers in the space provided.
  • Making the recording: if you would prefer to respond to the questions by audio or video, we will be making our assessment based on your responses. We will not be considering the production of the audio or video so please don’t worry about investing time or resource into this. When making the recording, please respond to each question in turn and include which question number you’re talking to each time.  
  • Uploading the recording: we accept video and audio submissions using any major platform. If you're uploading a video, we recommend setting the privacy of that video to 'Unlisted' unless you are comfortable with your video appearing in public searches and browsing. If you require your video to be password protected, please submit the link as instructed in the expression of interest form. When you receive the automated confirmation email, reply with the password for the video. See our guidance for support.


Add the third-party media platform link to the audio or video recording with your answers:


Enter the full URL and if sharing more than one link, please add a space between links






Total word count: 0 / 1200

You will be redirected to a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion monitoring form. After, you will know that all the information has been submitted when you are taken to a ‘thank you’ page.

We will then review your Expression of Interest with our Involving Young People Collective and get back to you within four weeks. In the meantime, if you have any queries, you can get in touch with us by email to: youthledcreativity@esmeefairbairn.org.uk




Contact Information