FF#2 Freelance Fund Two

Arts and Cultural Workers in Sheffield: Freelance Fund #2
A further £100k of funding, which offers grants and support to freelance arts and cultural workers based in Sheffield has been announced by Sheffield Culture Consortium and Sheffield City Council. This follows the success of Freelance Fund Round 1, which awarded over £77,000 to 83 freelancers in Sheffield in April this year. More info on Round 1: Freelance grant outcome press release April 2021 FINAL

Round 2 is open NOW and will provide:

• Strand 1: Grants of up to £3,000; Open to Sheffield-based freelance arts and culture workers to adapt their businesses and develop their creative practice through research and development, training or upskilling and creating new work.
• Strand 2: Grants of up to £15k: Open to Sheffield-based organisations to enhance existing or develop new equipment resources for arts and cultural freelancers in Sheffield, responding to the need identified in Round 1.
• a programme of training, information and advice sessions delivered by Sheffield Creative Guild, to support creative freelancers in Sheffield to develop and grow their business. The programme will be developed in response to requirements identified in applications in the first round of funding.

Background
In autumn 2020, The University of Sheffield launched the Arts Recovery Project, a UKRI funded research programme designed to understand the impact of the pandemic on Sheffield’s cultural ecology. Research suggested that Freelance Art & Culture Workers have been largely ineligible for grant support schemes offered during the Covid pandemic via Sheffield City Council or Arts Council England.

Following this, Freelance Fund 1 was developed and promoted in January 2021, awarding over £77,000 to 83 freelancers in the city.  273 applications were submitted to this round. This fund brought much needed support to enable Freelance Art & Culture Workers in Sheffield to adapt their business and/or reignite and develop their creative freelance careers, so that they continue to work and are in a good position to respond to new projects and commissions as recovery starts to emerge.

Timetable
20 July – CALL OPENS
6 Sept at 9am – DEADLINE for applications
w/c 8 Oct – announce decisions

Criteria/Eligibility:
This fund will be available to:

> Strand 1

• Freelance Arts Workers (including artists, curators, events producers, makers, musicians, sound engineers, writers, for example) who are practicing, have a studio or live in Sheffield.
• Arts Workers at all stages of their careers
  and

> Strand 2

• Organisations (applying for the Equipment Provision activity) must be based in Sheffield and have an existing track record of proving support for artists and creative freelancers/art workers.

Definitions
In this instance, Arts Workers will be defined as those working in the cultural and creative sector: visual artists, performers (theatre/dance), musicians, craft/designer-makers, writers, film-makers, games designers or creative support services such as event producers, technicians, sound engineers.

Freelance is defined as someone who is self-employed, and works for companies on particular assignments.

Eligibility:
Strand 1
To apply to Strand 1, Freelance Arts Workers must meet all of the following criteria:

• Demonstrate that they are a Freelance Arts Worker (this could include for example, a website link, membership of Sheffield Creative Guild, The Musicians’ Union or Equity).
• Be resident in Sheffield. By this we mean either having an office, studio or residential address in Sheffield. ‘Sheffield’, in this instance is classed as within Sheffield City Boundaries which are not necessarily the same as the ‘S postcode’. There is a link to a map here – http://mdfs.net/Docs/Sheffield/Borders/1918.gif
• If they have a studio, it must be located in Sheffield City Boundary
• Have a Unique tax Reference (UTR) Number

Strand 2
To apply to strand 2, organisations must meet all the following criteria:

• Demonstrate they have a track record of supporting arts and cultural workers in Sheffield
• Be based in Sheffield City Boundary – By this we mean either having an office, studio or residential address in Sheffield. ‘Sheffield’, in this instance is classed as within Sheffield City Boundaries which are not necessarily the same as the ‘S postcode’. There is a link to a map here – http://mdfs.net/Docs/Sheffield/Borders/1918.gif

How to Apply
Click the links below for Guidelines and application forms:

Strand 1

Strand 2