11 East London organisations awarded £160,000 in arts funding to help spark new skills and employment
In March 2021, we have awarded 11 organisations with grants of up to £15,000 each to support new projects for young people and local communities through Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund’s Round 1 of the Medium Grant Scheme.
- 11 projects in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest working with young people and local communities
- Medium Grant Scheme Round 1 supports projects on lifelong learning, skills development and personal improvement opportunities and help tackle health, social and economic inequalities.
- 485 local people will benefit from project activities
We have awarded funding to projects that work with the most marginalised members of East London’s communities, from a catering programme for disabled and deaf/hard of hearing women in Newham (Deafroots) to a theatre careers programme for school leavers in Tower Hamlets (Half Moon Young People’s Theatre) and from an employability programme for Bangladeshi and Somali women in Tower Hamlets (Streets of Growth) to an entrepreneur programme for vulnerable adults in Hackney (Shared Enterprise CIC).
Other programmes include: writing programme for people recovering from addiction (Outside Edge Theatre Company) and digital arts and music programmes for young people at risk of exclusion or offending (Destiny Community Services) or NEET/Not in employment, education or training (Community Music Ltd).
The Medium Grant Scheme is aimed at non-profit groups and organisations in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest to support lifelong learning, skills development and personal improvement opportunities and help tackle health, social and economic inequalities. It offers grants of £5,000 up to £15,000 through an open-application scheme. Round 1 opened on 6 October 2020 and closed on 30 November 2020.
The Medium Grant Scheme is part of Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund, an ambitious five-year programme supported by retailer Westfield Stratford City and delivered by Foundation for Future London that will invest £10 million into local communities of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest. The Fund aims to connect the communities of East London with the new East Bank cultural quarter in development on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Round 1 awardees are:
- Shared Enterprise CIC, Woodberry Down Shared Enterprise Club, Hackney
- Get Set Girls, Techreate, Hackney
- Xenia, Xenia Women Lifelong Learning, Hackney
- Career Camp CIC, Rail Camp (with Network Rail), Waltham Forest
- Destiny Community Services, The Bridge, Waltham Forest, Newham
- Community Music ltd, Re: Charge, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney
- Outside Edge Theatre Company, East London Write Now, Tower Hamlets
- Streets of Growth, INSPIRE Creative Enterprise Hub for Women, Tower Hamlets
- Half Moon Young People’s Theatre, Careers in Theatre, Tower Hamlets
- People’s Empowerment Alliance for Custom House, ReBuild, Newham (co-funded by East End Community Foundation)
- Deafroots, HERStory, Newham
Maria Adebowale-Schwarte, CEO, Foundation for Future London says:
“We are proud to award 11 outstanding projects through our Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund’s Medium Grant Scheme, which really represent the diversity of people living in the four boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. The scheme is about using arts, culture and placemaking to inspire and spark new skills and employment opportunities for local people, which we feel will help create a dynamic ripple effect as the new East Bank site is being developed. We believe it’s important to fund the local communities and people who will no doubt help bring the new cultural quarter to life as a thriving ‘local to global’ neighbourhood and a place local people will be proud to be part of.”
For more information on the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund Medium Grant Scheme, see https://future.london/grant/westfield-east-bank-creative-futures-fund-medium-grant-scheme/
Photo credit: Community Music