New Film Showcases Our Medium Grant Scheme Grantees

Our newest video celebrates the 11 East London organisations we awarded in March 2021 with £160,000 from our Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund‘s Medium Grant Scheme, which offers up to £15,000 in arts funding to help spark new skills and employment.

Hear from staff and participants at Deafroots and Community Music, two of the projects working with young people and local communities. Find out how our funding will make a real difference to the lives of many.

485 local people will benefit from these 11 projects: through lifelong learning, skills development and personal improvement opportunities, as well as activities to help to tackle health, social and economic inequalities.

Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund is an ambitious five-year programme that aims to invest £10 million into the local communities of Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest, supported through a generous donation from Westfield Stratford City. This flagship project will provide new jobs, learning, training and educational programmes through the means of arts, culture, innovation, public realm and creative placemaking.

Round 1’s 11 grantees and their projects 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

The Medium Grant Scheme is designed to fund work that will break down barriers and tackle inequality by supporting residents across the boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest to access education, skills development and employment opportunities.

Groups, organisations, schools, businesses can apply for £5,000–£15,000.

Thank you to Richard Clegg, CEO and Lee Gaynor at Community Music and Sangeeta Sengupta, CEO and Sarla Meisuria at Deafroots for taking part.

The Medium Grant Scheme video was directed by Emily Chapps and produced by Bijal Shah, with the following creative team:

• DOP: Emily Munster
• Video Editor: Katya Ganfield
• Voiceover Artist: Chris Cashino
• Supported by: Amy Zamarripa Solis

To learn how the Westfield East Bank Creative Futures Fund can support you and your ideas, sign up to our and check out our programme page to find out about upcoming funding streams and how to get support with your application.