Ajay’s Story

“Why I applied for funding & why you should consider it too”

In 2020, Art Clubbers CIC received a Connecting People and Places Fund award for “S.Y.N.C.” project, co-funded by City of London.

Name
Ajay Pabial

Role
Managing Director, Art Clubbers

Area or borough
I live in Redbridge but operate in and around all London Boroughs.

How did you hear about the Foundation’s funding?
I heard about this funding opportunity from partners we were working with at the time. As an organisation, we have been doing a lot of social engaged work around Tower Hamlets, our partners at the time encouraged us to apply to continue working within the borough and delivering more innovative work for young people and the local community.

What challenges did you face in applying?
If I’m speaking honestly, I didn’t encounter any challenges in applying. The process was sweet, simple and completely accessible. For any first-time applicants, this is a perfect process, allowing you to become familiar with what a funder is looking for.

What tips would you give to first-time applicants or people considering making an application?
Don’t be afraid of rejection! There will be funding opportunities that you may not get but believe in your ideas and in no time the right opportunity will pop-up to make your ideas comes to life!

Coming out of education the only language and structure you learn is academic, over the years I have learnt to slowly unlearn that and understand you just need to be genuine, clear and straight to the point.

I believe authenticity is so important when writing funding applications and bids, also ensure you get across your motivation and drive to make a difference.

If you’re ever stuck with your applications, always contact the funder, they may be able to sign-post you some great advice or inform you of any support sessions where you can get one to one support.

Foundation for Future London is an amazing organisation championing the game changers of tomorrow, the Connecting People and Places fund celebrates innovation, creativity and community of individuals, groups and organisations who are on a mission to make their creative ideas into a reality!

How has the funding helped local people and local communities so far?
S.Y.N.C (Skills. Youth. Network. Create.) brings an innovative solution to embed fusion skills into budding creatives. Giving young people who are looking to kick- start their careers the opportunity to strengthen their skills and pass their experience on to younger generations. We are inspiring and equipping future creatives on their endeavours by fusing creative mediums with fusion skills.

Kicking off with S.Y.N.C Bootcamp, a group of young people aged between 19-25 years old will become the ‘Creative Leaders’ of today. Receiving training from industry experts our newly equipped Creative Leaders will go on to partake in a progressive journey to deliver their workshops to young people ages 10 to 19 and deliver this fresh new toolkit to create a show stopper for S.Y.N.C Festival, a platform showcasing innovation powered by a fusion creative and functional skills.

Since the Creative Leaders will be running their sessions to local youths, it’s important that local young people have their say in who they would like to see.

A creative democracy.

Have you built any new relationships that you will continue with?
Since receiving the funding, we have gone on to develop relationships and other work that brings us back to S.Y.N.C.

The Connecting People and Places Fund has allowed us to support local East London partners to deliver arts, education and employment programming and creative placemaking.

We will be delivering creative entrepreneurial workshops as part of the East Summer School alongside the East Bank partners and in close collaboration with London Legacy Development Corporation.

We have also have been given the opportunity to work in collaboration with Foundations of Future London and Culture Mile by delivering youth-led consultations with their 6 Fusion Prize finalists. All great stepping stones towards delivering our project S.Y.N.C later this year!