Creative Communities Fund – Refugee Festival Scotland
(Tue 14 – Sun 26 June 2016)
Application Guidelines
Deadline for Grant Application: Monday 21 March 2016, 12pm (Noon)
Please ensure you read these guidelines before completing the application
form.
What is Refugee Festival Scotland?
Coordinated by Scottish Refugee Council, Refugee Festival Scotland is an annual Scotlandwide programme of arts, cultural, educational, heritage and sport events that bring refugee
and local communities together in celebration of the contribution refugees make to the
richness and vibrancy of life in Scotland and the welcome offered to them by local people.
What is theme of this year’s Refugee Festival Scotland? – ‘Solidarity’
The theme for this year's festival is solidarity. Now, more than ever, we need to stand
together with people who've had to flee their homes and are now trying to build new lives
here. We especially welcome proposals that encourage the power of collective voice and
use the festival platform to help strengthen and motivate this within refugee and host
communities across Scotland.
What is Scottish Refugee Council’s Creative Communities Fund?
Scottish Refugee Council have secured a small amount of funding from a number of sources
to distribute in the form of small grants of up to £500 to community groups led by refugees
or that have a focus on working with refugees and asylum seekers.
This fund is designed to enable these groups to participate in Refugee Festival Scotland 2016
by delivering an event or activity with their members and local public that will help the
group to strengthen their social connections, assets and networks with receiving
communities.
This year, we have already secured enough funding to provide 16 grants of £500 through
our Creative Communities Fund. We will consider the geographical of the programme and
we’re interested in hearing from new applicants.
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What types of activities or events can you apply to the Creative Communities Fund for?
We welcome your group to apply for all kinds of activities and events – from music nights,
dance or theatre performances, storytelling sessions, fashion displays, visual art exhibitions,
crafts activities, discussions, film screenings, book readings, creative workshops and themed
walks to multi-cultural food events, sports events or quizzes. We are looking for you to think
creatively about how you can celebrate Refugee Festival Scotland with your community.
We encourage you to think about how the theme of solidarity might shape the content of
your event. For example, you could create an exhibition of photographs that shows
solidarity in your community, you could look for a film that reflects the theme of solidarity
and screen this in your local community hall, or demonstrate the power of your group’s
collective voice by performing a song, music or dance. Take a look at last year’s festival
programme for inspiration and ideas: www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk
Refugee Festival Scotland is an opportunity for you to reflect on your community’s
achievements, raise public awareness about your community and take action towards the
future you want to see for refugees in Scotland. Furthermore it’s an opportunity for you to
strengthen your group’s networks and connections with receiving communities, so we
encourage you to think about who you will work in partnership with.
Who can apply?
 You must be a community group or organisation that is either led by or focused on
working with refugees and/or asylum seekers.
 If you are an individual wishing to apply, you must find a community group or
organisation to apply on your behalf.
 We can only fund groups who have a bank account. If you don’t have a bank account
you could consider working in partnership with another group that does. If you
would like to discuss this further contact [email protected] /
0141 248 9799.
How will Scottish Refugee Council assess your application?
Scottish Refugee Council will assess the following:
1) Completeness of your application form - please ensure you answer all questions in
the application form. We are unable to consider incomplete forms.
2) Project timing - please ensure your event takes place within the festival programme
dates – Tuesday 14 June – Sunday 26 June. Please note the festival launch event will
take place from 12pm – 4pm on Saturday 18 June.
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3) Your group’s experience of and commitment to working with asylum seekers and
refugees.
4) Your event or activity’s connection to the theme of ‘Solidarity’.
5) The strength of the partnership/s you propose to develop through your activity.
6) Your group’s skills and experience in running events previously:
o Evidence of financial planning / budgeting
o Evidence of publicising / marketing
o Evidence of organisational / planning skills
7) We will consider geographical spread of the programme.
How can you apply?
1) Please ensure you have referred to the above assessment guidelines when
submitting your application.
2) Please complete and send an application form with your budget to
[email protected] by Monday 21 March 2016 at 12pm.
3) We may contact your organisation to discuss your application, so please ensure you
provide contact details for an appropriate person.
How can you get support with writing your application to the Creative Communities Fund?
Scottish Refugee Council are offering a free advice drop in session to help you prepare your
application, which you can attend on either:
Wednesday 24 February, 6pm – 8pm Or
Friday 26 February, 10am – 12pm
At Scottish Refugee Council Offices, 5 Cadogan Square, 170 Blythswood Court, Glasgow, G2
7PH.
If you wish to attend please contact [email protected] / call 0141
248 9799 or text 07734030760, letting us know which date suits you best.
If your application is successful, what happens next?
1) If your application is successful, a written grant offer will be made by Monday 18
April 2016. Please note we may not award the full amount applied for.
2) Following this, your organisation will be required to submit an invoice to Scottish
Refugee Council by Monday 25 April.
o Please ensure the address on your invoice is the address where you want the
grant cheque to be sent.
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o The invoice can take up to 10 days to process, and we will distribute the
money by cheque.
o Your organisation must have a bank account and send your bank details on
your invoice.
We will ask you to confirm your event details including venue, date, time and a 50
word description by Monday 25 April for the Refugee Festival Scotland website
listings.
You will be invited to attend a Refugee Festival Scotland networking and briefing
event prior to the festival and will be contacted about this date. At this event you
can pick up festival publicity materials, network with other groups that are involved
in the festival as well as practical advice on working with media and social media.
Once you’ve accepted your grant award from Scottish Refugee Council, we ask that
your organisation keep us informed about the event and any changes that happen
during planning so that we can update out website and listings.
Please ensure you include SRC’s logo on any publicity materials you create for your
event or activity and send us these in advance.
We require that you complete an event organiser evaluation form, which will be sent
to you in advance and return this by Friday 7 July. Any other documentation of the
event is also useful (ie. photos).
You will be invited to attend a Refugee Festival Scotland learning session after the
festival and will be contacted about this date. This is a relaxed event where we share
experiences and learn together about what went well and what could be improved.
We understand this grant may not be enough to entirely fund an event. We
encourage you to work in partnership with local organisations and venues who may
be interested in supporting your work.
If your application is unsuccessful, what happens next?
If you are unsuccessful in your application we will notify you by Monday 25 April. Please
note that we will try to offer some feedback on why your application has been unsuccessful,
but due to limited capacity this is not always possible.
If you are unsuccessful in being awarded funding and would still like to be part of the
programme, complete the event submission form and send to
[email protected] by Friday 29 April, 12pm.
For more information, or to discuss your grant application, please contact
0141 248 9799 / [email protected]
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