Community Post Type: Callouts

The fund, delivered by the Community Foundation for Merseyside (CFM) in partnership with the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside (PCC) and the Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP), is targeted at community projects that offer diversionary activities – particularly those that include arts, culture, digital skills such as coding, and sports to support young people aged under 25 years who may be more vulnerable to experiencing violence and at risk of anti-social behaviour.

This could be due to a lack of self-esteem, social isolation or experiencing challenges at home. They may live in a community where drugs and alcohol are prevalent, or the community may lack infrastructure and accessible services. All these factors are recognised as increasing vulnerability to experiencing violence and/or exploitation.

The grants panel are keen for applicants to include capacity building costs for their organisation and would encourage consortium/partnership applications that will allow groups to work together (although this is not a requirement). The primary focus of the fund is community provision and out-of-school-hours engagement.

For full details, visit here

An online application form can be completed here. You can attach supporting documents to your online application, or email them at applications@cflm.org.uk.

Documents which need to be included with your application:

1. 1. A copy of your governing document.
   2. A copy of your latest annual accounts or income/expenditure document.
   3. A copy of a recent bank statement for your group. If you do not have a bank account in place, you must be able to nominate another organisation to hold the funds (CVS, another local charity, church etc.).
   4. A list of your Trustees/Directors/Management Committee members. A minimum of three un-related must be in place.
   5. A copy of your current Safeguarding Policy. All applicants must ensure that they hold relevant policies and procedures in place to undertake activities, such as Criminal Records Bureau checks and/or a health and safety policy, depending on proposed activity. If unsure, they recommend taking advice from your local CVS.

If you have applied within the last 12 months and provided this information, they do not need you to send it again, although they may require a more recent bank statement.

Closing date: 1 May

Artists are invited to submit 5–15 minute performances (poetry, music, or theatre) for Breaking the Class Ceiling at Unity Theatre on 30 May, a live showcase of working-class artistry following a heritage event.

Event: Breaking the Class Ceiling at Unity Theatre
When: Sat 30th May
Deadline: 27th April

Seeking 5-15 min performances (poems, songs, theatre).

To be shared following a Heritage project event:

Breaking the Class Ceiling – A Live Exploration of Working-Class Artistry.

To apply- email: elirandle@unitytheatre.co.uk by 27th April.

Boost your confidence and enjoy future presentations with this Public Speaking Bootcamp!

Head along to the next Public Speaking Bootcamp at Clockwise, Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool on Thursday 30th April, 10am-midday.

Anyone can sign up! Places are limited and are just £50 per person. Click here to sign up.

Delivered by Sam Avery (an award-winning comedian with 20 years experience of performance & coaching) this workshop offers smart and memorable tips for improving your public speaking skills.

Make your presentations more engaging, increase your confidence and learn how to enjoy future public engagements!

Fun and friendly. All abilities and experience welcome.

For more info contact sam@thecomedytrust.com

Queensway Collective CIC is a Merseyside-based collective that platform underrepresented community groups within the electronic music industry.

They facilitate DJ courses for beginners and also run Studio Picnic – an affordable DJ and community-use studio space in L3. On top of that, we host parties and events across Merseyside! The Studio Picnic Summer School will take place over 12 weeks in Liverpool. The course is free of charge, and there will be a graduation-style showcase event taking place after the completion of the programme.

Apply here

Closing date: Friday April 17th, 7pm

From 1st to 31st May, Liverpool Music Month will be a city-wide celebration of the people, projects and creativity that make Liverpool a UNESCO City of Music, backed by a global and national destination marketing campaign to champion everything that is happening in Liverpool in May. Then, from 1st June to 31st August, the city region will celebrate Liverpool Summer of Music, highlighting all of the events across the summer calendar in Liverpool City Region.

Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music will target music-loving visitors from across the UK and beyond to experience the best music from around the globe in the World’s Music Capital.

As part of the programme, they’re offering artists/musicians and music based organisations the opportunity to use Liverpool Music Month and Liverpool Summer of Music as a platform for their own work, whether through performance, workshops, talks, community activity or other music-related projects that reflect the rich breadth of music making across our region. This could be existing work adapted for Liverpool Music Month or brand-new activity, and they will be able to provide some commissioning budget to participating organisations to support the development of their projects.

There is a budget for work for Liverpool based artists/organisations for the city and another allocation for those based in each of the city region boroughs – Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. Decisions will be based on ensuring there is performance/activity happening in each of the city region areas so please specify in the form below where you are from and where your activity will take place.

They welcome applications from musicians, venues, promoters and music organisations. Please note it is likely they won’t be able to support more than 20 commissions across the Liverpool city region and all decisions are final. You can read our Terms and conditions and FAQ’s here.

To express your interest, please fill out this form and, if you can, provide a brief description of what you’d like to bring to Liverpool Music Month.

Closing date is Thursday 9 April, 6pm.

Liverpool Architecture Foundation CIC. Championing architecture and the built environment in the Liverpool City Region with a bi-annual festival and year round programme of events.

The Liverpool Architecture Foundation would like to invite event ideas for the Liverpool Architecture Festival. We are inviting ideas for events, seminars, walking and building tours, and socials that you may have. They are encouraging events take place through the 6 Liverpool City Region Boroughs.

For further details visit www.laf-uk.com

The inaugural UK Town of Culture competition, launching for 2028, is a government initiative designed to boost local pride, investment and community identify in towns of all sizes.. 

Similar to the UK City of Culture contest, it challenges towns to showcase their local history and creativity, with the winner receiving a £3 million prize to deliver a year-long cultural programme. 

Key Details:

• Purpose: To restore pride, drive local investment, and celebrate unique, local stories.
• Prize: The winning town receives £3 million, with two runners-up receiving £250,000–£275,000.
• Eligibility: Open to small, medium, and large towns across the UK (excluding Greater London).
• Categories: Three finalists will be chosen, representing small (<20k pop), medium (20k–75k), and large (>75k) towns.
• Selection: An expert panel led by Sir Phil Redmond will assess bids based on community involvement and creative vision.
• Timeline: Expressions of Interest are due by March 31, 2026, with the winner to be announced ahead of 2028

The competition aims to replicate the transformative benefits of the City of Culture, such as increased visitor numbers, improved wellbeing, and economic growth.

The teams in Prescot, Bootle, Widnes, Birkenhead and New Brighton are all working hard on developing their ToC bids.

Birkenhead and New Brighton have launched some short surveys to enable people to provide input before the EOI is submitted – see links below

Survey links:

Birkenhead: https://form.jotform.com/260603865488063

New Brighton: NB Town of Culture

Closing dates:

Survey completion – 26 March

Final competition submissions – 31 March

For the second year, Collective Encounters has been selected to take part in the Big Give’s Arts for Impact fundraising campaign.

They are raising money to provide lifelong access to theatre for social change, supporting people to come together, build skills and get their voices heard, through their offer of regular creative groups for adults. This is the most difficult thing in their programme to fund. They rely on donations to keep this provision going year on year.

They are aiming to raise £4,000 through online donations, which will be matched £ for £ by The Big Give, giving us a total of £8,000 in vital funds.

To support the campaign, make a donation through their online campaign site between midday on 17 March and midday on 24 March 2026.

If you’re a musician aged 12 or older, just a beginner or at a professional level, who plays an Indian classical instrument, who can play Hindustani or Carnatic music on another instrument, or sing – Milap would love to hear from you!

Apply for an ensemble audition here

A cornerstone of their work at Milap, their ensembles, are ready to return 2026! They’re on the lookout for new musicians across England to join us by sending in their initial application for auditions taking place in March.

Via this link, you can explore one of their ensembles (Samyo, Sabrang or Tarang) apply to audition :

St Helens Concert Band have received funding to provide a limited number of concerts in 2026 for charitable or non-profit making groups in the Merseyside area.

If you have an event where you think a concert band would help with your fund-raising or just strengthen your community do get in touch to discuss. St Helens Concert Band is a 25 strong wind band – they can play indoors or outdoors (under cover preferably). You supply the venue, and 25 chairs – they will do the rest.

Send an e-mail to Keith at puychaudko@yahoo.co.uk.