Community Post Type: Callouts

An £18 million social impact investment fund for socially driven arts, culture and heritage organisations registered and operating in the UK.

The Arts & Culture Impact Fund provides affordable repayable finance that can be used, among other things, to acquire new assets, improve built infrastructure, develop new ventures or scale up existing revenue streams. Currently accepting applications.

Find out more about the Arts & Culture Impact Fund below. If you are interested in applying for funding, please complete their enquiry form.

Background and History

The Arts & Culture Impact Fund brings together a mix of public, private and philanthropic investors – Arts Council England, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Better Society Capital, Bank of America, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Freelands Foundation and Nesta. The fund is the world’s biggest impact investment fund for the creative arts.

The fund builds on the success of the Arts Impact Fund, a pilot initiative launched in 2015 to demonstrate how impact investment could transform the arts and cultural sector.

The Arts & Culture Impact Fund sets out to achieve several objectives for the arts, cultural and heritage sectors:

• Provide organisations with appropriate and bespoke repayable finance
• Develop the financial resilience of borrowers
• Support organisations to better monitor, evaluate and communicate their social impact
• Attract additional investment into the sector to help organisations thrive
• Promote the wider positive impact the arts, culture and heritage have on society and support more organisations to benefit individuals and communities through their work.

Funding

The Arts & Culture Impact Fund offers secured and unsecured finance between £150,000 and £1,000,000 with repayment term available until May 2032 and interest rates ranging between 3% and 8.5%.

To apply, visit here

Free Activities and workshops for you.

See below details of Irish History Walks, Street Theatre Tours,  a North Liverpool Dock Trail and Liverpool One Street Theatre.

ALL FREE!

Free Lunchtime Irish History Walk

Join ArtsGroupie‘s John Maguire on a revealing journey through Liverpool city centre. Spectators will hear about the Victorian tragedy of the Irish Famine changed Liverpool’s streets. Trail walkers will learn about how locations were used for sanctuary, nourishment and safety and understand the benevolence of Liverpool’s people. Using their new trail app, headsets and recent Walk of the Bronze shoes experience, your guides will really help you to walk in the shoes of Liverpool’s people 180-years ago.

• Tue 18 Feb 2025
• Wed 19 Feb 2025
• Tue 18 Mar 2025
• Wed 19 Mar 2025.

Meeting on Brunswick Street by The Alchemist and finish at St Nicholas Church, opposite The Liver Building.

Lasts around 45 mins.

Book here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/liverpool-irish-famine-trail-tours-for-liverpool-bid-tickets-1076467395959

 

Free Street Theatre Tours

Tours will begin at THE BLUECOAT and finish at the Lights Up on Liverpool Theatre Exhibition – Central Library.

Lasts around one hour.

Liverpool Theatres Through Time

Thurs 20^th Feb at 12pm

Thurs 13^th Mar at 5:30pm

Liverpool’s Pantomimes

Fri 21^st Feb at 12pm

Fri 14^th Mar at 12pm

Stars of the Liverpool Stage

Sat 22^nd Feb at 12pm

Sat 8^th Mar at 12pm

The Comedy and Tragedy of Liverpool Stages

Sat 1^st Mar at 12pm

Sat 15^th Mar at 12pm

To book your place, please email artgroupie@outlook.com and state the date and number of FREE Places

Free Liverpool Dock Walk

Sunday 9^th March – 10am & 12:30pm.

Lasts around one hour.

To book your place, please email artgroupie@outlook.com and state the date and number of FREE Places

FINALLY –

Keep an eye out in Liverpool One Sat 15^th, Sun 16^th, Sat 22^nd and Sun 23^rd Feb, our Victorian characters, Gutter Merchant Rosalyn and Docker James, will be around between the hours of 12 – 3pm, on Steers Way and College Lane, talking about the Old Dock and pointing out all the Heritage on the Liverpool ONE Official audio trail.

This training is for organisations with an annual income of £100k or more who wish to understand more about the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

The foundation supports organisations whose work is focused on the arts, children and young people, the environment, food or social change.

Held 12 March, LCVS, 151 Dale Street, Liverpool, L2

Learn more and book now on Eventbrite

In early 2025, Liverpool City Council are developing a new strategy and delivery plan to address community cohesion and strengthen communities, following the widespread disorder last summer. They want to invite local voluntary, community and faith groups to work alongside us in the strategy development.

In the lead up, they have been awarded £57,000 from HM Government to deliver some local projects, and we would like to invite the voluntary, community and faith sector (VCF) in Liverpool, to apply to run small projects within your local communities.

Liverpool based VCF organisations can apply for a one-off grant of any amount up to a maximum of £2,500. Eligibility criteria and a list of project examples are provided within the Grant Specification available here.

Organisations will be required to feedback what has been delivered, and they would like groups to commit to helping develop the cohesion strategy during 2025 – this might be through a written submission, a survey, or an informal meeting/conversation, whichever suits your organisation and community. They are looking to work with both long-standing and also more recently established groups across the city.

The grants must meet one of the criteria specified below (these are determined by MHCLG HM Government)

1. Improves the capability of places to respond to periods of community tensions through initiatives that strengthen community connections, promote unity and shared values.
2. Improves local partnership approaches to supporting community resilience by funding projects to strengthen ‘bridging’ social capital in at-risk places.
3. Improves the capability of places to tackle the extreme narratives and ideologies that are driving our communities apart.
4. Brings communities together to improve cohesion and reduce divisions in places facing extremism challenges.

Apply here

If you have a query that is not included in the Grant Specification please email communitiestogether@liverpool.gov.uk

Closing date: 14 February

Join the team for a fascinating journey into the world of one of the most celebrated and versatile plants – the ginger family, Zingiberaceae.

Whether you’re interested in the botanical wonders of ginger or its rich cultural & local histories, this event has something for everyone. From the plant’s ancient roots to its modern-day significance, we will explore its fascinating journey & impact through the lens of both science & culture.

Spice Stories is a unique collaboration between the Liverpool Botanical Trust and the Research Institute for Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University.

Expect an engaging day of talks, discoveries, & insights, with lunch & refreshments included in the ticket price!10.15 – Welcome by Dr Kate Walchester, Director of Research Institute of Literature and Cultural History, LJMU and Steve Lyus, Chair of the Liverpool Botanic Trust

10.30-11.30 – Axel Dalberg Poulson, Zingiberales Taxonomist, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh: ‘The Diversity of Gingers of the World’

11.30-12.00 – Tea break.

12.00-1.00 – Steve Lyus, Chair of the Liverpool Botanical Trust: ‘“Roscoe’s Baby”, The first Monograph for the Gingers’;
Donna Young, Curator of Herbarium, World Museum, Liverpool: ‘The Liverpool Herbarium and its Gingers.’

1.00-2.00 – Lunch and exhibition, featuring contributions by botanical artist Sue McHugh, LJMU graduate Anna John and Athena Nursery

2.00-3.00 – Richard Baines, Curator at Logan Botanic Garden: ‘Growing Gingers in Great Britain.’

3.10-3.40 – Rebecca Bailey, Senior Lecturer in English Literature: “What’s ginger, I pray ye?”: an exploration of ginger in early modern England’.

3.40-4.00 – Conclusion, tea, and evaluation.

To book on the event, visit here

Held at Croxteth Hall Park, see their website here

Actors Wanted – For play to be performed at the Leverhulme Drama Festival and Hope Street Theatre.

Audition Date: Monday 17th Feb, 7pm
Venue: Valley Theatre, Childwall Valley Rd, Liverpool L27 3YA

Valley Theatre are looking for experienced and non-experienced actors for a variety of roles in this year’s entry for the Leverhulme Drama Festival. Valley have won a variety of awards at the festival over the years and are looking to do the same with this year’s entry – “Next Edition”, a play about theatre groups from different generations, and the work they produce. The play will also be performed in June at Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool.

They will be casting for a wide range of roles and ages, shorter pieces and more demanding. No preparation needed. Short extracts from the play will be at the audition and time given to look over before presenting them.

A great acting opportunity with a welcoming company. All welcome.
Leverhulme Drama Festival performance date: Tuesday 22nd April, eve.
Hope Street Theare date: June 6th -8th.

More details info@valleytheatre.co.uk Put “audition” in the message box. Or simply turn up on the night.
https://www.valleytheatre.co.uk

Africa Oyé invite applications for the roles of Trustees and Chair of the Board as the charity enters an exciting new era.

As announced, 2025 will be a ‘fallow year’ in terms of Oyé festival activity. Africa Oyé the Liverpool institution, is looking to strengthen its board ahead of this exciting new era. We are looking for authentic, strategic thinkers with a strong commitment to our aims and be part of our Oyé Family.

This is an incredibly exciting time to join us, as we embark upon an ambitious new future.

For more information, visit africaoye.com/work-with-us

Please submit your CV and cover letter by email to ally@africaoye.com

The deadline for applications is midnight on 10 February 2025.

Liverpool BID Company is launching its third year of the Arts & Culture Fund for projects and events taking place in Liverpool city centre.

The fund has two levels of grants; one for small grants of less than £5,000 which can cover 100% of the project, and a larger grant which can cover up to 50% of the total cost of the project which has a maximum cap of £10,000.

Eligible projects should align with Liverpool BID’s objectives, including driving footfall to the city centre, improving the city perspective, showing innovation and helping to showcase Liverpool as a thriving city, ensure the arts have a future in the city, meet both sustainable and ESG objectives, identity a commitment to equality and diversity.

Applicants can be levy payers, or non Levy Payers. This can include charities, CICs and CIOs committed to increasing public access to the arts. Organisations can include, but are not limited to, museums, galleries, historic houses, archives, libraries, agencies, local authorities, and festivals. After a successful year of funding in 2024, where we have seen local arts groups, city-wide dance projects, exhibitions, walking tours and more funded.

The funding has reopened with the next deadlines on:

• 28th March 2025
• 26th September 2025

Download the funding support pack here

A call out from Charlie at Dogtale Theatre, seeking actors for their Unity Theatre show, 14 March.

‘Hello all! I’m Charlie and I run a theatre company called Dogtale Theatre. We’re brand spanking new and we’ve got our first show on the 14th March this year! We need some actors!

The show is Boxes: Three Stories- a comedy anthology of three short stories, one of which has toured round the North East to great reviews. It’s funny, moving, and super short and snappy. It should be a great night!

There’s two roles we’re looking to fill, in the first and third stories, so it’ll be a multi-role situation with a lot of range and character’

ROLES AVAILABLE:

MICHEAL/COLIN (20s)

Michael is a regular at church. He’s not religious in the slightest, but he comes to confession about three times a day, every day. His questions range from “why don’t you believe in god anymore father?” to “what’s your favourite ride at alton towers father?”. He’s a pain in the arse. In truth, he’s a deeply wounded lad going through an unbearable trauma, covering it up with humour. But he’s still a pain in the arse.

Colin is the son of Fred, the epitome of “old enough to know better”. He’s spoilt, belligerent, foul-mouthed and loyal to whichever cause will cause the biggest scene. He’s deeply insecure about himself, but won’t look anyone in the eye long enough for you to know. He’d rather spit at them and run away. He’s been taken to the swimming baths by his dad, but his late auntie (whom he deeply respected) told him to “never show his nipples to a catholic”. So now he won’t come out the changing room.

FATHER GARVEY/FRED (OVER 30s):

Father Garvey is a priest in a small Liverpool parish. He’s near enough lost his faith, worn down by the weight of other people and his own head, but still smiling through it. He didn’t always used to be like this, but he is now. His latest woe is Michael- a young lad who comes to confession three times a day with the sole purpose of driving him insane.

Fred is a single dad, struggling to raise his militant son Colin. He loves him deeply, but it takes effort. He’s nearly 20 now, he shouldn’t still be a terrible two. Fred’s just lost his sister, Colin his auntie- a thoroughly intense woman. In a last ditch attempt at fun, Fred’s took Colin to the swimming baths. Which isn’t going well. Fred has a heart of gold and the (tested) patience of a saint.

If these look of interest to you and you fancy getting involved, email dogtaletheatre@gmail.com and they’ll send some sides over for a self tape!

PLEASE NOTE

This won’t be a paid gig, but it will be a boss opportunity to perform in front of some top industry professionals and have a laugh making some theatre. It’s a one-night-only show, with no more than three rehearsals needed, which they’ll plan and arrange around you. They’re a dead friendly bunch, and if you fancy it, get in touch. They’d love to hear from you! 🙂

No specific qualifications or experience is needed, just a passion for performing and telling stories. They’ll structure the rehearsal process around you and what works for you, with a minimum of two rehearsals needed. The audition process will be based on a single self tape, with sides being sent to you after an expression of interest 🙂

Do you have a 0-5-year-old with special educational needs and disabilities? Sefton Council are hosting a coffee morning, and you’re invited! Head along to meet their team, see how they can support you and your child, and get to know other families with SEND children in the community.

Join us on the
📆  14th February
🕙  10am – 2pm
📍  First Steps Family Wellbeing Centre, Farnborough Road Infant School, Birkdale, PR8 3DF

You can chat to:
🔵  Early Years School Inclusion Consultants
🔵  Early Years Intervention Officers
🔵  Aiming High

There will be free resources and sensory play ideas for all those who attend…and of course, there will be plenty of tea, coffee, and biscuits!