Change the Record Learning Programme for Women – Brighter Sound, closes 26 Sep ’24

An eight-month learning programme for women (cis and trans) working in the music industries, supported by Sony Music.

Be part of a growing network of bold, ambitious and inspiring Northern women working in the music industries, developing your leadership skills together.

This programme invites you to explore and expand what leadership means to you. Does it look like nurturing and being a positive role model, paving the way, creating and inspiring change, or being more confident in your own career path?

Running from October 2024 to May 2025, you’ll take part in:

  • A community gathering
  • Online workshops
  • A weekend retreat
  • A peer-to-peer coaching group

You’ll learn how to manage pressure, improve communication skills, assert influence, build financial sustainability and resilience, and make a lasting impact in your field.

You could work for a commercial institution, a local grassroots organisation or as a freelancer. You might be a promoter, agent, project manager, or event producer. Or maybe you work in marketing and PR, music education, talent development, or for a recording studio or record label.

You should be shaking things up in the music industries in some way, advocating for a better future. If you’re passionate about making positive changes in your personal and professional life, then this is for you!

All participants will also receive a £400 development bursary to support your continued professional development and self-reflection beyond this programme, like paying for mentoring or coaching. Whatever will better equip you for the future.

To apply, visit here

Closing date: 26 September

Young Filmmakers, aged 16 – 19 – FACT free film academy, closes 8 Sep ’24

Want to make your own short film?

FACT and First Take are looking for young filmmakers aged 16-19 to take part in a free film academy, supported by the BFI. The academy takes place over 3 months, where you’ll work alongside fellow young filmmakers and a range of industry professionals to make a short film from start to finish.

You will learn everything about development, production, post-production and distribution as you are guided through the filmmaking process. The academy will take place at FACT and online, with opportunities to join in with activities across Manchester and the North West.

Sessions will take place at FACT on Monday evenings and online on Wednesday evenings, with some extended sessions on weekends and during half-term for filming and editing.

You will also receive a Silver Arts Award qualification when you finish.

Interested? Read on for more information.

To apply, please complete this form by Sunday 8 September, 23:59.

Liverpool writer to run free book club with a difference, starts 16 Sep ’24

A free book club with a difference is being set up in Liverpool.

Led by local poet, Pauline Rowe, Liverpool’s Reading Round will be one of a network of only sixteen in the country funded by the Royal Literary Fund in 2024/25, and, unlike other reading groups, there is no homework needed.

“Each week I will read a new poem and a short story or other work of prose aloud to the group, and then we’ll discuss them together,” said Pauline. ‘‘Research shows how good it is for us to be read aloud to but how many of us make the time to do this? This is ninety minutes when people can just stop and listen to something new to them.”

The Reading Round scheme was set up to create a space where readers can discover original writing and rediscover the joys of hearing stories and poems in a friendly group. Other Reading Round groups have run across the country and the feedback has always been very positive.

‘People call it ‘the highlight of their week’ and even ‘life-enhancing’! It’s a lovely thing to be able to bring to Liverpool’ commented Katharine McMahon, novelist and Head of Outreach with the Royal Literary Fund. ‘The discussions get very lively too, and the fact that each group is guided by a writer means there’s always new insights and discoveries.’

The Reading Round will take place at Open Eye Gallery, Mann Island, on Mondays from

11 am to 12.30 pm and is open to all. It starts on Monday 16 September, but places must be booked in advance.

Although it’s completely free to join, numbers are restricted and pre-booking is essential. Contact Pauline Rowe by email: pauline.rowe@rlfeducation.org.uk

Community organisations / Charities – Legal & General Health Equity Fund, opens 28 Aug ’24

In partnership with Sir Michael Marmot and the UCL Institute of Health Equity (IHE), Legal & General has launched a £3mn ‘Health Equity Fund’ to support community-based initiatives across the UK which are addressing the social determinants of health. The Fund is open to receiving expressions of interest from organisations with projects or project ideas for implementation in any part of the UK.

  • The £3mn Fund will award grants to successful applicants to support place-based projects addressing the social determinants of health
  • Provision of grant funding of up to £75,000 per project
  • Potential to provide support for up to 150 place-based initiatives across the UK

Example projects that the Fund may support

Projects could range from funding for projects that enable children living in areas of deprivation to live healthier lives to community programmes which address the social determinants behind pressures on A&E services, ways to improve housing to support better health of the occupiers, or partnerships raising awareness of the contribution the natural environment makes to health and wellbeing.

Who can apply?

The opportunity is available for registered charities, social enterprises, NHS Trusts or primary care organisations, university or academic organisations and community groups from across the UK, to apply for grant funding to support initiatives or early-stage projects.

What is the process for organisations applying?

  1. Connect with the Health Equity Network

Interested organisations need to register interest in receiving more information about applying for the grant whilst gaining full access to a community of members who are taking action on health equity in the UK. See here to register and learn more about L&G Health Equity Fund.

  1. Share initial interest and ideas for projects

Once registered as a Health Equity Network Member, interested parties can submit expressions of interest.

  1. Await an invitation to formally apply

Expressions of interest will be reviewed by their advisory board and a selection of organisations will be invited to proceed to the formal application stage.

If you have any questions or would like any further information regarding this opportunity, please contact healthequitynetwork@landg.com

Liverpool females age 18+ – Rise Up course / Paperwork Theatre, starts 26 Sep ’24

Paperwork Theatre are looking for 10 women with a keen interest in the arts to join them to make a play.

Rise Up is a FREE 10 week course for women in Liverpool age 18+
Running Thursday 26 September – Thursday 5 December
5-7pm, at Liverpool Arts Bar Studios

Visit the link here to find out more and to apply.

Need to know more? Join them for a taster session Tuesday 10th Sept 5-6pm to meet the team and find out more.

Artists’ Submissions – manchester jazz festival (mjf), closes 20 Sep ’24

Are you a contemporary genre-pushing jazz artist creating new and surprising music? Would you like to help celebrate 30 years of manchester’s longest running music festival? Then this is the opportunity for you! Apply to play mjf2025 (16-25 May).

mjf was the first festival to pioneer an open artists’ submission system and this still informs their programme today, accounting for over 30% of their lineup. And with next year being their 30th anniversary they are expecting mjf2025 to take place on a much larger scale than previous years.

They’re a contemporary jazz festival and champion artists playing original work – especially those living and working in the north west of England, although applications are welcome from all over the world.

They are brave in their programming, constantly on the lookout for up and coming talent, and often give a platform to new and surprising music.

To apply, visit here

Closing date: 20 September

Cultural Organisations – Employment Law Seminar Hosted by Avensure, held 10 Sep ’24

Employment Law Seminar Hosted by Avensure. Open to all cultural organisation’s.

Link to invite below Please click on the link to officially register your free place(s)

https://www.hr24events.org/sw-london-3787av/?utm_source=Seminar-Attendee&utm_medium=kane&utm_campaign=3787av

Held: 10 September, 10am – 12.45pm, The Abbey Centre, London

Complimentary Seminar on Employment Law changes by the UK government now Labour have taken control

Liverpool / Knowsley / Sefton Residents – ReCITE project / Writing on the Wall, opens 21 Aug ’24

Writing on the Wall are excited to announce a new and innovative project, ReCITE, aimed at engaging the residents of Liverpool, Knowsley, and Sefton. Through the power of storytelling, ReCITE seeks to improve health outcomes and well-being in some of the region’s most deprived areas.

ReCITE, is an initiative led by the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, with Writing on the Wall (WoW) as the lead creative partner. The project will run for three years and is funded by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Writing on the Wall is running a six-week What’s Your Story? project in Toxteth, Kirkby, and Bootle. This initiative aims to demonstrate the power of storytelling in influencing public health agendas and behaviours, particularly concerning cancer screening, childhood immunisation, and mental and social well-being. They are looking for 10 residents from each Local Authority to participate.

They are seeking individuals who have experienced barriers to healthcare and those who have overcome such barriers through creative interventions. Specifically, they are interested in:

Individuals who have faced difficulties accessing healthcare services due to practical issues (e.g., language barriers, location, service hours) or personal concerns and anxieties about the services offered.

Individuals who have overcome these difficulties through creative health initiatives such as films, songs, choirs, poems, or theatre productions, which have helped them rethink their approach to accessing healthcare.

Individuals who have participated in creative activities (e.g., writing groups, arts and crafts, film, or theatre projects) that have helped them overcome barriers to healthcare services.

Participants will receive £30 plus travel reimbursement for each session to acknowledge their time commitment. Projects will take place in Toxteth, Kirkby, and Bootle. Venues and start dates for each borough will be confirmed shortly. Participants will receive support from professional writers and creatives to develop and share their stories. These stories will contribute to digital resources aimed at influencing healthcare providers and policymakers.

As places are limited, an application process is required, which is detailed on their website here.

If service users can’t join What’s Your Story? due to limited spaces, there will be more opportunities to get involved with the ReCITE project.

If you work with service users whose first language is not English or who may not be computer literate, they kindly ask that you offer assistance to them when filling out the form.

If service users encounter any difficulties completing the registration form digitally, whether due to accessibility needs or other reasons, feel free to call at 0151 703 0020 or email info@writingonthewall.org.uk. They can assist you with an alternative way to register.

Please note that the stories that are shared by participants will be shared anonymously.

For further information, please email info@writingonthewall.org.uk or call 0151 703 0020.

Writers – Pulp Idol 2025 / Writing on the Wall, closes 18 October ’24

For sixteen years the Pulp Idol competition has uncovered the best new novelists the city of Liverpool has to offer.

Many new novelists, including Ashleigh Nugent (LOCKS), Ariel Khan (Raising Sparks), James Rice (Alice and the Fly, Walk), Clare Coombes (Definitions), and Philippa Holloway (The Half Life of Snails), have found their first success through Pulp Idol. This competition is unearthing the best new novelists from Liverpool and across the country.

All finalists get their first chapter published in a book of ‘Firsts,’ which is produced in hard copy, a digital manuscript and made available on Amazon Kindle (and free on Kindle Unlimited!). Copies of Pulp Idol – Firsts are sent to agents and publishers.

Pulp Idol is different to most novel writing competitions. In most competitions, you submit your work and then find out if you win. Pulp Idol gets you in the room with other writers, agents and publishers from day one and our goal is to help you forge connections for your future career in writing and embrace your local writing community.

https://writingonthewall.org.uk/projects/pulp-idol-firsts/

Event

Closing date: 18 October