The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Acorn Fund has announced the opening of two new funding programmes set to benefit communities in Derry~Londonderry City or County. The Inspire Bursaries and the Legacy Grants are designed as a contribution to the legacy of the 2013 UK City of Culture and reflect the Fund’s priority to maximise the impact of grant funding within local communities using arts and culture.
The first round of the Acorn Fund’s Legacy Grants, which have been developed with a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, opens to support community organisations to use arts and culture in order to achieve greater community participation and social inclusion. The programme will cover wide-ranging initiatives to promote health and well-being within communities, help young people to break marginalisation patterns, address rural isolation, and many more.
Frank Hewitt, the Big Lottery Fund’s NI Chair said: ‘The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to be able to support the Acorn Fund’s Legacy Grants programme which will help build on the success of the investment we made through the Culture for All programme.
‘The Legacy programme embodies the aims of the Acorn Fund, focusing exclusively on improving the lives of people living in Derry~Londonderry through the means of arts and culture. The Acorn Fund fits the ethos of the Big Lottery Fund perfectly by giving its recipients the opportunity to optimise their potential, break isolation and address a range of challenges facing our local communities.’
The Inspire Bursaries Programme, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation will allocate grants to young people with disabilities who wish to pursue training in an arts discipline of their choice.
Dr Avila Kilmurray, Director of The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland said: ‘The Inspire Bursaries aims to shift the focus of the provision within the arts as a mechanism for building self-confidence and social skills for disabled young artists to skill-building and making an important contribution to the direction of creative projects.
‘Successful applicants will receive mentored support during and following their award period, and will in turn act as mentors for future bursary recipients. This will add value to the programme as well as ensuring its sustainability beyond its closing period.’
Dorothée Irving, Grants Officer at the Paul Hamlyn Foundation added: ‘We are delighted to partner with Big Lottery to support the Acorn Fund’s Inspire Programme over a period of three years. Our grant will provide bursaries of up to £3,000 and mentoring support to gifted and talented young people aged between 16 and 25 years with special needs and learning disabilities, to help them secure training in an arts discipline.’
Source:- Derry Londonderry
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