Grants database

Send it to Alex is a service provider of Business Assistance and HR with a social purpose to bridge the employment gap for neurodivergent and disabled people. This grant supports Send it to Alex to collate diversity and inclusion data and experiences of applicants and employers which will provide insights into the challenges faced by people with access needs or diverse learning styles. These insights will enable organisations to address and develop their procedures and policies to be more inclusive, reducing the disability employment gap.

Fox Irving is an artist whose work is shaped by the liminal, precarious identity they inhabit as queer/​femme/​working class. With a playful, DIY approach informed by activist strategies and centring collaboration, Fox investigates how art can be used as a tool of empowerment by marginalised communities. This grant supports Fox to create a ​‘Big Sister’ network, joining women from lower socio-economic backgrounds with practising female working class artists. The project will aim to create a long-term, replicable programme to develop the skills, opportunities and voices of all participants.

CRIPtic Arts is committed to developing and supporting d/​Deaf and disabled people in creative careers through access support, creative opportunities, facilitation work and developing the creative industries to improve their access. This grant supports CRIPtic Arts to develop a statement of ​‘principles of access’ which artists and organisations are able to commit to, only working in areas where the principles are met. Through the statement, CRIPtic hopes to build solidarity across artists, moving the focus from individual access to access for everyone.

Chisato Minamimura is a Deaf performance artist and British Sign Language art guide working globally. They visualise sound and music from their Deaf perspective, and use digital to share their experience of sensory perception and human encounters. This grant supports Chisato to research and develop new, creative and non-linguist methods of interpretation and audio description through consultation with traditional access providers and disabled cultural workers. Chisato hopes to turn findings into a vocational training model or toolkit which could be shared and used by cultural/​access workers to broaden, change and apply accessibility in more creative ways.

Care Matched is the first tech-based company with a focus on catering to the Black and minoritised communities. Artificial intelligence will be used to match care receivers and care workers based on cultural background, language proficiency and other skills and experiences. This grant supports the development of the Care App and web portal which will offer care organisations, their care workers and clients a more seamless experience.

Camille Lesforis is the founder of The Black Wellbeing Collective, a platform that aims to empower and equip the Black community with accessible talks, self-care sessions, creative workshops and holistic practices. This grant supports the research stage to inform the creation of impactful content and services that address user needs, particularly informed by racialised trauma and healing.

Breakfast Clubs Against Racism aims to tackle racism by educating young people across the UK on how racism manifests in society and how to combat it. This grant supports the development of two types of workshops in community breakfast clubs and school groups for Years 6, 7 and 8. Workshops will focus on teaching children about racism and how it affects multiple aspects of life in the UK, giving young people leadership skills and self-confidence to make a difference.

St Pauls Carnival promote and celebrate African Caribbean culture and traditions through an accessible and inclusive Carnival and supporting activities. Their education programme aims to inform, engage and inspire children and young people through dance, music, costume-making and storytelling. This grant supports St Pauls Carnival to grow their existing schools programme into a larger year-round offer, engaging with 15 primary schools and ten secondary schools in the St Pauls area of Bristol.

Cambridge Junction is an arts centre and hub for local people, and especially young people, to be inspired by the arts. They welcome communities to explore, experience, make and be inspired by art, entertainment and creative learning. This grant supports Cambridge Junction to develop the sustainability of their programme Take Two, embedding long-term creative opportunities for children and young people with complex needs.

Big Brum Theatre in Education delivers tours and projects to children and young people in the Midlands and beyond. They work with schools and colleges in areas of socio-economic deprivation to address barriers that pupils face in developing their speaking, listening and writing skills. This grant supports Big Brum to grow their collaborative drama-based model with teachers. They will establish a collaborative learning environment for teachers in five schools in the West Midlands and two schools in Manchester. Through these ​‘Schools of Recovery’, Big Brum aim to build confidence, agency and professional practice to support the wellbeing of teachers and their pupils.

Ariel Trust is an educational charity developing best practice in safeguarding education through communication and resistance skills via forum theatre techniques. This grant supports Ariel Trust to work with primary schools in Merseyside to deliver a co-constructed programme of teacher and child-focused workshops. Theatre practitioners will support teacher to deliver Relationship and Sex Education curriculum through forum theatre techniques. Pupils will build resilience, develop critical thinking, and learn positive communication strategies and social resistance skills enabling them to better manage and respond to risks they face, especially in the face of hate crime, extremism and grooming.

Akademi is a South Asian-led dance organisation, connecting communities with South Asian dance forms in formal and informal learning settings. This grant supports the delivery of Reach Out and Reveal, a programme with SEND schools using South Asian dance forms to support the learning and development of pupils with profound Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Akademi will embed inclusive and responsive practice through ​‘artists in residence’ for whole-school and cross-curricular impact, and will support school staff to embed some of the approaches in their teaching.