News

East Sussex Cultural Opportunities and Information

Opportunities

 

Writers Commissions – The Full Harvest Audio Stories: Applause Rural Touring is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation based in Kent, a rural touring scheme that supports communities throughout Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex to access professional theatre, music and other performing arts.  Applause is looking to commission between 4-8 writers from the South East (we may commission more than one story from each writer) who are committed to co-creation and have experience of developing work through community engagement to create inspiring, thought provoking and entertaining narratives. We want to capture a diverse range of voices, especially those that are often unheard. Full brief and information on how to apply can be found here www.applause.org.uk/the-full-harvest-call-out-for-writers/

You can also download the Job Description and Equal Opportunities form.  Deadline for Applications: 1st Feb, 2021 5pm.

 

The Hub: (based in Essex) are looking for an experienced, lateral thinking and proactive freelance comms and content whizz to work on our Balance and RE:SET projects until the end of May. The brief for our Comms and Content ‘hubster’ will be to:

  • Co-develop and deliver the comms strategy for Balance
    Create and curate a range of new and existing project-related digital content
    Maximise reach of, and engagement with, all project events and other content

If you know someone who fits that bill, please do pass this on to them. There’s more about the role and how to apply HERE.

Cultural Education Partnership Manager, Ealing

Ealing Council’s arts and culture service is seeking to recruit a dynamic manager to lead on developing and running a new Cultural Education Partnership. You will benefit from being involved from the start of this exciting programme, that will maximise the opportunity for all children and young people in the London Borough of Ealing to have access to high quality creative experiences.

You will need to be bursting with ideas and know-how; be responsive to the needs of our local arts sector, schools and young people; be able to influence and develop strong partnerships; broker opportunities and resources; develop action plans and have strong management skills.

Fixed term contract for 18 months, equivalent of 3 days p.w, up to 21 hours p.w

For more information and/or to apply please visit Jobs | Ealing Council

Salary: £36,708 – £39,867 p.a inclusive (pro rata)

Closing date: 1 February 2021

 

Promoting Volunteer Opportunities: Did you know that charities can promote their volunteering opportunities to professionals on furlough, through the Furlonteer website?  Find out more

 

Relief Fund for UK Hospitality, Retail and Leisure Sectors: Earlier this month, an additional £4.6 billion in relief packages for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors was announced – more info here. These are one-off grants for closed businesses (£4,000 for premises with a rateable value or £15k or under; £6,000 for those worth between £15k and £51k, and £9,000 for properties valued over £51k).

 

Local Connections Fund: The Local Connections Fund is a new £4 million fund to help charities and community groups in England that are working to reduce loneliness by helping them build connections across their communities. Book clubs, walking groups and other community projects can now apply for a small grant worth between £300 and £2,500. These investments are designed to help local organisations bring people and communities together as the country recovers from the coronavirus pandemic. There will be 2 funding rounds, the first is open for applications now and will close on 26 January 2021.  Please share amongst your networks.

 

The Audience Agency is holding a webinar about Online Community Participation on 2 February. Join their Head of Digital and Head of Learning & Participation to learn how to develop and run a successful community participation programme in an online environment.

 

Visit England:

 

Submit images and footage of Britain for possible inclusion in Visit Britain promotions: We are seeking high quality images and footage of Britain for use in campaigns such as Escape The Everyday and other promotional activities. If your business or destination has assets on topics such as seasons, family, diversity, accessibility and more, you have the necessary rights and permissions and you would like to be considered for inclusion in our VisitBritain Images gallery, in our campaigns or by external media, then please send your content to us by 16:00, 21 January. Read our submission guidelines for more information on submitting your assets to us. https://www.visitbritain.org/?utm_source=vbve_enews_20_01_2021&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vbve_20_01_2021

 

National Lottery Heritage Fund – Steps to Sustainability: Building a Sustainable Heritage Sector: Delivered by the Social Enterprise Academy, support will be provided for projects that support a sustainable and resilient heritage sector. The programme will include peer networks and learning, all designed to help you turn a new business idea into a reality, with an additional £10,000 in support. For heritage organisations in the South East, the application window opens later this month – more information here.

 

Projects for the South Downs: Community infrastructure Levy

Does your community have an infrastructure project that could benefit from Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Funds? An organisation, charity or individual can bid for funds. CIL is designed to support communities, and can fund a wide range of infrastructure, including transport, flood defences, schools, play areas, parks, cultural and sports facilities. You can access the application portal here. Further information on CIL can be found on our website.

 

Comic Relief and Paul Hamlyn Foundation have launched a new £1m digital development fund to support non-profits.

 

Creative Industries Federation have been awarded Creative Careers Programme (CCP) extension funding from the DCMS to help keep young people aspiring to creative careers by shining a spotlight on opportunities for them to engage with creativity through leisure, education and career facing activity.  If you have online activities, resources, competitions, courses or remote events for young people, you can promote them in Explore Opportunities. It’s free to use for organisations running activities aimed at inspiring young people aged 11-24 about careers in the creative industries.

 

 

Information

The Baring Foundation has just published Creatively Minded: The Directory which contains around 250 organisations working in the field of arts and mental health in the UK identified as part of research conducted for their Arts and Mental Health funding programme. If you’re not in there and you want to be, get in touch at baring.foundation@ing.com as they hope to update it periodically. And check out a Blog about it by François Matarasso here.

The Culture Capital Exchange has announced a brand new National Centre for Academic and Cultural Exchange (NCACE) funded by Research England. Its key purpose will be to facilitate and support capacity for Knowledge Exchange between Higher Education and the arts and cultural sector across the country with a particular focus on evidencing and showcasing the social, cultural, environmental, as well as the economic, impacts of such activities.

Big Conversation 2020 results: The results of the Voluntary Arts ‘Big Conversation’ survey demonstrates the resilience of everyday creativity in difficult times.  Key findings include:

  • Despite the extreme difficulties caused by the pandemic, voluntary creative groups remain optimistic and resilient
  • The amount of time people contribute to their creative groups has increased during 2020
  • Taking part in creativity is hugely important for wellbeing and social connection

You can read a detailed summary of the survey results here.

 

Digital Audience Survey Findings: Latest findings from The Audience Agency’s Digital Audience Survey show how audiences have responded to arts, culture and heritage organisations moving so much of their offering online during the COVID-19 lock-down period.  It has been devised to help organisations to better understand: Profiles, Motivations, Online habits and Changes through COVID-19.

 

 

 

See how visitors are viewing tourism with the latest COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Tracker: Wave 22 of the  consumer sentiment tracker is now available. Headline results include:

  • Looking ahead, 21% of UK adults anticipate taking a domestic overnight trip this coming spring (between April – June) and 25% during summer (between July – September).

https://www.visitbritain.org/covid-19-consumer-sentiment-tracker?utm_source=vbve_enews_20_01_2021&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=vbve_20_01_2021

 

Are you ready for Natasha’s Law?  From October, food businesses will be required to provide full ingredient lists and allergen labelling on packaged food. A free webinar is taking place on 26 January, held by the UK Food Labelling Resource, to help businesses prepare for the change and answer questions. https://natashas-law.com/events/

 

DCMS – Updates to Guidance on Volunteering

DCMS updated its guidance and regulations on 8 January in relation to volunteering:

 

 

Public Health

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme: Residents can continue to be kept up to date on the vaccination programme through information and FAQs on the Sussex Health and Care Partnership website. You can also find links to all the latest stakeholder briefings on these pages, which now include daily updates.   Recent updates include the large scale vaccination centre opening soon, that people aged over 70 and people who are clinically extremely vulnerable will be vaccinated next once the current vaccination priority cohorts are complete, and that two new vaccination hospital hubs have opened in East Grinstead and Hove.

The COVID-19 vaccination programme is working to vaccinate all health, social care and care workers across Sussex by mid-March. This totals over 100,000 people, including all NHS staff, social care staff and carers working in the independent and third sectors.  Since the booking system went live to health and care staff, there has been significant demand and this has posed some challenges in making sure the process is managed in the best possible way.  Health and care organisations across Sussex have agreed that the booking of appointments needs to be managed closely and that those staff who are most at risk of exposure to infection receive the vaccination as soon as possible.  More information on the vaccination programme can be found here and any queries you have can be emailed to sxccg.vaccineenquiries@nhs.net.

 

Support for people worried about money and debt: Due to COVID-19 in particular, people may be facing financial difficulty, struggling to pay their bills or concerned about growing debt.  Additional support is on offer through local East Sussex quality assured, free, confidential advice providers.  If someone is worried, they can call 0333 344 0681 or email benefitseastsussex@harcuk.com for a financial health check which may be able to help them pay their bills and manage their debt.  The service is available until March 2021. More advice on welfare and benefits is found on our website: Benefits.