Arts & Business: Blueprint Programme

Overview

Blueprint is Arts & Business NI’s financial resilience programme, which has the ambition to help strengthen the arts sector in Northern Ireland for the future. A five-year programme which started in January 2022, Blueprint supports a network of arts and cultural organisations to encourage income growth and long-term financial stability. In addition to tailored training and mentoring, the programme includes investment grants to help organisations free up capacity, test new income generation ideas and invest in and incentivise financial growth.

Blueprint is supported by funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund NI delivered by National Lottery Community Fund NI, Department for Communities NI, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Belfast City Council and Arts Council Northern Ireland.

The Blueprint programme is the first of its kind in the UK and Ireland, specifically developed to help arts and cultural organisations become more financially resilient, less reliant on short-term public funding and commercially confident to diversify and grow. Already, 17 arts organisations from across NI, are completing the first round of Blueprint, and have seen the positive impacts the programme brings.

Round 2

In its second round, 10 cultural organisations will be selected to take part through the application process. This round of the programme will span three years and participants will receive comprehensive training and mentoring in areas including, finance, fundraising, business models, and governance. The programme also offers a range of investment grants, which are open for flexible use by the recipient organisation to invest in a way that best encourages growth and stability.

Programme Criteria

Due to the transformational objectives and ambitions of the Blueprint programme, participating organisations will need to demonstrate that both they and their boards are able and willing to invest the time required.

Your Commitment

This is an ongoing programme which will require you to dedicate an appropriate level of time over the next 3 years.

Beyond the scheduled training days, they would ask you to consider the time which will be required to undertake a mentoring process, prepare for training sessions, implement the training within your organisation and engage the board in regard to learning and developments.

As a rough guide commitment will be required for:

• Attendance by you at all scheduled programme activities approximately 1 day per month for events, generally in person and additional time for the development and implementation of training
• Completion of mentoring – 10 hours over initial 3 months
• Ongoing commitment to programme monitoring and evaluation

Your Board’s Commitment

If your board are bought into this development process from the start, then your vision and ideas will be nurtured and supported internally from day one, which will help you effect real organisational change.

To ensure this vital dynamic is in place, your board must commit to the programme, and also nominate appropriate board members to attend a limited number of key activities.

Entry Criteria

They are seeking applications from organisations which:

• Are either a Registered Charity or constituted as a non-profit making entity in Northern Ireland
• Have at least one permanent staff member working a minimum 20 hours per week who can commit to the time required for the capacity building element of the programme. This member of staff must have a strong insight into the organisation’s operations and strategic objectives and will be a successful champion of innovation and change within the organisation and board
• Have an average turnover in the 3 financial years ended March 2024 of between £25k and £500k
• Have a minimum of 10% earned income (on average) over the 3 financial years ended March 2024
• Are considered to be ‘a going concern’; i.e. there is a reasonable expectation that the organisation has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future
• Can demonstrate they have the ambition, organisational culture and time to commit to the Blueprint Programme
• Can demonstrate they are open and willing to implement change within their orgainsation
• Representatives from the board support and can commit to participating in elements of the programme
• Can demonstrate that they are open to a spirit of cohort learning and collaboration with other programme participants
• Are willing to commit to contributing to the programme evaluation and sharing learning for the benefit of the wider sector

Please note Arts & Business NI welcomes applications from across Northern Ireland and across all art forms.

Want to know more about Blueprint? Find out more here > https://lnkd.in/dPhbnGjw