Belfast City Council - A City Imagining

Overview

The investment model

The aims of the cultural investment model are to:

• Support the cultural life of the city by enabling citizens to be active, dynamic and creative agents of change
• Invest in the cultural and creative sectors skills development and capacity for production and innovation
• Position Belfast as an international testing ground for new approaches to cultural engagement, development and placemaking
• Establish Belfast as a cultural destination

There are two strands of multi-annual grants available, that is multi-annual grants for:

• Arts and heritage organisations with a year-round programme of activity (two-year and four year)
• Festivals and events with an audience of more than 10,000 (two-year and four year)

Arts and heritage grants' Two and Four Years

These multi-annual grants are for arts and heritage organisations. They can support organisations that have a recurrent, year-round programme of work and ongoing costs associated with this. This investment is not intended for short- or fixed-term projects or single or one-off events.

If you are interested in these grants, please also read Your guide to completing an application for Arts and Heritage grants.

Festivals and events grants' Two and Four Years

These multi-annual grants are open to all cultural organisations whether they work through sports, arts, heritage, architecture, language, food and so on running a large festival or event. For the purpose of this investment, festivals and events are defined as an activity or a series of activities with a common theme that occur on one day or over a period of several successive days.

If you are interested in these grants, please also read Your guide to completing an application for Festivals and Events grants.

It is anticipated that applications for multi-annual grants will be very competitive. If you are unsure which grant you should apply for, talk to them.

What you can apply for

Four Year Festivals and Events

• Minimum grant per year: £50,000
• Maximum grant per year: Up to 25 per cent of your organisation's turnover, but no more than £250,000
• Estimated average grant per year: £120,000
• Estimated number of grants: 3 to 4

Two Year Festivals and Events

• Minimum grant per year: £10,000
• Maximum grant per year: Up to 25 per cent of your organisation's turnover, but no more than £50,000
• Estimated average grant per year: £35,000
• Estimated number of grants: 15

Four Year Arts and Heritage Organisations

• Minimum grant per year: £40.00 to £30,000
• Maximum grant per year: Up to 10 per cent of your organisation's turnover, but no more than £150,000
• Estimated average grant per year:£90,000
• Estimated number of grants: 9

Two Year Arts and Heritage Organisations

• Minimum grant per year: £10,000
• Maximum grant per year: Up to 10 per cent of your organisation's turnover, but no more than £30,000 or Up to 25 per cent of your organisation's turnover, but no more than £50,000
• Estimated average grant per year: £20,000
• Estimated number of grants: 27

The same level of award will be received each year. For example, if you apply and are awarded £10,000, you will receive £10,000 each year.

As this is a competitive programme subject to budget availability, they may offer you less than the amount you applied for. If this is the case, they will talk to you about the effect this may have on your programme before they issue your contract.

What they can invest in

Their investment can be used towards the cost of running your organisation and your programme of activities.

Who can apply

You must meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered for investment.

Common eligibility criteria

Your organisation must:

• have an office in and operational focus in the Belfast City Council local government district.
• be a legally constituted group and supply evidence of this (a constitution or memorandum and articles of association).
• be a not-for-profit organisation and be unable to share out profits to members or shareholders.
• have a board or management committee and supply a list of members.
• hold a bank account in the organisation's name and provide evidence of this.
• be in good financial health, have effective financial controls and submit evidence of this such as financial accounts and bank statements.
• complete the application form in full.
• All of your organisation's policies and procedures must be in place, up to date and fit for purpose to comply with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements for the group, services and activities for which your organisation is wholly liable. This may include a safeguarding policy for children and vulnerable adults; an equal opportunities policy; and all other relevant policies. You must also keep to all relevant laws including the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997, the Sex Discrimination (NI) Order 1976, Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
• It is unlikely that they will invest in you if you have previously received a grant from them that was not managed satisfactorily or was not completed. This includes if you did not send us monitoring reports within the agreed timescales or if you did not seek approval for changes to your project.

Grant-specific eligibility criteria

In addition to the common eligibility criteria (above), each grant also has specific eligibility requirements which are outlined below.

Four Year Festivals and Events

• Primary purpose of organisation
  • Culture
• Type of activity
  • Festival or event
• Minimum annual turnover
  • Estimated £300,000 average over the contract period (from 2024/25 to 2025/26)
• Staff
  • Has or will employ in the first year of the grant at least 3 fulltime equivalent staff
• Planning
  • event business plan for the first year's festival or event
  • strategic plan up to and including 2028
• Marketing
  • marketing plan up to and including 2028
• Partners
  • Local, regional, international, media and cross-sectoral (that is, from outside the cultural sector) partners
• Audience
  • 65,000 by 2028 or a 5 per cent increase each year, whichever is greater
• Visitors
  • 25 per cent of audience from outside Belfast including a target for visitors from outside NI

Two Year Festivals and Events

• Primary purpose of organisation
  • Culture
• Type of activity
  • Festival or event
• Minimum annual turnover
  • Estimated £50,000 average over the contract period (from 2024/25 to 2025/26)
• Staff
  • Has or will employ in the first year of the grant at least 1 fulltime equivalent staff. This must be within a partner organisation where there is a clear legal relationship and where a commitment to delivering the festival or event can be demonstrated and measured
• Planning
  • event business plan for the first year's festival or event
• Marketing
  • marketing plan for the first year of your festival or event
• Partners
  • Local and regional partners
• Audience
  • 10,000 by 2026 or a 5 per cent increase each year, whichever is greater
• Visitors
  • 20 per cent of audience from outside Belfast including a target for visitors from outside NI

Four Year Arts and Heritage

• Primary purpose of organisation
  • Arts and Heritage
• Type of activity
  • Year-round programme
• Minimum annual turnover
  • Estimated £300,000 average over the contract period (from 2024/25 to 2025/26)
• Staff
  • Has 3 fulltime equivalent staff
  • Planning
  • organisational business plan for the first year of the grant
  • longer-term strategic plan
• Marketing
  • marketing plan for the first year of the grant
• Partners
  • Local, regional, international, media and cross-sectoral (that is, from outside the cultural sector) partners
• Audience
  • Minimum 50,000 per year from 2023/24
• Visitors
  • No minimum requirement

Two Year Arts and Heritage

• Primary purpose of organisation
  • Arts and Heritage
• Type of activity
  • Year-round programme
• Minimum annual turnover
  • £60,000 average over the previous two financial years (based on annual accounts)
• Staff
  • Has 1 fulltime equivalent staff
• Planning
  • organisational business plan for the first year of the grant
• Marketing
  • marketing plan for the first year of the grant
• Partners
  • Local and regional partners
• Audience
  • No minimum requirement
• Visitors
  • No minimum requirement

Notes

Please read the guidance notes in full before you decide which grant is right for you.

You cannot apply for both a festivals and events grant and an arts and heritage grant.

However, if you have two or more festivals or events, you may apply for more than one grant. For example, if you are planning a festival with an audience of 65,000 and an event with an audience of 10,000, you may apply for both a four-year and a two-year grant.

If you are an arts and heritage organisation that runs or is planning a festival or event with an audience of 10,000 people, you must apply for a festivals and events grant regardless of your programme of activity throughout the rest of the year.

If you are applying for a four-year grant, you can choose to be automatically considered for a two-year grant if your four-year application is unsuccessful.