Group picture of 9 of the 2023 cohort of new Rising Creatives shot in front of a linen background looking badass and ready to take over the world

RISING

FUND

The Rising Fund is a grant of £750 available to members of Rising’s community of young Bristol-based creatives.

If you have an idea or have been working on something for a while and have reached a point where the thing you need is money – this is for you.

Who can apply?

The initial round of this fund is solely for members of Rising’s community who:

  • Are based in Bristol

  • Aged 18–35

  • Have a clear idea of how this grant would take you to that next step in your creative practice and/or career

  • Are an independent artist or collective

  • Will submit by the deadline

  • Will respect the word limit or audio/video time limit

WhAT’S IT FOR?

This grant is to help you unlock the next step of something you’ve been trying to do or create.

This could be:

  • Time to test out a new area of your practice

  • Venue hire for an exhibition or event you want to throw

  • Research time

  • Making new connections

  • Match funding towards something bigger

  • A course or training programme

  • Development time

  • A way to bring potential collaborators together

WhAT’S IT NOT FOR?

  • Rest – unfortunately, that’s a different fund, which you can find out more about here

  • Outcomes – though you may end up creating something new that’s not the main driver of the fund

  • Something you already have funding for – unless you have received funding in the past but it has run out, then you can still apply with the same idea

HOW TO APPLY

1. Go to the typeform here and answer some technical questions like:

  • Whether you are a member of Rising’s community*

  • Your postcode

  • Your age

  • Your name/s and pronouns

  • Your contact

  • Any access needs you would like to share

  • Whether you have applied for funding before

  • How you found out about this fund

*Do you receive our weekly opportunities newsletter, do we invite you to community events, do we give you work opportunities?

Whilst we are also part of lots of other communities this first round of the fund is just for Rising Creatives.

2. Decide how you would prefer to answer:

  • How you would benefit from receiving the money and what will it enable you to do?

  • A simple breakdown of how you will spend the £750?

Either:

  • Written in the typeform (1500 to 1800 characters per question)

  • Or video/audio recording (2 to 3 minutes per question)

  • Or any other way, just ensure you provide the information set out in the questions above and it reaches a member of the Rising team by the deadline through email, phone or discord.

3. Submit your application by the deadline of 11:59pm Monday 25 March 2024

For video and audio submissions you will need to upload your recording to a platform (eg G Drive, Soundcloud, Youtube etc) and add the link into the form.

Unfortunately we cannot accept applications through WeTransfer as the link might expire before we see it.

selection process

All applications must meet all of the ‘who can apply?’ requirements to move into the selection process.

If your application meets all of the criteria, your name will be placed into the selection hat.

If you have never applied for funding before your name will be entered into the hat twice.*

In this round we will randomly select six names out of the hat to receive a grant.

You will hear from us by Thursday 28 March 2024 on whether you have been successful or not.

Unsuccessful applicants who reached the selection process stage will be offered a 1:1 with a member of the Rising team.

*this process of random selection has been inspired by the Response Pot from Gather Up

conditions of receiving the grant

  • Work must start within three months of receiving the payment. If due to unforeseen circumstances this isn’t possible, please contact us so we can come up with a new plan together.

  • Things change, we get it, but it would be great if you could let us know of any significant changes to how you end up spending your £750.

  • We will ask you to provide some simple feedback (written reflection, audio recordings, images or a short video) on how you have used the grant for our own evaluation for when we hopefully do this again.

  • Additional support if wanted:

    • Monthly/quarterly 1:1s with the Rising team

    • Promotion for your activity on our social media, newsletter and other platforms

READY TO GO?

The written form will take around 7 to 10 minutes to complete once you know what you want to say or have recorded your answers

Deadline: 11:59pm Monday 25 March 2024

STILL HAVE QUESTIONS?

If you’re not sure if you or your idea meet the criteria for this fund, want to chat through the finances or anything