Creative Civic Change: programme partners

The partnership supported communities to lead arts and creative projects that realised their own vision for their areas. The organisations share the belief that arts and creativity can be harnessed to engage, inspire and mobilise communities, and together they wanted to showcase the difference creativity and imagination can make, particularly in places which are often depicted negatively.

• The National Lottery Community Fund are the largest community funder in the UK – we’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since June 2004, we have made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that have benefited millions of people. We are passionate about funding great ideas that matter to communities and make a difference to people’s lives. At the heart of everything we do is the belief that when people are in the lead, communities thrive. Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, our funding is open to everyone. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
• The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is an international charitable foundation with cultural, educational, social and scientific interests, based in Lisbon with offices in London and Paris. The purpose of the UK Branch in London is to bring about long-term improvements in wellbeing, particularly for the most vulnerable, by creating connections across boundaries (national borders, communities, disciplines and sectors) which deliver social, cultural and environmental value. The Creative Civic Change partnership is being supported as part of the UK Branch’s Inquiry into the Civic Role of Arts Organisations.
• Local Trust was established in 2012 to deliver Big Local, a unique programme that puts residents across the country in control of decisions about their own lives and neighbourhoods. Funded by a £217m endowment from The National Lottery Community Fund – the largest ever single commitment of lottery funds – it provides in excess of £1m of long-term funding over 10-15 years to each of 150 local communities, many of which face major social and economic challenges but have missed out on accessing their fair share of statutory and lottery funds in the past.
• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation aims to improve the quality of life for people and communities throughout the UK both now and in the future. We do this by funding the charitable work of organisations who are building an inclusive, creative and sustainable society. The Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-makers in the UK. In 2018 we made grants of £40.5 million towards a wide range of work within the arts, children and young people, sustainable food, the environment and social change. We also have a £45 million allocation to social investments for organisations with the aim of creating social impact.