Creative Lives is managing a major new grants scheme for voluntary creative groups in England, as part of the Know Your Neighbourhood Fund created by the UK Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

We're proud to announce the full list of projects we're funding across this two-year programme, from two rounds of open applications. We're distributing 16 partnership awards and 44 project awards, totalling nearly £750,000 of new investment in everyday creativity. 

Know Your Neighbourhood aims to increase volunteering, tackle loneliness, and improve community wellbeing in 27 priority areas across England. We're delighted to support such a wide range of projects which prioritise participation in everyday creativity, and which have the potential to create lasting legacies in their local communities.

Partnership Awards

Organisation Area Award Project
Brightbox Barnsley £19,250

Creative Community Construction - a programme of fun and creative events for Barnsley residents to improve an existing community garden space 

Creative Recovery Barnsley £20,000

Transformation Station - a collaboration between artists and participants struggling with their mental health to create individual, wearable art

Discovery Planet CIC Thanet £19,919

Creative Learning Hub - linking two high street shops in Ramsgate to create a community arts hub 

Electric Pink Voices Blackpool £19,865

Queer Sandgrown Stories Through Song - connecting isolated members of the community through an LGBTQ+ choir, book club, and creative network

Father Hudson's Care Stoke £20,000

The 4 C's Project - a collaboration between four community organisations in Stoke, using creative activities to reduce loneliness and strengthen wellbeing in ageing communities

Fegg Hayes Stoke £20,000

Fegg Hayes Cultural Quarter - a series of drop-in workshops and a new art trail to increase community aspiration, pride, and ownership

Gasped Wakefield £19,960

CRAFTY - bringing together isolated, lonely, and vulnerable people from different groups to explore creative activities and experience cultural events

GB Carnival Thanet £19,988

Ramsgate Carnival and Parade Club - regular activities including drumming, puppetry, making, and movement, with opportunities for participants to share their ideas for parades

Heart of Glass Knowsley £20,000

Grief Rave - a collaboration between residents who are grieving and internationally renowned artist Annie Nicholson to develop rave/disco events for the wider community at risk of loneliness 

Margate Pride Thanet £16,932

Queer Youth and Teatime Socials - a project to celebrate, make visible, and provide year-round social occasions for LGBTQ+ people and allies to combat discrimination and isolation

New Vic Stoke £19,900

Travelling Together: a local map of friendship and creativity - a curated journey through art, culture, and creativity, with activities aimed at boosting self-assurance and forging stronger interpersonal bonds

North East Opera Middlesbrough £20,000

My Great Folk - drawing on stories and songs from people both 'local' to Middlesbrough and those newly relocated to create a 30-minute folk opera, developing community unity, solidarity, and support

Original Projects Great Yarmouth £19,715

YarMakers - a 12-month programme of free creative workshops, socials, talks, screenings, exhibitions, and events, focusing on themes of community and environmental resilience

Platform Thirty1 Bolsover £20,000

We Are Greater Creators - a series of participatory creative workshops co-designed with participants in Blackwell Parish, culminating in a showcase at the Bright Winter Lights festival

Together Middlesbrough Middlesbrough £20,000

Creative End of Lives - capturing the stories of those impacted by end-of-life experience, and using creative activities to connect them with each other

Your Trust Rochdale Rochdale £20,000

Make it Happen - connecting those facing chronic loneliness through long-term creative engagement, sharing opportunities, and local partnerships

Project Awards

Organisation Area Award Project
104 Projects Stoke £10,000

Pot Dogs - celebrating the heritage of disabled workers in the potteries through a series of workshops creating Staffordshire Dogs

Anthony Sedden Fund Tameside £10,000

Creative Companions - creative activities focused on young people's mental health, including crafts, cooking, and music

Babylon Arts Fenland £9,000

FenCreators - a new programme of regular, drop-in creative classes in three Fenland locations, with an emphasis on fun activities and a sociable, inclusive atmosphere

Banyan Arts South Tyneside £10,000

Creativity, Togetherness, Community - working with the South Tyneside BAME community to explore identity and belonging, focusing on photography created by participants

Barnsley Civic Barnsley £9,950

Eating Art - a community engagement project using design, craft, and communal food sharing to bring together five disparate communities in Barnsley

Bee Enchanted CIC Sunderland £9,950

Connecting the Dots - a one year creative dance, health, and wellbeing programme aimed at older adults (aged 65+) and women experiencing adverse mental health

Caring and Sharing Rochdale Rochdale £9,672

Creative Connections - an innovative community initiative to engage participants at risk of chronic loneliness in a 6-month programme of art workshops, promoting empowerment and connection with others

Cast - Doncaster Doncaster £10,000

Doncaster People’s Theatre - a community-centred performance company that will celebrate difference, generosity, and kindness, and providing enriching performance and social opportunities

Community Rail Lancashire Wakefield £8,225

Coal - Change - Community - exploring the changes in social and physical landscape within the (ex)mining town of Wakefield through workshops and excursions for older adults, culminating in a new artwork to be displayed at railway stations

Crea Norfolk Kings Lynn £6,750

Re Vamp - a project designed to teach, inspire, and encourage creativity through up-cycling wearable textiles 

Creative Health and Well-Being Ltd Rochdale £9,966.87

Watercolour - a series of creative 'painting and chatting' sessions for older adults and carers, with participants invited to create a self-governing group supported by Creative Health

Crossroads Barnsley Barnsley £9,200

Remember Those Songs! - weekly sessions led by a singing teacher for participants with dementia, rehearing songs to perform at a monthly memory hub

Curious Arts Middlesbrough £9,771.80

Middlesbrough is Curious - establishing a youth group to support LGBTQIA+ young people, and a pride committee of volunteers who will take part in the programming, fundraising, and delivery of Middlesbrough Pride Festival

Dersingham Choral Society Kings Lynn £8,928

Bangles and Beads - a series of free, themed, participatory concerts aimed at older members of the community

Dorothy Parkes Centre Sandwell £10,000

Art in Bloom - a project combining gardening, art, and poetry, giving participants the opportunity to develop connections, explore nature, learn new skills, and work with local artists, poets, and horticulturalists

Edgelands Arts Wakefield £9,950

Explore, Create, Connect - tackling chronic loneliness by inviting participants to explore their local neighbourhood through artist-guided, sensory awareness walks, followed by creating artworks inspired by their observations and conversations

First Art Bolsover £9,500

Shirebrook Pop-Up Social Club - transforming village halls, green spaces, and Shirebrook community assets into a temporary, community-led social club

FreeStyle Community Projects Middlesbrough £9,468

Community Mosaic - transforming an underused public space in Middlesbrough through the creation of a community-curated mosaic

Great Yarmouth Centre for Community Writing Great Yarmouth £9,997

Language, People, Place - a weekly creative writing/reading group developing creativity, countering isolation, and improving literacy skills and confidence through poetry, short stories, and scriptwriting

Imaginarium Theatre Knowsley £9,650

Connect Creative Community Programme - a vibrant, warm, community programme inviting participants to ignite their creativity through drumming, drama, choral singing, and fire arts

International Community Org Sunderland Sunderland £10,000

Creative Mums' Club - enabling Eastern European mums and children to meet new people and take part in regular creative activities to reduce isolation, such as seasonal arts and crafts, heritage-based activities, or environmental artwork

Lancashire Wildlife Trust Burnley £9,500

Bold, Bright, Brilliant - bringing bold, bright, and brilliant community art to The Chai Centre in Burnley, uniting people through shared experiences, stories, food, and creativity, based around environmental nature themes

Living History NE Sunderland £9,982

A Sense of Place: The Heart of Sunderland - exploring what 'sense of place' means to participants through a co-created intergenerational experience, leading to a collective community installation which will incorporate photography, poetry, art, oral histories, and local heritage

Local Works Ltd Kingston upon Hull £8,370

A project focusing on engaging teenage girls suffering from isolation due to disengagement with formal education, improving confidence and social connections through dance and performing arts

Looping the Loop Thanet £9,699.50

Thanet Voices - drawing on Thanet's heritage of the seaside, circus, Dreamland, and the Victorian showman 'Lord' George Sanger to invite people to come together to share conversation and singing

Margate Bookie Thanet £10,000

The Thanet Volunteer Pool - a project to recruit, train, supervise, and mobilise volunteers from the local community to support literary festivals, arts activities, and young people’s support programmes in Margate and surrounding areas in Thanet

MN Well Child Support Great Yarmouth £9,558

Intergenerational Crafts for Wellbeing - a nine-month programme of weekly craft sessions, bringing together young people who have experienced bullying and older people living in isolation

Music 4 Children Thanet £9,630

Life As We Know It - working alongside the young people who attend Quarterdeck Youth Centre in Margate to co-produce two songs and co-design a mural, inspired by the theme 'Life As We Know It' 

Noah's A.R.T. Tameside £10,000

Re: Growth - a series of eight-week programmes exploring different art mediums, supporting the creation of a community event to showcase the impact of art and nature on mental health

Norfolk & Waverley Mind Kings Lynn £9,998.31

Mind Over Menu - harnessing the power of food to bring people together, and offering opportunities to learn and experience the creative role of food in mental and physical wellbeing

Northern Heartlands County Durham £10,000

Take Part in Teesdale - free weekly creative arts and craft sessions held in community spaces in the former pit villages of Teesdale, developing an exhibition of participants’ work and sustainable social groups

PAL Fitness and Education Wolverhampton £9,050

Move It or Lose It - engaging adults aged 55+ in dancing sessions suitable for all abilities, and monthly 'café style' arts and crafts sessions

Pennine & Lancashire Community Farm Burnley £10,000

Creative Communities - tackling loneliness by providing diverse creative activities that enable people to engage creatively with nature, their communities, and each other

Sam's Diamonds Halton £10,000

A project specifically designed to engage with cancer patients, offering a menu of creative activities to allow participants to express themselves and aid their personal well-being

Sew Mindful Crafts CIC Doncaster £10,000

Give Your Brain a Break: Come and Create - connecting people in Doncaster living with any mental health condition, and supporting them to connect with others, learn how to use a sewing machine, and to design and create their own sections of a collective community quilt

Stand Up Sisters Rochdale £9,989

Reclaiming Narrative - a project aimed at women recovering from mental ill health, substance misuse, and trauma, where participants will explore the theme of 'Our Lived Experience' through textile workshops using donated fabrics and materials

SWB NHS Trust Charity Sandwell £9,826

Youth Volunteer Champions - establishing a youth volunteer programme based at 'The People's Gallery' at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, to engage with staff, patients, and visitors

Tameside Arts Tameside £9,420

Arts for Health and Personal Development - a project delivering activities and workshops, including music, dance, arts and crafts, cooking, and drama, targeted at disabled, lonely, or vulnerable participants

The Electric Sunshine Project Blackpool £10,000

Creative Community Connections - a proactive, preventative, and targeted outreach programme to offer new routes into volunteering, and an opportunity to develop, plan, and deliver a new performance-based project

The Conservation Volunteers Doncaster £10,000

A Breath of Fresh Air - a series of creative, nature-based sessions in Doncaster and Barnsley community parks and woodlands, to help combat loneliness by introducing people to the benefits of socialising in nature

The Social Agency (Rideout) Stoke £8,469

Arts Factory - four blocks of workshops focused on different artforms, leading to a pop-up art exhibition, creating a warm and welcoming environment for autistic people to meet and form connections

TTVS Torridge £9,979.43

Connecting Through Creativity - offering a range of taster creative activities so that people can try new things quickly and easily, aimed at participants who are lonely, isolated, and anxious

U Island CIC Sandwell £10,000

U Are Gifted - connecting socially isolated and deprived members of a diverse community through participation in an arts and culture sharing project 

Umbrella Family Centre Wakefield £9,939

Better Together - a project open to anyone experiencing chronic loneliness, but particularly directed at members of the Polish and Eastern European communities, which will help participants to make new friendships through cooking, Nordic Walking, crafts, floristry, board games, and tennis


Banner image: Electric Pink Voices