Youth Music’s Energiser Arts Funding Programme

Funding is available to arts organisations in England to support the delivery of projects which celebrate and energise creative practice with children, across a range of art forms.

The Energiser Fund is Youth Music’s first investing in more than music, on the basis of research for Arts Council England’s Let’s Create Strategy which indicated that children see creativity in broad terms, not limited to specific art forms. The funding is intended to foster change in early years creativity by promoting excitement, deeper understanding, and greater equity for marginalised and underestimated age groups; specifically, the co-design and participation in creative activities for 2-4-year-olds.

In 2024, the Energiser Fund will award each of 10 organisations a grant of up to £120,000. Funding will be for three years, from September 2024 until September 2027. Additionally, each Energiser funded partner benefits from:

The Energiser Learning Community – a curated programme of online and in-person workshops, reflection sessions and mentoring.
Communications and advocacy strategy and support from Youth Music.

Applications will be accepted from constituted UK based organisations, who may be working in one or multiple locations. Examples of Energiser funded partners could include:

A theatre company that specialises in work for early years.
A maintained nursery school that centres creativity in their curriculum.
A small CIC comprising freelancers delivering music and movement projects with 2-4-year-olds in a variety of community settings.
A museum or library that programmes literature and art activities for 0-5s and their families.

Grants are used to support a range of creative activities and each programme should work across more than one art form. Programmes must be designed to:

Engage 2-4-year-olds in England who face barriers because of who they are, where they live, or what they are going through.
Involve children in their co-designed planning and ongoing development.
Receive added value by working collaboratively with other organisations.

Grants may be used to support both delivery and core costs.

The deadline for applications is 5 April 2024 (5pm).

Full details…