Developing your Creative Practice: What’s new 2020-21

14 Oct 2020 04:12 PM

Developing your Creative Practice (DYCP) is back and now open for new applications as of today (Thursday 15 October).

The fund is for individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development. If you’re thinking of taking your practice to the next stage, DYCP can help by supporting research, time to create new work, travel, training, developing ideas, networking or mentoring.

We know that Covid-19 has had a significant impact for individuals, and many will need to develop themselves and their work to respond to the new environment.

We want to support as many people as possible to reshape and redefine their work and continue to make a positive impact on creativity and culture. 

To do this, we’ve made some changes to the fund so we can support as many of you as we can. Get the details below.

We’re investing more

DYCP will have a budget of £18 million to distribute across the next 12 months. There will be four rounds between October 2020 to October 2021, starting with the round which opened today (15 October) and closes on 5 November. 

You can apply for between £2,000 to £10,000.

We’ve expanded the definition of who can apply

What do we mean by creative practitioner? The list included in the guidance has now been expanded to include DJs, performer/creators, arts and cultural educators, community practitioners/engagement specialists, movement directors, cultural conservators, creative enablers, creative technicians.

You also now only need to have had one years’ experience outside of a formal educational setting.

If you’re working in one of our supported artforms or disciplines and don’t see yourself in the list, get in touch and we can let you know if your practice is something we can support.

You can reapply throughout the year

Previously, you could only apply to DYCP twice within a 12-month period. But between October 2020 and October 2020 there are no restrictions on reapplying to DYCP.

You can still only make one application per round. But if you’re unsuccessful you can apply again in the next round, there are no restrictions on how may rounds you can apply to.

If you’ve previously been successful, these restrictions have been lifted too. So you can apply again immediately.

Want to apply?

If you think this fund is for you, take a look at our Guidance for applicants and make sure you and your activity meet the eligibility criteria.

Need some inspiration? Take a look at our case studies to see what we’ve funded through DYCP before.

Have a question? If you’ve read the guidance and you’re still not sure, get in touch.