Festival Collectives Challenge Fund Application

Step 1 of 9

TVCA want to hear about your project, what it is going to achieve and the impact and change you want to make. We want to invest in projects that will achieve the fund’s outcomes and contribute to the objectives of the Festival and Events pillar of TVCA’s Growth Programme for the Creative and Visitor Economies (see Festivals and Events Investment Framework).

Section 1: Main Contact – of Lead Organisation

Title(Required)

First Name(Required)

Surname(Required)

Job Title

Preferred Contact Telephone Number(Required)

Please enter without brackets or space eg. 01642123456

Email Address(Required)

Email Address Confirm Email Address

Section 3: What’s the Big Idea?

Project Title(Required)

Please provide a brief soundbite of your festival collective and what you want to achieve through this project?(Required)

(E.g., A partnership of music festival organisers, venues and independent hospitality businesses from Darlington, Redcar and Hartlepool, committed to working together to promote local talent and grow audiences.)

Tell us about the festivals at the heart of your proposal.

Festival Name	Actions

There are no Festivals.

Tell us about any other members in your collective. What do they bring to the table?

Name of organisation/business	Actions

There are no Members.

Why is this the right group of organisations to work together?(Required)

Outline any previous instances of partnership working between any of the organisations/business/individuals listed or if you have not worked together before provide rationale as to why now? You could provide evidence of other successful partnership working.

What are the challenges and opportunities that you will address together?(Required)

Are there shared challenges in your current delivery models or business operations? Are there or have there been areas of opportunity that you haven’t been able to take up due to capacity or other reasons? Can you evidence need?

How will you do it?(Required)

Tell us about what you will do as part of this project. How does it align to the Challenge Fund objectives? What will the investment enable you to do that wouldn’t otherwise be achieved?

Who is the project aimed at and how will you reach them?(Required)

Who are the beneficiaries? These may be the partners in the collective, audiences, staff, artists etc. Tell us about how you will reach your target market and/or audiences/beneficiaries. If your project is specifically focused on collective marketing please provide an overview of your planned Communications and Marketing Plan.

What does success look like and how will you know if you have been successful?(Required)

How will this contribute to longer-term sustainability of the festivals?(Required)

What step changes will the project enable? What will the legacy of your project be or how will it be sustained after completion of this project? How will the festival collective continue to work together beyond the project? What difference will this project make to the Festivals and Events cluster in Tees Valley?

How will you ensure that your project is inclusive and accessible?(Required)

How will you ensure diverse representation amongst your workforce and beneficiaries and what will be the impact of this beyond the project?

How will your project contribute to improving or further understanding yours or others environmental impact?(Required)

Are you providing models of best practice, demonstrating leadership in this area? What are the key practicable actions you will take?

Section 4 - How will you manage the project?

Please outline the Lead Applicant’s experience and why they have been chosen to lead this project.(Required)

How will the collective lead, manage and deliver the project?(Required)

What governance structures are in place to monitor the project? How will the festival collective operate? What mechanisms will you put in place to ensure successful collective working? How will you make decisions? Detail who will lead on which areas of the project.

If you’re planning on procuring services / goods as part of the project, please explain your procurement policy?

(A process for purchasing goods and services)

What are the key risks and challenges in achieving the outcomes of your project?

Please detail key risks and challenges in achieving the outcomes of the project and what you will put in place to try to mitigate/overcome these risks and challenges. Are there any interdependencies in achieving your outcomes - i.e., is the deliverability of your project reliant on the circumstances of anyone / anything else? Please enter in the table below up to 6 key risks and how you will mitigate these risks.

Risk	Risk Level	Mitigation	Actions

There are no Risks.

Where will your project activity take place?(Required)

Please list specific venues, if applicable, and whether there are any online elements. If you do not have specific venues, please indicate likely locations/towns/areas you will deliver your project in. If your project does not include place-based delivery please provide where the majority of the work will be undertaken, e.g., your base. Remember! The project must operate/impact at least three boroughs of the Tees Valley.

When will your project start?(Required)

Insert date XX/XX/XXXX

When will your project finish?(Required)

Insert date XX/XX/XXXX

Section 5 - Project outputs

We would like to know what tangible outputs the project will achieve. Please provide as realistic as possible figures/forecasts/targets for your project on the following.

How many new FTE (full time equivalent) jobs (salaried/PAYE) will this project create?

N.B. These are only roles that did not and would not exist without the project/funding

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many of these jobs listed above will be sustained beyond the project delivery period?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many jobs will be extended e.g., an existing role moving from PT to FT?

(N.B. that are not included in the first question in Section 5.)

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many jobs will be safeguarded?

(that would otherwise be lost)

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many freelancers/contractors will be employed on this project and how many days of work will this equate to?

(Enter no. of freelancers and no. of days work) E.g.,10 freelancers for a total of 100 days.

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

What is the total value (£) of freelancer/contractor contracts?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

What percentage of staff and freelancers working on this project will be based in Tees Valley?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many people will benefit from training/skills development?

N.B this should only be counted if it is additional, that would not have been received without funding/the project.

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many events and festivals will this project support/work with?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

What was your total collective audience reach in 2023?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

What was your total collective audience reach of people from outside of Tees Valley in 2023?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many people as NEW audiences will your festivals reach as a result of this project/funding?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

What percentage of this NEW audience will be from outside of Tees Valley?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many people as volunteers will this project engage?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How many new products/works will this project create?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How much (estimated) income will be generated from touring these products/works outside of Tees Valley?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How much cost savings (estimated) will be made from collective working?

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How much additional new funding will be leveraged by doing this project?

(e.g., Arts Council England funding, Trusts and Foundations, Sponsorship)

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

How much additional earned income will be generated through this project?

(excluding touring new product/work income)

Actual figure / Target no. / Estimate	Any Comments / Notes on figures	Actions

There are no Project Outputs.

Section 8 - Finance / Budget

Please indicate the amount you wish to request from TVCA and use the template spreadsheet template ‘Project Budget and Delivery Plan’ to provide a detailed breakdown of your project income and expenditure. Remember to upload your project budget at the end of the online application form.

Please indicate the total amount you wish to request from TVCA. Please note expected investment will not exceed £100,000(Required)

Enter amount in £

Please confirm you have funds in place to deliver the festivals within your collective on a ‘business as usual’ basis. Match funding towards delivery of your proposed Festival Collectives project is not a requirement, however if you do have match funding in place for this project, please list it here.(Required)

Please outline the source, detail whether this is secured or not and likely timeline for securing match funding.

Request advanced quarterly payments

TVCA grant funding is, as a rule, issued in arrears, however we are aware that some of the businesses we support operate on a project-by-project basis without significant reserves/cash in the bank. Therefore, without advance funds delivery of the project would be difficult to cashflow. If you require advanced quarterly payments please provide a short statement detailing your financial position and why you would need an advance in order to deliver the project. Your request will be sent to the finance department to verify and check from your accounts and approve or otherwise. You will be required to supply TVCA with a quarterly forecast in advance of releasing the payment. Leave blank if you do not need advance payments.

When completing your project budget using the template provided please only input expenditure and income related to delivering your Festival Collective project. We do not require you to input the full costs of festival delivery. For income, please only input income related to, or forecast as a result of delivering the Festival Collectives project.

Festival Collectives Challenge Fund could include a wide range of project costs. These include:

Staff costs - new or expansion (e.g., increased hours, from part-time to full-time) of existing roles – where roles are dedicated to collective working for project delivery.
Contribution towards costs of existing collective members of staff to develop and deliver the project. Max 10% of total project costs.
Management fees (if lead applicant is an independent sector business) for lead applicant to manage TVCA financial investment and reporting requirements.
Consultancy costs.
Skills development and training.
Strategic programme development.
Small capital expenditure to support majority revenue-based project (max 20% of total TVCA request).
Costs towards development / commissioning / co-commissioning of NEW artistic work / product that will generate income back into the Tees Valley from touring/exporting outside of the Tees Valley.
Access costs.
Marketing and communication costs, including documentation of project activities such as photography or filmmaking.
Research costs.
Evaluation costs.
Implementation of environmental / accessibility action plans.

If your business is not VAT Registered and therefore unable to reclaim VAT, then you need to include VAT as part of your costs and ensure that the costs are within the total grant ceiling of the investment level you are applying to.

Section 9 - Delivery Plan

Please complete the Delivery Plan table using the template provided (Project Budget & Delivery Plan Template). The Delivery Plan should support your narrative answers and should tell us clearly what you’re going to do, how and why.

You can find the Delivery Plan Table template here.

Please ensure that your activities and milestones are SMART

Specific: The goal should be very precise with no room for misinterpretation.
Measurable: The goal should be quantifiable, and progress should be easy to track.
Achievable: The goal should be attainable — not outlandish or unrealistic.
Relevant: The goal should contribute to your broader, overarching goals.
Time-bound: The goal should have a defined start and end date.

For examples, please see the Delivery Plan template.

Please consider how your outcomes align with the intended overall outcomes of the programme.

Application Check list:

1. Complete and submit the online application form by the published deadline. You can save and return to the online application form, however we advise preparing your application using the offline version of the application form which can be downloaded from the Festival Collectives web page. Once ready please upload your information to the online application form.

2. Make sure you upload the following

Project Budget and Delivery Plan using the template provided.
Your most recent audited accounts (Lead Applicant only)
An income and expenditure breakdown for each festival business that will be delivered within your collective that shows two previous years of festival delivery, (with minimum of one year if festival has only been delivered once before.) Any member of the collective which is delivering a new festival must provide a forecast budget for Y1 delivery. You can use your own template for this. Please make sure the budget clearly details income sources and provides a basic breakdown of areas of expenditure.
One additional document which supports your application (optional)

Upload Your Documents

Drop files here or

Max. file size: 31 MB.

Section 1: Main Contact – of Lead Organisation

Section 2: Company Details of Lead Organisation

Section 3: What’s the Big Idea?

Section 4 - How will you manage the project?

Section 5 - Project outputs

Section 6 - Financial Due Diligence

Section 7 - Subsidy Control

Section 8 - Finance / Budget

Section 9 - Delivery Plan

Application Check list:

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