LCCC Arts Grants Scheme - Arts Organisations 2025/26

The importance of the arts and creative activities to the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities is a key part of our Community Plan.

In support of this, our Arts Grants Scheme for arts organisations has been designed to support both the amateur and professional arts sector in the delivery of arts events, projects or activities, which take place in the council area through the provision of direct grants.

A maximum grant of up to £3,000 is available for any one organisation in each financial year.

Organisations must comply with all statutory obligations regarding the delivery of and access to their project or event, including health & safety and licensing requirements.

This is a competitive scheme and applications will be determined on the basis of merit.

Applicants can apply to other sources of public support, outside of the council, but must declare this in their application form and show how the additional funding will add value.

Those organisations based outside our area may be awarded funding for projects as long as the entirety of the project takes place within the Lisburn and Castlereagh area.

Projects must take place in the council area between the date of their signed terms & conditions being received and 31st March 2026.

If more than one group operates within a particular locality, we would welcome partnership applications, however a lead applicant will need to be identified. Please note in this case the applicant must demonstrate that there is no project duplication.

Applicants can apply to other sources of public support, outside of the council, but must declare this in their application form.

Applicants will be expected to make every effort to increase capacity within their local community, through for example, skills training and volunteering.

It is a prime responsibility for us to ensure the proper and efficient use of, and accountability for, public monies.  To this end, applicants must forward all supporting documentation requested along with the application. We will be unable to assess applications without all supporting documentation being received.

Applicants will be required to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of their project, and adequately show how it will have a positive and measurable impact on the local community.

Future funding may be withheld if any required closing documentation is still outstanding for previous grants administered by us, including invoices, receipts, accounts, bank statements and evaluation reports.

Successful applicants in any given year should not presume continued support in subsequent years.

Evidence the:

• project is not of a commercial nature or organised on a profit/commercial basis
• application is not for normal running costs of the applicant organisations e.g. existing staff salaries
• projects administration/equipment costs are proportionate to the overall programme costs
• application is not for trade or professional conferences/conventions
• application is not primarily fundraising for charitable purposes, or deploying potential sources of income to a charity
• application is not for a social event that has no community benefit
• the proposed project clearly contributes to the objectives of the Arts Grants Scheme

Organisations must be able to demonstrate the following basic eligibility criteria:

• from a formally governed arts organisation i.e. ‘it has a primary purpose of promoting the Arts’ (a copy of the constitution, memorandum articles of association, etc. must be submitted with the application and evidence must be provided that it has been adopted at a public meeting of the group’s membership)
• evidence the applicant group’s governing document open and accountable
• a bank account in the name of the organisation, which requires a minimum of two unrelated members to authorise withdrawals and an annual set of independently examined financial accounts, endorsed at an Annual General Meeting
• a management committee or governing board, elected by its membership at an Annual General Meeting, and elected office bearers
• have appropriate safeguarding policies for protecting children and vulnerable adults, who are involved as part of the group’s programme
• evidence of public liability insurance cover of a minimum £5 million for the activities of the group, including the proposed project, or confirmation from a broker that this can be produced.
• evidence of employers liability insurance (where applicable) to cover a minimum £10 million for the activities of the group, including the proposed project, or confirmation from a broker that this can be produced
• evidence the group is based within our area or that the project beneficiaries are residents of the Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council area

We do not fund organisations that are:

• not formally constituted, in other words, they do not have a constitution or memorandum and articles of association
• not operating on a not-for-profit basis (taken from the constitution or memorandum and articles of association) as we cannot support commercial projects or projects that could be carried out commercially. If, in our reasonable opinion, the organisation applying for funding is a de facto commercial organisation, whatever the legal make-up of the organisation, then we shall not fund that organisation. Our decision shall be final in this regard
• able to share out profits (taken from the constitution or memorandum and articles of association)
• not prepared to share learning from their project with us and other relevant groups
• local authorities or public-sector organisations

Projects that:

• take place outside of our area
• provide no potential benefit to the public, either in the short or long term
• are of a commercial nature, organised on a profit/commercial basis
• are aimed at funding the normal running costs of a community organisation
• have already taken place or are already under way at the time of the assessment
• duplicate what already exists
• are party political in intention, use or presentation
• promote a particular religion
• are primarily fundraising events, for charitable purposes, or deploy potential sources of income to a charity
• are contrary to any council policies

As well as the above, the following are considered ineligible for all grants:

• application forms that are not completed
• projects by individuals/sole applicants
• contributions towards general appeals
• funding towards campaigning around a single issue
• activities related to the promotion of religion or political parties
• areas of statutory responsibility or where such funding has been withdrawn
• retrospective payments or the repayment of loans or reclaimable VAT
• awards ceremony or industry events
• holiday schemes
• organisations that are in poor financial health or cannot show effective financial control
• organisations who have previously received a grant from us that was not managed satisfactorily or was not completed. This includes if you did not send us the monitoring and evaluation forms within the agreed timescales or if you did not seek approval for changes to your project.
• overheads allocated or apportioned at rates in excess of those used for any similar work you carry out
• building/capital costs
• costs which are not clearly linked to the project
• costs that are poor value for money, or procured outside of our procurement guidelines (services or items over £1,500 require 3 written quotes)
• costs that are already covered by other funding or income sources
• costs related to private or unfunded pensions
• amounts for gifts and donations
• reclaimable VAT
• alcohol
• prizes and trophies 
• funding towards uniforms
• equipment costs unless they have an ongoing use throughout the project and are essential and necessary to complete the project

In order to deliver the Arts Grants Scheme aims and principles, applicants will need to demonstrate how their project aims to address a minimum of two of the schemes key objectives:

1. Engaging communities in high quality arts and cultural activities.                          
2. Encourage better engagement and wellbeing for residents through arts based activities.
3. Encourage partnership working to improve access for all to arts and cultural experiences.  
4. Build friendships between generations and cultures, reducing isolation, promoting integration and ensuring people-centred arts service.                                                     

Engaging communities in high quality arts and cultural activities:                                        

• encourage and support the creation of work that demonstrates collaboration across a wide range of diverse backgrounds, organisations, disciplines and perspectives
• develop investment opportunities to enable creative cross-sector collaboration and risk taking and encourage growth of creative clusters    

Encourage better engagement and wellbeing for residents through arts based activities:

• collaborate with other sectors such as education and health, to embed the arts and creativity within their work, create models of good practice, and develop the knowledge and skills within the creative sector to deliver new programmes       
• support new formats and mediums for cultural production and experiences that increases community engagement in the arts                                          

Encourage partnership working to improve access for all to arts and cultural experiences:      

• demonstrate how communities across a wide range of diverse backgrounds have been at the centre of planning the project and how you have ensured access for all involved
• demonstrate collaboration and creativity across networks that supports best use of local resources and delivery of high quality arts and cultural experiences                      

Build friendships between generations and cultures, reducing isolation, promoting integration and ensuring people-centred arts service:                    

• provide exciting and challenging creative experiences that will have a long-lasting impact upon participants and audiences ensuring access for all groups                    
• demonstrate how communities across a wide range of diverse backgrounds have been at the centre of planning the project and how you have ensured access for all involved                                                                                                 

N.B. Those organisations based outside our area may be awarded funding for projects as long as the entirety of the project takes place within the Lisburn and Castlereagh area.

A panel made up of representatives of council officers will review all eligible grant applications and make recommendations to council based on the results of an assessment. As part of the approvals process, all applications will be discussed during committee and council procedures.

If you are applying for grant aid to work with other groups it is essential that you talk to your partner groups before you apply for funding. You must also submit evidence demonstrating their support and level of involvement.

The Assessment Process

Part 1 & 2: Organisation, Eligibility and Governance

Applications received shall initially go through an eligibility and good governance check, based on the information provided in Parts 1 & 2 of the application form which covers Sections A, B and C. 

Each section will be marked as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ based on your answers and supporting documentation/evidence.   All sections must be rated ‘pass’ for an application to move on to the next phase of assessment. 

Part 3, 4 & 5: Project Needs, Delivery & Funding

Sections 3, 4 & 5 will be assessed drawing on the evidence you provide in relation to each of the questions asked. Each question will be given a score out of 5 as follows:

0  No evidence presented
1  Very little, weak or irrelevant evidence presented
2  Some evidence presented but lacks in either conviction or relevance
3  Clear, relevant answers with limited evidence
4  Clear, convincing answers with strong evidence
5  Strong, clear and relevant convincing evidence from a variety of sources
(Proportionate to scale)

Each question will be weighted to reflect its importance. This means the score is multiplied by the weighting number to give a weighted score.

Section 6: Details and Declarations

Section 6 must be completed before a grant can be awarded and processed.

What happens after assessment?

Successful applicants must ensure that all spend relating to their project proposal has been processed by 31 March 2026, along with the submission of all invoices and grant evaluation form.

Before submitting your application, please ensure that it:

• contains full details of the programme or project which you are applying and that you have clearly linked these to the Aims and Principles of the funding scheme
• includes a full and clear breakdown of the project cost and that it clearly indicates the amount of funding that you are requesting from the council; (Please note that this should not exceed the maximum amount available for the scheme, i.e. £3,000)
• includes full financial details for your organisation; (The council may conduct a further review of the organisation’s accounts and procedures and the applicant must be prepared to make all relevant documentation available for inspection and/or scrutiny.)
• details all other funding applications that you have applied for in support of the project, for which the application relates to
• relevant enclosures are submitted with your application

Please note: If you are awarded a grant, we do not provide insurance for any activity you undertake.  We strongly advise you to consult an insurance broker or advisor about the possible insurance requirements for your proposed activities.

Completing your budget
You must show that all costs are reasonable and necessary to complete the programme or project, and you should give us enough detail to assess this.

For example, you should give us the unit costs and quantities needed, 10 Artists x £50 = total cost £500. We will not consider your application as eligible if you do not provide a detailed project budget.

Restricted costs
Costs must be proportionate to the overall cost of your project and essential for delivering it. If we do not think that the amount you have asked for is good value for money, we may offer you less than the amount you applied for.

To make sure you provide value for money we can cap any project costs we are funding.  If you are successful these costs will be shown in the letter of offer, for example, facilitators, catering, and so on.

Where eligible we will only give funding for catering, hospitality or refreshments if these are clearly detailed in your application form and are essential to the project. If you need to provide catering, hospitality or refreshments, you must explain why it is essential.

You must clearly list any costs for facilitators, mediators, consultants or project evaluators clearly in the budget. You must also describe the work they intend to carry out and how it is reasonable and necessary to your project.

Any item or service over £1,500 must have three written quotes included.

Successful Applications - Letter of offer
If your organisation is successful, we will send you a letter of offer outlining:

• the general conditions of the grant
• any special conditions
• the stages we will pay the grant in

As a condition of the awarding of a grant contact details may be included on committee reports which will be accessible to the public e.g. your group name.

Before we can release any grant payments, you must sign the terms & conditions of the grant. This must happen within one month of the date of the letter of offer or we may withdraw the offer of the grant.

We will not fund any project costs you pay or agree to pay before you have signed and returned the terms & conditions.

You must get our approval before you make any changes to the project or the budget.

If you receive a grant offer and no longer want to take it up, please tell us in writing as soon as possible but not less than 14 days of the date of your letter of offer or the grant offer will be withdrawn.

Paying the funds
We will pay 75% of your grant when we receive your signed terms & conditions. If your group has previously been in receipt of council funding, any advances will only be released if your previous grant file(s) have been closed satisfactorily and all necessary paperwork has been received.

The remainder will be paid following the council's receipt of all invoices, claim forms and bank statements within one month of the programme taking place.  

Monitoring and evaluation
Given you are receiving public funding, you must answer for what you do with this money. Because of this, we will expect you to complete a monitoring and evaluation form based on information provided in the grants application.

Please note that monitoring and evaluation is a condition of all our grants and final payments will only be released on receipt of a fully completed Monitoring and Evaluation Form.

Please provide images from your project with your monitoring & evaluation form.  You must ensure that photography consent is obtained from all participants (both child and adult) before submission. Completed consent forms must be provided to Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council's Arts Service along with the photos or videos submitted. By submitting these materials, you grant permission for their use and distribution on Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council's online platforms (including websites, social media, and broadcasts) and in print publications.

Marketing and promotion
You must acknowledge our support by including our logo on all printed materials associated with your programme of work. We will give you more information about logos if your application is successful.

If you receive funding from us it does not mean we endorse your project. When you display the council logo on published material, you must include the following sentence:

‘‘This publication is grant-aided by Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council. The views expressed are not necessarily shared or endorsed by the council. The council does not accept any responsibility for these views.’’

Occasionally you may be asked to make appearances and assist us with launches and photo shoots. Successful applicants will be expected to ensure invitations to festival events are extended to the Right Worshipful the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the council’s Community and Wellbeing Committee. 

Unsuccessful Applications – Appeals Process
Should your application be unsuccessful you will be notified in writing. All applicants have a right of appeal to the council. A full copy of our appeals process will be issued with the unsuccessful outcome letter.

All eligible applications that have scored over 50% and provided all necessary documentation and declarations will enter the allocation process.

If the total funds requested exceed those available the moderation team may select to:

• fund the strongest projects by raising the bar on the total weighted score (e.g. to 55% or 60%)
• reduce the sum offered to each applicant by the percentage of the shortfall (e.g. if there is a 3% gap between funds requested and funds available, all grants offered will be 3% less that the grant requested)
• combine both approaches to give a balanced grant portfolio

Scoring system overview

Sections 1 & 2:  About your organisation
All sections must pass to move to Section 3	Pass/Fail
Section 3, 4 & 5	Max weighted score	Pass mark to move to next section
Arts programme	35	17
Capacity to deliver	45	23
Funding request	20	10
Total score	100
Section 6: Details and declaration	Pass/Fail

 

Section 1 & 2: About your organisation

	Pass/Fail
Legal name of organisation	Name reflects governing document
Based in Lisburn & Castlereagh	Statement that funded service is 100% in LCCC or that the project(s) benefit residents of the LCCC area
Date formed	Date of incorporation on document is more than 12 months ago
Contact for the group	Clear contact details for organisation
Contact details for group	Organisation has a registered address
Charity number	Registered with Charities Commission NI or pending registration
Main purpose of group	The description reflects the purposes set out in the governing document
Premises	Clear indication of type of premises
Number of people involved in running organisation	There are three or more board members The total number of people running the group appears reasonable given the nature of the group’s usual work
How do you recruit / replace committee members	There is evidence that committee roles and volunteering opportunities are open to members of the community. (e.g. AGM, word of mouth, advertising)
Ensuring committee members and any other volunteers have the skills they need	There is evidence that the group recognises and addresses skills needs (e.g. mentoring, training, buddies)
Bank Account / Signatories	At least two unrelated people to sign any withdrawal
Most recent audited signed accounts	Accounts less than 18 months old
Insurance	Evidence provided
Policies	All appropriate policies provided e.g. H&S, safeguarding etc.

   
 If all passed, applications can move to section 3.
 

Section 3: About your programme

	Evidence	Weighting
Programme	Clear outline of project that meets with the scheme criteria and set timeline requirements	3
Need and response	There is evidence of proportionate efforts to demonstrate needs	2
Work in partnership or complement the work of others	There is evidence the group is aware of other services and can identify the gaps it fills or added value it brings (e.g. different people, locations, particular approaches, skills, experience)	1
Activity, dates and number of participants	Clear indication of activities, dates of when activities will take and number of participants	1

   
Requires a minimum score of 17 to pass and move to the next section.

 

Section 4: Delivery

	Evidence	Weighting
Capacity to deliver	The number of people and their roles, skills, past experience	3
Promotion	There is evidence of thought being given to reaching specific groups as relevant to the list of main beneficiaries	3
Barriers	There is evidence the group has thought about what may stop people taking part and has made reasonable plans to address them e.g. timing, cost, physical, sensory or intellectual access, transport, culture	2
Risk management Contingency Plans	There is evidence that the group has considered and identified those risks most likely to occur and have the greatest impact and has taken reasonable and proportionate steps to manage them	1

 

Requires a minimum score of 23 to pass and move to the next section.

 

Section 5: Funds and value for money

	Evidence	Weighting
Funding needed	The funding requested falls within the rules and parameters of the scheme The budget adds up, appears to cover key elements and is proportionate to the scale of work and the nature of the needs of users or participants	1
Other sources	There is evidence that: the group has made efforts to raise funds from elsewhere and is meeting with some success	2
Value for money	The funding requested offers value for money given the number of people engaged and the nature of the needs being met	1

 

Requires a minimum score of 10 to pass and move to the next section.

 

Section 6: Bank details and declaration

	Pass/Fail
Account information	Details completed Details for signatories given
Acknowledgment agreement	Accepted with signatures, below
Declaration	Signed by contact Signed by a member

 

Application will proceed to allocation if Section 6 is completed in full.

Successful applicants must ensure that all spend relating to their project proposal has been processed by 31 March 2026, along with the submission of all invoices and grant evaluation form.

Click here to apply