RISE – Funding for young creatives
Supporting the next generation of artists through small pots of funding, RISE is designed to help young creatives develop and expand their creative practices.
Table of Contents
About
We are offering £500 in funding to 15 young creatives aged 13 – 30 that live in the south east and parts of the south west of England to support and enhance their creative practice. Spanning the wide range of UK creative industries, the funding aims to empower and invest in the next generation of artists and creators.
You’re invited to apply with a short video, demonstrating what your creative practice is, what you would do with the bursary and how you think this micro-investment would support your aspirations and development as a creative.
This funding is for you if:
- You are dedicated to your creative practice (it’s a real passion or potential future career path)
- You need investment to do something that you can’t already do now
Applications for RISE 2025 are now open and the deadline is 1 June 2025.
- Deadline 6pm, Sunday 1 June 2025
- Decisions will be made and applicants notified by 21 June 2025
- A final report on how you used the money and its impact is required by 3 October 2025
- Must be aged 13-30
- Must live in the south east or parts of the south west of England – please see our map for more information
- Must have your own bank account
- Must not earn more than £12,570 per year from your creative practice (If you have a job in which you earn more than this, but the job isn’t using your creative practice then you will still be eligible)
- Must be able to spend the funding by September 2025 and report back by 3 October 2025.
1. Fill in this form answering questions about your creative practice and your plan for the £500. We will also ask you to provide some essential information such as contact details. If you are under 17, you will need consent from a parent or guardian when filling out the form.
2. Within the form, you will need to provide a video application. The video could be you talking to camera, a slideshow of images with you talking over the top or it could be visual with no sound at all.
The video should be provided via Google Drive and should be no more than 4 minutes long. The video should outline:
- What your creative practice is and how long you’ve been doing it for (make sure you tell us how dedicated you are to your practice – is it a real passion or potential future career path for you?)
- What you would do with the £500 (make sure you tell us what this will do that you can’t do now?)
- How this financial investment will help you to move forward with your creative practice
- What your future hopes and dreams are for your creative practice
3. Within the form, we will also ask you for some examples of your work. If you are successful, these examples may be used on our social media, so please ensure you are happy for these to be shared. We would like you to provide 3 pieces of your creative practice – this could be images and/or video, audio, written material.
_____
If you would prefer to use another medium other than video or you’d just like to ask a question about the application, please get in touch with us at [email protected] and one of our Creative Careers team will get back to you as soon as possible.
We ask that you add your videos and the examples of your work to a google drive folder, but make sure we’ll have permission to view the folder! Therefore, when adding your video to google drive, please make sure that when you share the link in your application form that you have clicked under ‘general access’ that anyone can view if they have the link. If you have any problems, please contact us at [email protected].
Please be aware that if you are successful, the examples of your work and/or portraits of yourselves will be used on social media, so please make sure you are happy with the pieces you choose and any photographs. Your application video will only be viewed by members of the Artswork team for shortlisting, and may be shared in reporting with Arts Council England but won’t be seen by the general public.
If you have any questions or queries on the application process, please get in touch with us to have a chat on [email protected] and one of our Creative Careers team will be happy to answer any queries.
Previous years of RISE
2023 was our first year delivering RISE funding to young people across the South of England. To learn about RISE 2023 in more detail you can download the case study below which explores the journeys of three of the young creatives awarded funding, and watch the video to meet some of the cohort of creatives and hear about their practices.
Case study exploring the journey of three of the 2023 RISE creatives and the impact the funding on their lives and creative practices.
FAQ’s
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the RISE programme.
If you have any other questions that aren’t on this list, please get in touch by emailing CreativeCareers@artswork.org.uk – your question could be important and if we think it will be helpful to other applicants, we will include it in this section for others to see with your permission.
-
A ‘creative practice’ is the intentional repeated act of creating. For you, this could be anything, but some examples include: acting, photography, fashion design, textiles, printmaking, drawing, painting, animation, stop motion, writing, set design, singing, playing a musical instrument, dancing, graphic design. This list could go on and on, so please note that these are just examples and your ‘Creative Practice’ could be something not listed here. If you’re not sure and want to check with our team, please email us – [email protected]
-
Here is a list of all the creative industries in the UK:
Advertising, Architecture, Arts & Culture (including curation), Crafts, Design, Fashion, Games, Music, Publishing, TV & Film.
More information can be found here: https://www.thecreativeindustries.co.uk/
This is not an exhaustive list and if you would like to apply, but your creative practice does not show up in this list, we are happy for you to contact us and we will review whether we can accept your application. Please email [email protected].
-
Some examples include: Equipment, materials, supplies, cultural trips & visits, transport and ticket costs, attending training, workshops & classes, mentoring or collaborating with other creatives. This list is not exhaustive - you can pitch anything you like in your application, as long as it will further your creative practice and you can tell us WHY.
-
Of course. We are happy for you to film on whatever medium works best for you. If you have any questions, please get in touch on [email protected]
-
Yes, as long as you don’t turn 31 before the final deadline for applications then we’re happy to receive an application from you. Same applies for younger applicants. If you turn 13 by the application deadline, then you are eligible to apply.
-
If you were successful, we regret that we cannot accept your applications again, but if you were unsuccessful, we would love to receive your application again this year.
-
Yes of course – we would love you to. Please tag us or mention us and we will repost if we have consent to.
