Application guidance and form

Name of organisation

This must match the information on bank statements and governing documents if you have them. If you are not a constituted group, please use the name of your organisation that you are known by and that you use on any communications, promotional materials etc.

Primary contact name

This should be the person who is responsible for this application form and answering any questions that we may have. Please let us know if your main contact has any communication needs.

Alternative contact

This should be a secondary contact who is also authorised and able to answer any questions that we may have relating to this application. The alternative contact details must be different from the main contact. Please let us know if your alternative contact has any communication needs.

Question: What are the aims of your organisation and what activities or services do you provide?

Please briefly describe your organisation’s purpose, highlighting any expertise relevant to this application and clearly indicating which sector it is in.

Question: Are you a constituted organisation?

Please note you do not have to be a constituted group to apply for Community Festivals funding.

• If Yes - please ensure you attach a copy of your organisation’s constitution or governing document in an electronic format (e.g. Word file, pdf, jpeg etc) as part of this application. 
• If No - please nominate a constituted Islington-based organisation. You must ensure you have their permission to be named on this application.

Nominated organisation

Ensure you have their permission to be named on this application.

We cannot give grants directly to unconstituted groups, so if you are applying as an individual or unconstituted group, you will need to nominate a constituted organisation to hold the grant for you.

This nominated organisation should be Islington-based and meet the requirements of the Community Festivals Fund eligibility criteria for constituted organisations.

Unconstituted groups should draw up an agreement with the nominated organisation detailing the nature of their relationship to the applicant and any other terms and conditions required to:

• confirm the nominated organisation will hold the Community Festivals grant on behalf of the individual or unconstituted organisation, if successful 
• establish the nominated organisation’s relationship to the Community Festivals Fund application and project delivery. 

If your application is shortlisted, we will require the nominated organisation to confirm their eligibility status by completing a short form and supplying a copy of their constitution or governing document.

If you do not know any local voluntary or community groups, social enterprises, or arts sector organisations that can help support your application, you can search the directory of Islington organisations held by Voluntary Action Islington or we may be able to help you with this. Please contact culture@islington.gov.uk.

Question: Do you have an organisation / group bank account with at least two signatories?

If your application is successful, we will need details of the bank account to pay your grant money into. If your organisation has a bank account, we will need the names of at least two unrelated signatories.

• If Yes - please ensure you have their permission to be named on this application.
• If No – please nominate a constituted Islington-based organisation that can fulfil this criterion. You must ensure you have their permission to be named on this application.

Confirm that you have at least one year’s worth of audited accounts or management accounts signed by chair or treasurer.

If you do not have audited accounts, an informal record of income and expenditure signed by your chair or treasurer should be in place, for example a spreadsheet, takings book, etc.

Islington Council is a Living Wage Friendly funder. This means we seek to ensure that all voluntary sector jobs which are wholly or partially funded by an Islington Council grant, pay at least the London Living Wage.

Any project seeking funds from the Islington Community Festivals Fund grant that includes salary costs should be budgeted at the London Living Wage or above. For more information - including what the current London Living Wage is - visit the London Living Wage website.

Question: Are employees or volunteers helping to run the festival?

• Your organisation must pay all staff the Living Wage Foundation’s London Living Wage as a minimum.
• Your organisation must implement annual living wage adjustments to staff pay/salaries as soon as possible and within six months of the annual living wage announcement in November.
• Guidance from the Government on how to manage your volunteers states that volunteers shouldn’t be paid for their time but can receive payment for any out-of-pocket expenses.

Question: What is the name of the festival?

Please provide the full name of your festival. Where applicable, also list any festival abbreviations, acroynms or other short-form names that may also be used for publicity purposes.

Question: Festival dates and times 

Please note that applications for Community Festivals Funding 2023 – 2026 must be for festivals and festival activity starting no earlier than April 2023.

We want to know the date(s) of your festival in funding year 1 which runs from April 2023 – March 2024.

Please provide estimated dates for the festival in funding years 2 (April 2024 – March 2025) and year 3 (April 2025 – March 2026).

Question: Festival timing

Please provide the start time and end time on the day(s) of the festival.

Question: Where will the festival take place?

Please provide full details of the proposed festival location / venue including its postcode.

Question: Please provide an estimate for the total number of festival attendees including participants for associated workshops (annually)

Include the estimated footfall for your festival plus the estimated number of participants for any festival associated workshops or community engagement festival activities. 

If your festival takes place over more than one day, please provide an average daily footfall figure. 

Question: Please provide a brief description of the festival (up to 300 words)

Include details of the purposes of the festival, how it will provide borough-wide benefit, key highlights or features of the festival, types of entertainment and stalls expected, and any other relevant information

Festival applications must demonstrate how they will provide borough-wide benefit for Islington residents.

Please specify how your festival meets each of the following seven selection criteria, giving enough detail to clearly show how your festival has fulfilled the requirements.

When completing this section, please make sure you refer to the eligibility and selection criteria guidance for the Community Festivals Fund 2023 – 2026. The Community Festivals Fund aims to support organisations based in Islington to deliver high quality, innovative, community focused festivals that benefit our residents and promote community cohesion, access, cultural benefit and partnership working.

Applicants will need to show that the proposed event meets all of the following funding criteria:   

Cultural benefit

Events will need to deliver high quality and community focused activities that:

• maximise access to and participation in cultural activities
• celebrate Islington’s diversity
• improve, animate and interpret the physical environment
• promote community cohesion and a sense of place.

Equality and diversity

Festivals will promote community involvement and encourage people from a range of different backgrounds to participate. Festivals will recognise and value Islington’s diverse communities, promote good relationships between people of different backgrounds and lifestyles and contribute to the Council’s commitment to making Islington a fairer place for people to live, where discrimination and inequality are addressed.

These values will be visible in event programming by:

• ensuring that participating artists or components of the festival reflect and are attractive to the diversity of local people, cultures and lifestyles in Islington
• involving local people to define festival aims and objectives
• promoting understanding, tolerance and cohesion.

Value for money

Islington Council is committed to providing value for money in all its services. Event costs should be realistic and clearly itemised with income matching expenditure. If you have organised festivals in previous years, you can also provide evidence of their success (for example, links to press cuttings, photographs and any evaluation reports).

Well-managed

Please outline how you will ensure the event will be well-managed across the full cycle of this 3-year grant. Please ensure you include:

• safety and environmental impact considerations
• contingency planning
• brief details about the festival organisers’ relevant skills, experience and capacity to deliver this event

You will need to arrange first aid cover for your event. If you do not already have trained first aider, a representative from your organisation must complete training or you will need to hire first aid support for the festival.

Question: Explain how you will monitor and evaluate this festival for reporting purposes

Organisations awarded a grant will be required to complete a report back form annually to provide information on how the grant has been spent. You must submit the form to the council no later than six weeks after the core festival event or by 31 March each year, whichever is earliest.

Through this monitoring, organisations will be required to demonstrate how they are delivering against the activities proposed in their application. The council expects full financial reporting, a review of environmental impact considerations, details of community engagement content and results of audience surveys (postcode, age, demographic details etc).

• It is essential to capture basic information such as attendance numbers. Demographic information (e.g. age, ethnicity, disability etc.) about the participants will help assess if the festival has successfully reached its target groups and postcode information will help demonstrate borough-wide reach.
• Consider what key monitoring data and evidence you will need to collect from festival participants and audience to measure the impact of your festival and what indicators you will use to measure the success of your project in terms of intended outcomes.
• Applicants must ensure they comply with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and UK Data Protection legislation when collecting personal data from individuals. This is particularly important when collecting sensitive data such as ethnicity and health or socio-economic status.

As part of the monitoring procedure for this grant, we undertake on-site festival observation for evaluation purposes and, where applicable, may carry out monitoring visits to a selection of associated festival activities. We will contact you in advance to arrange a date for any monitoring visit to festival activities that occur outside of the main festival event(s).

We may ask that you provide evidence of expenditure for your project (such as copies of receipts and invoices) so please ensure you maintain good financial records so this documentation is easily available.

Inclusivity and accessibility

Activities should be open to all the community and accessible and inclusive for Islington’s most disadvantaged communities (targeted groups). 

Question: Based on the list below, how will Islington’s most disadvantaged communities benefit from your festival?

• Please tick all that apply for your festival.

Question: Which of the following under-represented or marginalised groups will you be working with to actively encourage their involvement in your festival and associated activities as audience, participants and / or festival organisers?

• Please tick all that apply. We are particularly keen that festivals will attract people from these target groups (who can often feel excluded from these events) as well as people from across the Islington community, to actively take part in the festivals as audiences, participants and/or organisers.

Question: Tell us what methods you will use to recruit, engage and involve these target groups?

• Outline key engagement methods to encourage and support involvement and engagement in your festival from a diverse range of participants and audiences, including the provision of volunteering opportunities.
• Include plans for targeted marketing, for example, promotion in specific areas, through specialist networks or in partnership with grassroots community groups etc. 

Explain how you will make your festival and its activities inclusive and accessible to the different communities within these target groups – how will you monitor this?

• Highlight how you have considered accessibility and adaptability: the accommodation of differing needs or requirements that potential festival participants and audiences may have - for example, varied activity formats, diverse festival zones, the sourcing of specialist facilities or equipment, staff awareness training, and the use of community languages or other inclusive practices.

Question: Please explain how you will approach ensuring that your festival is an inclusive and accessible experience for all?

• All festivals must be open and accessible to the general public and provide benefit across Islington, not just to the organisation’s own members.

Question: Describe how you will ensure the collection of all audience and participant demographic data in a respectful and ethical manner.

• It is important to collect sufficient and relevant data to be able to show that your festival has borough-wide benefit and is open and accessible to the general public.

Match funding

Question: Please detail what external funding you are seeking and/or have confirmed for your festival.

• Applicants seeking Community Festivals Fund support must secure external funding for their event and not be solely reliant on funding from other council sources.
• Please note this information will also need to be entered (with amounts in £) in section 5 (your festival costs and budget).

Partnership Working

Question: Please detail who will you be working with to deliver your festival including other organisations or agencies, local sponsors, media partners, key external individuals - for example, freelance professionals, community advocates etc.

• Applicants are encouraged to work with other agencies and organisations that may be able to share costs, facilities and expertise, and support the involvement of participants or beneficiaries.
• Include information on your plans to liaise with the council for Islington Council stalls at the event and /or which Islington Council services you have key relationships with.
• Funding will be conditional on applicants liaising with the council in order to guarantee that the council have a presence at the festival.  

You will be responsible for meeting all statutory regulations. This can include health and safety, protection of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and maintaining relevant insurances.

You will need to demonstrate how you will support the safe, fair and impartial delivery of your festival by ensuring that suitable policies and measures will be in place for when your festival starts. We may request supporting documentation or evidence of these at a later date.

You will need to: 

• confirm you have the following policies: Heath and Safety Policy, Equal Opportunities Statement / Policy, Safeguarding Children Policy, Safeguarding Adults Policy, and/or 
• outline the steps you have taken to consider equal opportunities, relevant health and safety matters and the risk management of your project and how you will ensure adequate measures are in place.

Safeguarding children policy

We want to know that your organisation is committed to reducing harm to children. You can get policy guidance from Voluntary Action Islington.

• Please note that model policies will need to be adapted for your organisation or group.
• In your policy, we would expect (as a minimum) a list of the four types of abuse, how you would recognise abuse, what you would do / who you would contact if you are worried about a child, how you train your staff or volunteers in safeguarding and the name of your designated safeguarding lead.
• If your project is exclusively focused on children or young people we may ask to see further information.

Safeguarding adults policy

• We want to know that your organisation is committed to reducing harm to adults and has adopted appropriate policies and practice.
• A safeguarding adults policy shows that an organisation has a commitment to safeguarding adults with care and support needs and promoting their wellbeing.
• Rather than health and safety style risks and responsibilities about supervision of people, a safeguarding adults policy shows that your organisation has a zero tolerance approach to the abuse or neglect of vulnerable adults and knows what to do if this happens.
• The policy should contain a list of information about what abuse is (different categories and what that might look like) and a section that tells people what to do if they suspect that a vulnerable adult is being, or is at risk of abuse or harm.
• We would recommend that any organisation that either provides a service to or is accessed by adults at risk i.e. people who are elderly, disabled or have other health problems or vulnerabilities (which sometimes are not visible) should have a Safeguarding Adults Policy.
• Voluntary Action Islington has model policies, resources and toolkits.

Question: Please confirm that you have adequate insurance in place for your festival

Insurance documents

All recipients of Islington Community Festivals grants need to indicate that they have suitable insurance policies including public liability insurance in place before any funding can be released. This insurance will need to cover the festival and any associated festival activities that are being funded by the Community Festivals grant.

• If your proposal involves delivering an external activity or event (such as hiring a coach for a trip) you will need to obtain the partner organisations’ insurance documents (Public Liability Insurance, Employers Liability Insurance and Professional Indemnity Insurance).
• See the Insurance Policy Guidance Notes provided as part of the Local Initiatives Fund for more information on what insurance you may need to obtain for your festival. You do not need to submit to us these additional insurance documents from your partner organisations or providers.

Permissions, authorisations and licences

Your festival may require certain authorisations, such as Disclosure and Barring Service checks or need special permissions or licences for festival and associated project activities to be delivered, for example, site/venue permissions, road closure permissions and relevant entertainment licences. 

Please read the arts event advice and guidance for information on the licences and permissions you may need depending on the type of festival arts activity you are planning.

Question: Which of the following documents do you currently have?

Please tick all that apply at the time of application.

Question: If not already ticked above, please identify and list which permissions or licences, including any not previously listed, you will need to obtain.

Outline the steps you will take to make sure these will be be in place for when your festival starts so that you have the correct authorisations to undertake and deliver your festival activity.

Please confirm the steps you have taken to identify and ensure the necessary permissions and licences will be in place for your festival.

Environmental responsibility

Islington Council is committed to protecting the environment of the borough and minimising our impact beyond the borough’s boundaries. Having declared an environmental and climate emergency in 2019 and adopted our Vision 2030 strategy, we have the ambition to eliminate the carbon emissions of the borough by 2030.

All Islington Community Festivals Fund proposals should clearly demonstrate a commitment to using relevant environmentally friendly practices where applicable, for example: maximising reuse and recycling and reducing the overall amount of waste you create.

Please download and complete the section 5 costs and budget template ready for uploading with your application.

Question: Please state the amount you are requesting from the Community Festivals Fund annually

The maximum annual grant award is £2,500.

Question: Please state the total cost of your festival

Read more about other potential sources of funding for arts projects if you need additional funds to meet the total cost of your festival.

Question: Please provide a total breakdown of your festival costs

• Income - Please ensure that the total amount requested through the Community Festivals Fund, plus any additional or match funding, add up to the total amount needed to run your festival. Do not include any in-kind support as part of your income.
• Expenditure - Please be specific when providing a breakdown of how the grant will be spent including how you have calculated lump sum costs, for example hourly rates for staff costs, venue hire etc.
• Community Festivals funding cannot be spent on the purchase of alcohol.
• You must include the cost of insurance premiums in your budget.
• In-kind support - Please describe any in-kind support you have or hope to secure to support delivering your festival. This is separate from your total income.