Cultural and Creative Events Fund 2026/27

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

About the grant

Colchester City Council in partnership with Colchester Amphora Events is delighted to make available this open Fund with a total value of £30,000 and will consider applications for micro grants of between £200 and £2000 for cultural and creative events/activity taking place between 1st May 2026 and 30th April 2027. 

The closing date for applications will be the 9th of February 2026. 

Criteria for funding

• Only applications which demonstrate the event or activity will achieve a minimum of three of the following objectives, including at least one of the first two listed in bold, will be considered for funding: 
  • Deliver a high-quality cultural or creative experience to local audiences  
  • Develop or showcase local creative talent
  • Support the local economy by encouraging visitors to Colchester from outside the local area 
  • Celebrate and raise awareness of the local and/or natural history of Colchester and the wider city local authority district, including our historic buildings, towns, villages and unique landscapes 
  • Celebrate and bring together our communities  
  • Contribute to the health and wellbeing of our residents through participation in arts and culture
• Applications are welcomed from multi day festivals or activity covering a period of some weeks/months as well as one off or one-day event/activity.  
• The event or activity should be open to anyone to attend.  
• It is expected that most activity supported by the Fund will be free to participants/audiences. If you are charging for the event/activity you must make clear where any income generated will be assigned. Commercial events solely for profit are not eligible for support from this funding stream. 
• The event/activity must take place within the City of Colchester but can be centred in any community or place within the local authority boundary.  
• The application must be submitted by a voluntary or professional organisation active within the City of Colchester local authority area. Please note while applications from individuals are not precluded, there needs to be wider public benefit beyond that to the individual themselves, and it is expected that in most cases applications will be submitted on behalf of organisations. Grants will not be paid to private bank accounts so any individual applying without a separate business account must seek a partner organisation to accept and be legally responsible for the funds on their behalf. 
• Only one grant will be awarded to an individual/organisation in any one financial year. Multiple applications for separate events falling within a ‘Festival’ will not be accepted.  
• If you are applying for an established annual or pre-existing event/activity you should demonstrate how funding will build upon and add value to the existing activity.

Colchester City Council will not fund: 

• 100% of the cost of the project; we expect to see partner contribution(s)/sponsorship, either in cash or ‘in-kind’ (minimum 25% contribution) 
• Current projects in deficit 
• Projects which have already taken place, or start within the grant assessment and administration period (12 weeks from the closing date)  
• Projects which take place outside of the City of Colchester local authority boundary 
• Projects that make profits for private gain 
• Any project where the applicant has outstanding debts to or is in dispute with Colchester City Council 
• Previous grant recipients who have not supplied event evaluation where this been requested.  
• Events or activity already in receipt of funding from Colchester City Council other than in exceptional circumstances, such as the Council’s administration of grants on behalf of other agencies.  
• The procurement of Colchester City Council services, commercial or otherwise (e.g. hire of venues). This does not preclude the planned activity utilising chargeable Council facilities or services, but you must prove before any grant is released these can be paid for by resources other than any grant awarded by CCC (Colchester City Council).  
• Religious activities: we can consider applications from religious organisations for events focused on the arts, performance, creative activity or local history which are open to all within the wider community, but these must not include religious content such as ceremonies, preaching or recruitment.  
• Political events/activities including political fundraising or recruitment activities 

Awarding and administration of grants/terms and conditions 

• Applications will be assessed by a Panel chaired by the Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and the Environment including Council Officers and representatives of Colchester Amphora Holdings 
• Applications will be assessed against the criteria. 
• All decisions by the Panel will be made within the envelope of the stated available resources. If the Fund is oversubscribed successful applicants may in some circumstances be offered less than the full amount of their request.   
• Decisions will be made within a maximum of 6 weeks of the closing date and applicants will be informed in writing of the outcome of their bid. Applicants are strongly advised to factor in sufficient time from the assessment and administration period (12 weeks from the closing date) to start their projects. 
• The decision of the Panel is final. However, applicants are welcome to seek feedback. 
• These one-time project grants will be paid as set out in the Offer Notification sent to successful applicants. The total grant amount will not exceed £2000. 
• The amount written in the Offer Notification is the maximum we will pay.  
• No funds will be released until a Conditions of Grant Agreement has been signed and returned. Funds will not be released to personal bank accounts 
• If you expect your activity to be delayed or the event has to be cancelled, you must contact us as soon as possible to explain and we will confirm whether this is acceptable. If we consider that this is not acceptable, we reserve the right to rescind the grant. 

We also reserve the right to rescind the grant under any of the following circumstances: 

• Failure to obtain necessary artists’ insurance 
• Failure to obtain necessary Disclosure & Barring Service checks 
• Failure to meet legal obligations under current Data Protection legislation 
• If your organisation goes into financial administration or you go into bankruptcy or insolvency 
• If you are found to have provided false or misleading information in your application  
• If you do not follow our reasonable instructions or meet any special conditions imposed on your grant award  
• If you do not use your grant for the purpose for which it was awarded 
• If you changed your grant-related activity from the application specifications without requesting permission from us first 
• If you act illegally or negligently at any time during the funded activity, related to that activity 
• If we believe your actions harm the reputation of Colchester City Council  
• If you transfer the grant to another person or organisation 
• The grant or any part of it is used for any of the following non-exhaustive list of items: 
  • Any costs unrelated to the project; 
  • Expenses related to the reward of staff or volunteers outside of the direct delivery of the event or project 
  • Input VAT reclaimable by the Recipient from His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC); 
  • Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature; 
  • Interest payments or service charge payments for finance leases; 
  • Gifts 
  • Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties 
  • Payments for work or activities which the recipient, or any associated entity, has a statutory duty to undertake or that are fully funded by other sources 
  • Bad debts to related parties 
  • The depreciation, amortisation or impairment of assets;  
  • Novel or contentious payments.  This includes any payment that could cause embarrassment to the Colchester City Council  

Evaluation 

Recipients are required to comply with all reasonable requests from the Council to facilitate visits to and provide reports, statistics, images and case studies related to the event or project to assist the Council is assessing return on investment for the grant awarded. 

Failure to do so could lead to the applicant being barred from future applications 

Acknowledgement and Marketing 

Successful applicants are to include the Colchester City Council logo on all promotional materials as an acknowledgement of the financial support provided.  

The Council reserves the right to publicise the grant and details of the project, using the recipient's name and any images provided, without prior notice. 

Apply for the grant

Applications must be completed online.

Please note unfortunately it is not possible to save a draft application form within the live online portal and return to complete it later. If you exit the process part way through your application will not be saved. 

Additional guidance on completing some of the fields in the application form:  

• Name of Applicant/ Lead Organisation: refers to the individual, group or organisation applying for the grant.  
• Lead contact name: should be someone who has a good working knowledge of the project. All future correspondence relating to the application will be addressed to this contact name so please ensure these details are correct. 
• Tell us how your event meets the criteria in as much detail as possible: Not all projects will be able to demonstrate how they meet all criteria, but you must complete at least one of the first set of two boxes and at least 2 of the second set of boxes in this section.   
• Amount of grant request: This should be the total amount you are requesting from Colchester City Council to part fund your application proposal. 
• What are your other sources of funding? Here you should state how much match funding (money from other sources) you have either applied for or have received to support your event. You should also include support “in-kind”. Please note that it is anticipated that this scheme will be oversubscribed; applications with robust evidence of partnership funding will have a greater chance of success 
• Have you received any other funding from Colchester City Council (including Colchester Borough Homes) for this specific event or project?  If the answer to this is yes normally this will preclude your event receiving support from this Fund. However, you will be asked to complete two further fields and the circumstances behind each request will be considered during the assessment process.  In this situation it is important to provide robust evidence regarding how additional funding from the Council will meet the specific outcomes required of this Fund rather than duplicate the support already provided. 

Completed forms will receive an automated e-mail receipt. If you have not received a notification within 48 hours but believe your form was submitted successfully, please contact culture@colchester.gov.uk for this, and any other queries.