Community Creatives fund

Community Creatives is an Arts on Estates project to encourage Islington Council tenants and leaseholders to share creative passion and skills with their community.

You can apply for a small grant to create a four to six-week creative project, based in one of Islington's community spaces.

You will get support and training to develop your skills and resources to run arts, cultural and creative classes.

What we will offer you

• Space - A free community space so that you can deliver your four-to-six week course to residents.
• Funding - Financial support of up to £800 per successful project that covers running your activity and materials.
• Teaching workshop – Skills to help you bring your activity to residents, or a refresher if you have already taught this before.
• Safeguarding training – Lessons on safeguarding residents over 18 and what to do if there are any queries while running your activity.
• Data protection training – Training to enable you to look after residents personal data.
• Support - Help and advice, throughout the project.

What you will need to do

• Teach residents your skills over four-to-six weeks
• Attend the Safeguarding, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and teaching courses.
• Get an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check - all our tutors teaching arts and creativity must have this to work with residents. We can help you with this.
• Give us feedback so that we can keep this project going and help us improve it so that people want to apply again.

Who can apply

This project is open to Islington Council tenants and leaseholders.

Islington Council tenant and leaseholders means a person who either:

• rents a council house or flat from Islington Council
• owns the right to live in a property through a lease agreement with Islington Council
• lives with someone who is a council tenant or leaseholder 

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds as we are actively seeking to better represent the diverse community we live and work in. We may prioritise applications that have been previously underrepresented in this grant scheme. 

We are looking to support arts, creative and cultural projects through this grant. Unfortunately, we are not able to support the following activities:

• Sport
• Cooking
• Gardening

How much you can apply for

The total amount you can ask for is £800 per applicant.

How to apply

The application window opened on Monday 22 September 2025 and closes on Friday 24 October 2025.  

We are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. You can choose how to apply: 

Audio or video 

If you would like to send an audio or video application, email culture@islington.gov.uk or call 020 7527 5992 and we'll send you an application pack. 

Online 

Your application must be in English. 

Apply now 

Non-English and other accessibility options 

If you would like to send a written application in another language or would like the application questions in a different accessible format, email culture@islington.gov.uk. 

Help with applying and questions 

If there is another format that would help you apply, contact us so we can make reasonable adjustments to support your application. 

If you have any questions about the scheme or need help making an application, call Laura on 020 7527 5992 or email culture@islington.gov.uk. 

Community Creatives is delivered in partnership between Arts on Estates and our new Growing Culture Fund, part of our culture strategy.