Women Empowered Heal (WE Heal)
Women Empowered Heal (WE Heal) is a new women’s arts, health and wellbeing fund, developed by Islington Council’s Cultural Enrichment Team in partnership with Violence Against Women and Girls services. We provide grant funding to individuals and organisations, enabling them to develop and deliver participatory arts initiatives, projects or workshops designed to improve the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of Islington women and children who have experienced violence.
The WE Heal fund, which will run until 2024, aims to support a diverse pool of arts projects and arts therapy sessions offering varied engagement options for Islington women and children, prioritising those often excluded from participation in high quality creative arts experience and those who are marginalised within current Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector provision.
The WE Heal fund is tailored towards healing through therapeutic arts-based activity created in safe spaces.
Who can apply
WE Heal funding is available for both eligible individuals and organisations. You do not have to be based in Islington to apply but will be expected to demonstrate a strong relationship with or affiliation to Islington communities.
Please note, individuals and unconstituted organisations will need to partner with an Islington-based constituted organisation.
We strongly encourage, local arts and cultural organisations, community groups, voluntary, grassroots and faith-based organisations or consortia of organisations to apply.
The fund will particularly welcome applications from:
- Women’s community organisations working with women and families affected by Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
- Organisations led by and for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority women and girls
- Specialist grassroots organisations who provide services for marginalised groups (such as disabled women, LGBT+ women, women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and vulnerably housed women working to end VAWG
- Individuals with lived experience of VAWG
What we fund
WE Heal aims to fund new, imaginative and empowering projects that promote mental health and wellbeing through the use of creative and expressive arts. We welcome proposals for inclusive, accessible, participatory projects that demonstrate how the arts are a transformative and restorative force for communication, recovery, self-esteem and identity-building.
All proposed projects must directly benefit Islington women and children who have lived experience of VAWG and/or have a relationship with Islington VAWG sector services - as participants and/or co-creators.
We are particularly keen for arts initiatives that deliver health and wellbeing benefits to disadvantaged or under-represented groups highlighted in Islington’s VAWG Strategy:
- Women and girls from a Black, Asian and minority rthnic background
- Disabled women and girls
- Older women
- LGBTQ+ communities
- Women and girls who experience multiple disadvantages and/or complex needs.
WE Heal supports the key aim within the VAWG strategy for safety planning, recovery and repair for children, and targeted therapeutic arts projects that promote the healing of affected children (i.e. not only girls), in addition to women, will be welcomed.
Projects may take any form that embeds safety, recovery and belonging at its heart including:
- participatory workshops or sessions which may stand-alone or culminate in a safe sharing event such as a performance, screening or exhibition of works created
- group arts therapy sessions delivered by accredited arts / music / drama / dance therapists
We want to award WE Heal funding to projects with diverse recovery-orientated arts activities producing clear, social, health and wellbeing outcomes that will support the healing process for Islington women and children with lived experience of VAWG.
How much can you apply for
The total funding available for this grant programme is currently £83,000 and distribution of these funds will be made over two years via two funding rounds with the programme closing by the end of March 2024.
Organisations and individuals are invited to apply for either micro-grants of £500 to £1,500 or project grants of £2,000 - £5,000.
Please also note that funding for this scheme is competitive and we are likely to receive many more applications than we are able to fund.
When you can apply
The WE Heal Islington Women’s Arts, Health and Wellbeing Grants Programme 2022-2024 was announced on Monday 28 November 2022.
Round one closed on 26 January 2023 and we will be announcing the first grant awards soon.
Round two is now open for online applications.
The deadline for submitting an application has been extended and is now 12 noon on Monday 15 May 2023.
How you can apply
Please first read the eligibility and selection criteria and our FAQs for common questions concerning the grant, the grant making process, our funding areas and timelines.
You can also refer to our glossary of definitions for frequently used terms and our examples of project proposal ideas.
You can now apply for a WE Heal grant through our online application portal.
Further information
If you require further information about the WE Heal Islington Women’s Arts, Health and Wellbeing Fund or require additional support with the WE Heal application process, please email culture@islington.gov.uk.