Purpose of the culture fund

The purpose of the fund is to invest in arts and museum initiatives that align with Suffolk County Council's key priorities:

1. Promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing of all people in Suffolk.
2. Strengthening Suffolk’s economy.
3. Protecting and enhancing Suffolk’s environment.
4. Providing value for money for the Suffolk taxpayer.

Health and wellbeing – projects that:

• Encourage more people to take part in cultural activity
• Are delivered directly with and for vulnerable people
• Use culture to support people to build healthy behaviours
• Are designed to reach those in most need

For example, you might want to:

• Develop an intergenerational project that brings together older people and younger people to explore their past, celebrate their future and build lasting links.
• Develop a county-wide singing project with partners working with pregnant women at risk of poor mental health.
• Encourage more older people to come to your space and you might want to train your public-facing volunteers or staff on welcoming older people and being dementia friendly.

Strengthen the economy – projects that:

• Support skills development
• Support social enterprise
• Support the visitor economy

For example, you might want to:

• Commission high quality photographs for use on tourist-facing websites.
• Develop a social enterprise that skills up and supports people to use and trade their creative and cultural skills.
• Develop a series of creative and cultural apprenticeships with partners, focussed on building equality, diversity and inclusion in the cultural workforce.

Protecting and enhancing Suffolk’s environment – projects that:

• Promote environmental awareness
• Support care for the environment
• Celebrate the natural heritage landscape
• Reduce carbon emissions

For example, you might want to:

• Develop a new display on the environment.
• Support a community to creatively map and celebrate their environment, its history and its future.
• Develop a series of linked exhibitions that celebrates and tells the story of our heritage landscapes.

Provide value for money – projects that:

• Attract external funding
• Build on track record and create economies of scale
• Bring together partners with key skills for delivery

For example, you might want to:

• Develop a partnership project and you might need to commission a freelancer to develop the idea and a funding plan.
• Test if you could scale up an activity that is working well in one community and could be developed in new places.
• Match fund a major project with national funding – that delivers against at least 2 of Suffolk County Council’s priorities.

Our application form asks you to think about the Suffolk County Council priorities that your project will deliver on. We will give you advice on these priorities at the in-person and online briefings.