Culture, creativity and heritage makes Torbay a better place in which to live, work, learn and visit. Torbay Culture was set up with support from Arts Council England to provide strategic leadership for the local culture sector, and progress the cultural strategy which is focused around people and place.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT BURSARIES
Great Place Scheme Professional Development Bursaries
To support individual creative practitioners in Torbay to develop their creative practice and financial resilience, we are offering 15 bursaries of up to £500 per award to cover the costs of continuing professional development (CPD) activities. For example, this may be to:
update or grow their skills and knowledge in their area of practice
learn in a new area that allows their practice to expand
support the development of their practice as a creative business.
This is funded by the Great Place Scheme.
Eligibility
You are eligible to apply if:
you are a practicing artist (in any field), maker, curator, producer or other creative practitioner
you have at least one year of professional experience in your field
you are applying as an individual (organisations cannot apply)
you live in Torbay and have had professional experience in the last 12 months OR you live in Devon and can evidence that you have made or presented work professionally in Torbay area within the last 12 months. For the purposes of this programme, Torbay is defined as the Torbay Council administrative area.
you are not an employee or board member of TDA or Torbay Culture.
If you meet these criteria and you would like a bit of professional development, then we want to support you. You do not have to have been in touch with Torbay Culture before. Please read on to find out more.
What the bursary can be used for
Example of what the bursary can be used for are:
Fees for courses, conferences, workshops or costs of training
Visits within the UK for the purposes of knowledge exchange and/or professional networking
Costs of coaching or mentoring
Travel and accommodation costs associated with the above, and subsistence if the activities require you to be away from home for more than 6 hours at a time or at normal mealtimes. These costs will be covered in line with the expenses policy which is available to download, below.
There is additional funding available to cover access costs associated with the above where needed, for people with disabilities or caring responsibilities.
Note that all activity must take place between 1st March and 30th June 2020.
What the bursary can’t be used for
Great Place Scheme professional development bursaries can’t be used for:
Research and/or development (R&D) for new work, or making/presenting work
Equipment or materials
Tuition fees for formal education
Your own fees
International travel, or travel costs associated with attending other Torbay Culture skills development programmes and events
Activity that could reasonably be expected to be provided by your employer (if you are employed)
Retrospective costs i.e. costs incurred or activity undertaken before the bursary was awarded.
These restrictions are in part due to the requirements of the Great Place Scheme which does not allow us to make sub-grants. In addition, we are limited by the size of the bursaries available, which we have kept to £500 to ensure a greater number of people can benefit. Other organisations like Arts Council England and Jerwood Arts offer larger bursaries and may be more flexible on some of these areas. We highly recommend you check them out!
How it works
Applications are open until 9am, Monday 24th February. Following assessment of the applications, the bursaries will be awarded by Friday 28th February. After that, bursary recipients:
will be asked to sign a light-touch agreement with Torbay Culture/TDA to agree their professional development plan
liaise with Torbay Culture/TDA for the booking of courses, conferences, coaching, mentoring or training. You may:
Make and pay for your own bookings, and reclaim the costs from TDA (via claim form and receipts); OR
Make your own bookings and ask the provider to invoice TDA; OR
Ask TDA to make the bookings on their behalf.
make their own arrangements for travel, accommodation or access support and reclaim agreed costs by submitting a claim form with receipts to TDA
complete a questionnaire at the end of their funded professional development activity, which will ask about the experience, their learning and the impact the development opportunity has or will have on their creative practice.
How to apply
APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED (9am, Monday 24th February).
How we will select the recipients
Applications will be reviewed by Torbay Culture and, where appropriate, specialist independent advisors with expertise in relevant artforms. We will assess and select the applications based on:
the impact that the professional development activity would have on the individual’s creative practice and any associated link or benefit to their work that takes place in Torbay
how well the professional development activity has been planned, including costs and scheduling for completion by 30th June 2020.
If applications reveal demand for skills development on a particular topic, we reserve the right to commission activity on behalf of a group.
DOWNLOAD THIS GUIDANCE AS A PDF
Having read this guidance, if you have further questions, you can email [email protected]
Image credit: Nick Morrison