Community Foundation for Northern Ireland's Acorn Fund Continues to Support Local Communities In Derry ~ Londonderry

Acorn Fund Continues To Support Local Communities

The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Acorn Fund has opened the second round of its Legacy Grants programme, designed to help community arts and culture projects across County Derry~Londonderry.

Supported by Big Lottery Fund, the Legacy Grants are open to voluntary and community organisations that use arts and culture in innovative ways to tackle issues such as social inclusion, rural isolation and marginalisation. The programme is part of the Big Lottery’s three-year commitment to build on the legacy of the UK City of Culture.

Details of the first eight projects supported through the initiative – including the re-establishment of one of the City of Culture’s 2013 key community projects, Portrait of a City and Glasgowbury’s Rural Key programme which funded for up to 20 talented young people from Mid-Ulster to undertake weekly music production classes – were announced in June 2014.

Shauna Kelpie, Acorn Fund Development Officer urged community groups to get their applications forms in.

‘We want to encourage as many groups as possible to get creative and think about how they can engage communities and bring together people by using arts and culture as the vehicle.  The Acorn Fund’s Legacy Grants are focused on making sure that everyone has the opportunity to get involved with the arts. We’ve already seen, from our first grant round, how a small amount of funding can make a huge difference to the success of projects, creating social networks, promoting social cohesion and empowering communities.’

Frank Hewitt, the Big Lottery Fund’s NI Chair said: ‘The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to support the Acorn Fund’s Legacy Grants programme. We hope that the wide range of projects being supported will continue to build on the successes of the first UK City of Culture and the investment we made through our Culture for All programme.’

Legacy Grants of up to £3,000 are available. For more information please visit http://www.communityfoundationni.org/Grants/Acorn-Fund-Legacy-Grants. Deadline for applications is 1pm on Thursday 25 September.

ENDS

For further information or interview requests please contact:

Karen Friel, [email protected], 077383 77753

or

Shauna Kelpie, [email protected], 077 9626 4635

Notes to editor:

The Acorn Fund is a local area fund established by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland to provide a vehicle for local and diaspora philanthropy that can support community-based initiatives in the Co. Derry~Londonderry area of Northern Ireland.  The aim of the Acorn Fund is to both invest in quality local work and to grow philanthropy. For more information on The Acorn Fund’s programmes visit www.communityfoundationni.org/AcornFund