Creative England’s New Ideas Fund offers small seed funding to sole traders, start-ups and small businesses for their creative business ideas. Their previous investment schemes have been aimed at established companies. However, this New Ideas Fund targets untapped talent and new ideas.
What is the fund?
Through BFI-Lottery funding, Creative England can offer investments between £500 and £15,000 for emerging and new screen based storytelling business proposals. Newer companies and proposals looking for lower amounts are likely to receive grants. Creative England is likely to offer loans to higher-value proposals and more established companies. Decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Who is it for?
The New Ideas Fund is for screen based storytelling businesses in the English regions. Your idea must be for a screen based industry. That is, film, television, animation, games, immersive media or tech that supports these industries.
Who is not eligible?
The New Ideas Fund is not for companies working in corporate video or advertising, e-learning or training (unless you want to start a screen based storytelling arm). It is also not for charities, non-profits or CICs (unless you want to set up a corporate arm relevant to the screen based industries).
For more information on who can and cannot apply, please read Creative England’s Guidelines.
What can I use the money for?
The New Ideas Fund is to help you with business costs, improve your offering and diversifying revenue streams.
It can be used for seed funding, set up costs, hiring office space (e.g. for a group of producers to work together), conducting market research, diversifying your current business into the screen based industries, R&D, testing out new and exciting elements of immersive media to help your business, employing someone new into your team, building IP, equipment etc.
But you cannot use the fund for: just creating content, e.g. short films, feature films, slate funding, talent development, production costs. We need proposals to focus on developing a sustainable business rather than a specific project.
For more information on what you can and cannot apply for, and where to go for alternative funding, please read our Guidelines.
When is the deadline?
Applications for the New Ideas Fund are accepted on a rolling basis but we’d encourage you apply soon.
Source: www.creativeengland.co.uk
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