Festival UK Research and Development (R&D) Project Fund

Funding is available for teams from the UK’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics arenas, capable of developing major public engagement projects that will showcase the UK’s creativity and innovation.

Festival UK will be a nationwide festival taking place across England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales throughout 2022. It will comprise a collection of ten large-scale projects that will showcase the UK’s creativity and innovation to the world.

The Festival’s Research and Development (R&D) Project is a structured, self-directed, creative project for 30 ‘creative teams’ comprising talent drawn from the worlds of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), from across the four nations of the UK.

These teams should be capable of developing mass public engagement concepts and ideas to be presented to a selection panel to shortlist to a final ten which will be fully commissioned as a national or UK-wide project for the festival.

This is a £3 million R&D opportunity. A total of 30 teams will each receive up to £100,000 to create compelling and ambitious and ideas for projects that have the potential to reach millions of people. The money can be spent on fees, access, administration and the presentation of the final concept, including associated documentation.

Applications are accepted from creative teams, which must be made up of three to eight members (organisations, freelance creative practitioners or individuals) from STEAM sectors. Teams can be a nation-led, made up of creatives from one of the four nations (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales); or it can be a UK-wide team.

The kinds of organisations that are eligible to lead an application include limited companies, partnerships, cooperatives, community interest companies, charitable incorporated organisations, charities and trusts.

The deadline for submission of applications is Friday 16 October 2020 (15:00 BST).

Full details from the Festival 2022 website below.

For more information visit https://www.festival2022.uk/