National Portfolio Creative People and Places funding 2026-29

1. Engage more people from eligible places in a wide range of arts and cultural experiences as audiences and/or participants 

2. Empower communities to lead and shape local cultural provision. 

3. Excellence and relevance in both the engagement process and the creative and cultural experiences on offer.

4. Encourage partnerships between publicly funded, amateur, voluntary, community and commercial sectors, as well as collaboration across various cultural institutions. 

5. Take an Action Research approach to community engagement in arts, creativity, and culture; learn what works best and share that learning. 

To apply, your programme must cover one or more of our eligible places.

There are now 142 eligible places in England.

See the full list of eligible places >

If you’re eligible and interested in either leading an application or becoming a partner on a consortium, we recommend you sign up to our Register of Interest to start forming your connections.

By registering, you’ll receive notifications about the programme guidance, briefing events, and application portal opening. We’ll also use it to share your details with other partners in your eligible place, so you can start to have conversations with each other.

Register your interest >

Download the list below of submissions to start to build your connections. (This list will be regularly updated)

For now, it’s important to read through the guidance. You can find this below along with an Easy Read, Large print, audio and BSL versions. 

Contents  

• Meeting the Brief   
• Management, Consortium and Governance Questions   
• Finance and application 
• FAQs for Existing CPPs   

Meeting the Brief   

Can we work in specific wards in a local authority?  

Funding for CPP places is intended to benefit the whole of the place it has been awarded to (i.e. the whole of the Local Authority boundary) over the period of the grant. Whilst we know that targeting specific wards of least engagement can be effective in reaching particular groups, you will need to show you have considered ways in which the activity will benefit and be accessible to people across the local authority area and reach beyond those identified wards. We also recognise that for activity to be sustainable it needs to encompass a range of people and in some cases generate income; sometimes this is best done across the whole area. You cannot focus on single wards for the whole three years but you can do so for part of the time.  

The guidance states that funding doesn’t cover activity that is entirely focused on artist development programmes - why?  

CPP isn’t an artist development fund but puts audiences and the public at the centre.  The focus of CPP is on communities who might not ordinarily engage in arts and culture. We have other programmes for Artist Development such as Project Grants and Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP). You can find out about these on our website. The primary driver for CPP is engaging local people to shape, co-create and experience the kind of arts and culture they want; it   

may be that the work of local artists isn’t what the community want. People should be able to engage with arts and culture from anywhere in the world - local, national, international – what matters is that it is the best and that the community decides.  When we talk about community here, we specifically refer to non-arts grass roots communities.  

Can our CPP project include research outside of the three core research questions?  

Every CPP must allocate an appropriate proportion of their budget to commission their own local evaluation. Local evaluations must align with and track impact against our three core research questions and be undertaken in accordance with CPP evaluation guidelines.  

Local evaluation contracts must be independent and go out to tender.  Evaluation briefs and commissions must be signed off by Arts Council England. If you choose to have a critical friend this person cannot be the same person as the local evaluator. It is not a requirement to have a critical friend.  

Over time you may include plans to measure other secondary research questions. If you are including plans to undertake additional research in your application, it must be clear how this research will be funded and how you will ensure that the objectives of this research will not unduly influence the aims and outcomes of the CPP programme.   

Local Evaluation Guidelines are available here.  

Management, Consortium and Governance   

Can a Local Authority be a member of a consortium?  

Yes, but they cannot be the Lead Applicant. There does not have to be a Local Authority involved. A Local Authority could also be an associate partner, a funder, etc. Local Authority endorsement is not a requirement.  

What is the distinction between a community and a grassroots organisation?  

A consortium must include at least one of either a community or grassroots organisation (neither of which can be an arts or cultural organisation).  

A community organisation will be community focussed but have paid staff. A grassroots organisation is volunteer run (although they may raise monies to deliver certain projects). An example: a local Council for Voluntary Services, which has a paid staff team, would count as a community organisation. A local Residents Forum, where the residents contribute their time on a voluntary basis, would count as a grassroots organisation.   

Don’t forget: if you only have a community organisation on your consortium and no additional grassroots organisation, you must have a demonstrable model showing how you will engage local grassroots communities in your decision-making processes.   

Does an amateur arts / cultural organisation count as a community or grassroots organisation?  

No. Although we want to reach as many people in a place as possible, we are hoping to engage people who might not ordinarily engage with arts and culture so in that sense we would expect you to have a community organisation partner that is non arts/culture. This doesn’t mean you can’t engage with amateur organisations as well and in fact we would welcome this – but it can’t be the only community representation.  

What do you mean by a distinction between the governance of the programme and the delivery team?  

A CPP Programme should be governed by the Consortium.  The Lead Organisation holds the programme funding on behalf of the Consortium.   

Whilst it is possible for the Lead Organisation or another Consortium member to receive monies from the CPP grant to help deliver aspects of the programme, there needs to be very clear and transparent mechanisms in place through which the consortium agrees the best way to spend monies to achieve any given outcome. These processes will need to include approaches that address conflicts of interest from consortium members. For example, if an organisation on the consortium stands to benefit from CPP commissioning it is probably not appropriate for them to take part in the decision about spending on this particular activity. It is especially important that the community have a say in what kind of activity they would like to see commissioned or delivered.  

In our experience, the programme has worked best in the past when a team is employed specifically to deliver the CPP programme. Whilst these members of staff may be line managed within the Lead Organisation, their accountability is to the whole consortium for the delivery of the CPP programme. This can also help avoiding conflicts of interest.  

Finance and application

Is the required match 15% of the grant from Arts Council, or 15% of the project cost?  

The 15% is of the total project cost.  So, for example, if you are asking for £1m from Arts Council, this would need to represent 85% of the overall project cost. So, the minimum cost of the project (including in-kind) would need to be £1.15m.  

Where can the 15% match funding come from?  

Match Funding can include:    

• Ticket sales and other earned income over the period of the project    

• Funding from public organisations such as local authorities    

• Cash donations from individuals or companies    

• Grants from other National lottery distributors    

• Donations of equipment or materials subject to suitable valuations    

• Grants from trusts and foundations    

• Public appeals and fundraising events    

• A contribution from your organisation    

• In-kind support – this can include volunteers where they are contributing a specific skill   

Do we have to have the 15% match funding confirmed when we put in our application?  

We recognise that not all of the match will be in place at the time of application as the grant would be for a period of three years. We would expect some of the match funding to be in place, alongside plans demonstrating how you intend to raise the rest.  

Don’t forget: the project is for three years, and you need to raise 15% of the cost for the total project. It is possible to budget for different rates of match per year, as long as the overall project has a minimum of 15% match overall.  

Can volunteers count as support in kind?  

We recognise that many Creative People and Places programmes work with volunteers. In order to be consistent and fair in terms of how this is treated with regard to in kind support, we will take into account volunteering where a particular skill is being volunteered. An application which has Volunteering as a very high proportion of its match funding will be less competitive than other applications.   

Do we have to have earned income in the application?  

An application which demonstrates it is raising monies from a range of sources will be more competitive than once which cannot demonstrate this. Including earned income in your application would demonstrate you are considering the sustainability of the activity.  

The guidance states that applicants are not allowed to set up their own grant application schemes, why and what does this mean?  

In accordance with National Lottery rules, the grant holder is not allowed to redistribute Arts Council England CPP funding through setting up their own grant giving programmes.  This includes (but is not limited to):  

• Grant making programmes with a competitive application process against criteria;  

• Grant making programmes where there is a formal assessment process;  

If in doubt, it is best to discuss plans at your mandatory conversation.  

Arts Council England recognises that an important part of Creative People and Places is to enable the community in a place to decide what activity they would like to see happen.  To support community decision making, projects could use the following processes to decide how their funding is spent:  

• Commissioning opportunities, with open call outs for artistic proposals, detailing the budget available;  

• Community decision panels, who decide which artistic projects and activities are undertaken;  

Contributing to local community, amateur or group activity, where the group decides how money should be spent, as long as the project delivers on the aims of Creative People and Places programme   

Again, this is not an exhaustive list, if in doubt please check when you have your mandatory conversation.  

FAQs for existing CPPs  

Can we make changes to our original Consortium or Project?  

You can make changes to your existing consortium and project as long as you are clear about what the changes are and the impact they will have in your application.    

If you are thinking about making significant changes, you should discuss this with your Relationship Manager at your Mandatory Conversation.   

Can we change the accountable body for the programme 2026 – 29?  

Yes.  This is an entirely new and separate funded programme, therefore a different accountable body will be able to make the application on behalf of the Consortium.  Evidence of the Consortiums agreement and continued partnership will be requited at application stage in the form of a letter of support, signed by all Consortium partners.    

What will happen if we haven’t spent our current (or extension 25 – 26) grant before 31 March 2026?  

We will be closing all existing grants and reissuing a funding agreement for the new programme, starting 1 April 2026 and ending 31 March 2029. Apart from final payments, which are due at the end of April 2026, any payments that have not been requested and released by 31 March 2026 will not be payable, and you will begin a new funding agreement and payment schedule on 1 April 2026.  

If you believe you will be in a position where you will be underspent by 31 March 2026, you should speak to your Relationship Manager.   

Can we include new geographical areas for the programme 2026 – 29?  

Yes, as long as they are eligible areas.  

Can we reduce the number of geographical areas we cover?  

Yes, however value for money will be a considered as part of the application process. Any reduction in geographical area should be justified in your application and considered in your finances.   

If your application goes on to be successful, all grant holders must agree to the Terms and Conditions. These are subject to review and there may be changes before now and the date of the funding agreement.