What is the Early Career Promoter Fund?

The Early Career Promoter Fund offers direct grant funding and capacity building support to early career, independent music promoters based anywhere in England and working in any genre.

In recognition of the important role promoters play in supporting the talent pipeline and bolstering music ecosystems, the Fund will offer grants of up to £3,500 to contribute towards the costs of the booking, programming and promotion of gigs, concerts, club nights, showcases, tours, festivals and other performances.

Managed by PRS Foundation and funded by Arts Council England using Supporting Grassroots Music funding from DCMS, the Early Career Promoter Fund will also help to address underrepresentation, ensuring support reaches a diverse range of promoters, and proactively encouraging grantees to support a diverse range of artists and music genres nationwide.

What are partners aiming to achieve?  

The Early Career Promoter Fund recognises the vital role independent promoters play in supporting the talent pipeline across England.

Through this new fund, PRS Foundation (with support from Arts Council England and DCMS) aim to help emerging promoters to do what they do best – book and promote shows to develop scenes, support artists and DJs and to reach and engage audiences locally, regionally, and nationally, and build sustainable careers in the grassroots music sector.

This programme will deliver grants for early career independent promoters in the grassroots music sector, aiming to bolster the local, regional and national talent pipeline with the following intended outcomes:

• Supporting music events in all genres, across England
• Helping early career promoters to develop skills and feel more confident in promoting artists, DJs and bands in partnership with music venues and festivals in their area
• Developing new partnerships and relationships between promoters and regional music venues, nightclubs and festivals
• Developing new audiences for promoters’ work and for artists, venues, and others in the grassroots music ecosystem
• Helping promoters to deliver events and work at a scale beyond their current level, and build their capacity, skills and networks
• Upskilling the sector so that promoters develop grant application skills
• Addressing underrepresentation within the live music sector, with the aim of ensuring more support is going to a diverse range of promoters alongside proactively encouraging grantees to programme and support a diverse range of artists nationwide
• Helping and encouraging promoters to programme a more diverse range of artists and music

Am I eligible for the Early Career Promoter Fund?  

Eligible applicants must be based in England (see below) and funding will be available to early career independent music promoters.

We define music promoters as those responsible for booking music acts to perform at a venue, festival, club night, showcase, concert, nightclub, on tour or at other music events (in any genre), who are also responsible for publicising and promoting the show.

There must be a clear funding need and applicants will be asked why they require support and how support will enable them to carry out activities and build their capacity. For the purposes of the activity you are applying for, you must submit a balanced budget i.e. no profit or loss. However, the ECPF is about advancing Promoter’s careers and making them sustainable so we would very much hope that if you are successful this will help you to raise your earnings. In the scenario you do make more income than projected, we would discuss with you our preferences, and would expect that you spread the reward fairly among all parties, pay yourself fairly for your time and/or reinvest into supporting future activities to ensure the continuing development of the grassroots music scene in the UK.

The remaining eligibility criteria below are designed to attract applicants with clear need and most likely to benefit from Early Career Promoter Fund (ECPF) support. We recognise that there will be exceptions to our rules and if you are not sure, please contact  applications@prsfoundation.com to outline your circumstances and discuss eligibility before applying.

Within online forms we will ask applicants to outline their circumstances and track-record in more depth, and our external advisors will be well placed to understand the fluidity and nuance of early career promoter development needs. PRS Foundation commits to updating guidance as the Fund develops.

Promoters based outside England cannot apply to this fund. The Early Career Promoter Fund is funded by Arts Council England using Supporting Grassroots Music funding from DCMS which can only be allocated to England based promoters. Promoters based in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales might be able to apply to other PRS Foundation schemes for organisations or industry professionals, or to Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Creative Scotland or Arts Council of Wales for similar support. All other PRS Foundation programmes are available to those based anywhere in the UK.

What do you mean by ‘early career’? 

Funding partners will prioritise ‘early career’ promoters whose practice is still developing. Since grant support can cover costs relating to music events and promotion, plus capacity building, we will prioritise those with a clear need to develop their skills and better establish themselves locally, regionally, and nationally.

Based on discussions with live sector bodies, we will allow promoters to self-identify as ‘early career’ and provide the following guidance to help potential applicants to determine whether or not they will be deemed eligible by PRS Foundation and external advisors:

• We are highly unlikely to support those who are completely new to booking and promoting shows, and most eligible applicants will have promoted at least two events (or will bring relevant transferable skills from other similar and relevant roles)
• Likewise, we are unlikely to support those who can be deemed as established promoters regionally or nationally
• More established promoters should instead apply for support through Arts Council England’s Supporting Grassroots Music Fund
• We do not apply upper age limits and want to be clear that ‘early career’ eligibility can apply to any age group. Applicants though do need to be over 18 years-old at the time of the application.
• It is likely eligible grantees will be operating on a small-scale in terms of the capacity of events they have been promoting, and the scale or setup of their business
• Most eligible promoters will be working part-time as promoters and supplementing income elsewhere
• Our forms will ask you to describe the scale of activities and level of income in order to establish whether applicants are too established for this fund

What do you mean by ‘independent’? 

Most eligible applicants will be considered as ‘out-of-house’ promoters rather than ‘in-house promoters/bookers’ at venues or festivals, or employees working for one specific venue or festival.

Grassroots music venues or festivals seeking support for activity including promotion, development of promoters, etc. should instead apply for other Arts Council England support. And ‘in-house promoters/bookers’ who do not feel eligible for the Early Career Promoter Fund may decide that other Arts Council England schemes, including Supporting Grassroots Music Fund are more appropriate.

Those employed by major live companies (e.g. Live Nation, AEG, Academy Music Group, Ticketmaster) are unlikely to receive support via this fund, and it is unlikely those working for large-scale live promotions companies will be considered eligible – particularly where intended career development outcomes can and should be supported by these companies rather than through this funding.

However, we understand that within the context of grassroots music scenes there are grey areas, and examples of promoters who might be considered ‘in-house’ or employed by venues or festivals (part-time or full-time) who are still worthy and deserving of support. For example, many early career promoters combine ‘in-house’ and ‘out-of-house’ approaches.

We also understand that in some scenes, especially those working in electronic music genres, small record labels may act as promoters. Providing they are still deemed to be independent and the application is by an individual who meets all other criteria, we will allow applications of this nature.

We will also consider applications from artists promoting music events which develop their own promoter brands and promoter careers and the development of scenes but not their own development as artists. In this instance artists should clearly distinguish in their application that they are developing a promoter brand and not simply promoting their own shows. We advise that artists are not part of the line-ups they promote and do not benefit financially as a performer as part of the application. While a much smaller proportion of funding will be allocated to self-promoting artists/creators in this context, this fund recognises the growing demand and importance of supporting artists to develop promotion skills, which may help to fill infrastructure gaps, support DIY scenes and address certain barriers and inferred presentation.

Applicants can request grant support of up to £3,500 to support a range of activity, including:

• The booking, programming and promotion of events including:
  • gigs
  • concerts
  • club nights
  • showcases
  • tours
  • festivals and stages at festivals
  • multi-venue events
  • other performances
• Costs associated with music activities including, but not limited to:
  • venue hire
  • artist fees
  • DJ fees
  • crew fees
  • production (including A/V hire costs, production freelancer/staff fees and other production costs)
  • a fee or contribution towards promoter time to deliver the related activities
  • administration costs relating to booking, production, and promotion of events (this might include specific events insurance, public liability insurance, utilities, etc.)
  • PRS for Music related costs to ensure songwriters and publisher are paid
  • other related costs
• Promotion costs including, but not limited to:
  • Design costs
  • Print costs (e.g. posters, flyers)
  • Distribution costs
  • Advertising
  • Digital marketing costs
• Capacity building including, but not limited to:
  • mentoring
  • coaching
  • shadowing and partnering with other promoters, festivals or venues
  • attending workshops, masterclasses and/or conferences (we recommend attending at least one industry event and using the grant to cover costs if needed) access to other support to build skills and connections
  • membership fees (i.e. to join relevant music trade bodies or sector specialist organisations such as the Association of Independent Promoters (AIP), Jazz Promoters Network (JPN) or the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF))
  • Any other capacity building exercises relevant to your own development needs
• Other expenditure which helps grantees to programme a diverse range of artists, develop new audiences, take environmental responsibility and build their skills
  • This might include using funds to hire different venues, to improve sound/lighting or other production for events and/or being more ambitious with the level or type of acts being booked
  • Promoters want to improve accessibility or add accessible features to their events (e.g. additional costs associated with wheelchair access or accessible facilities, paying for BSL services, setting up and advertising ‘calm’ zones for neurodivergent artists or audience members, or reducing the cost of tickets for some audiences)
  • Support for environmentally sustainable costs e.g. green riders, limit use of plastics, encouraging use of public transport’

What can’t be funded? 

• Events or tours which take place outside England
• Capital purchases including van/car purchases, equipment, A/V purchases, building work or building a studio
• Projects requesting funding that will or would be covered without the requirement of funding support
• Activities which take place before funding decisions are communicated (see our guidance relating to decision-making timing)
• Attendance at international events taking place outside the UK
• Promotion of events taking place outside of England
• Applicants who have concurrent or previous funding from the Arts Council Supporting Grassroots Music programme. Note that if you are successful in receiving Early Career Promoter support, you would not be eligible to apply to the Arts Council Supporting Grassroots Music programme for projects that begin before activity funded through the Early Career Promoter Fund has ended

On top of requests for up to £3,500 in grants support for the above activities, applicants can request additional funding for access-related needs where relevant.

Access Support 

We expect to set additional/top-up grants budgets for selected applicants requiring additional access-related support. Where appropriate, this might be allocated to cover additional costs relating to the engagement of D/deaf and/or disabled and neurodivergent artists, or promoters, as well as supporting promoters or artists with childcare/care giving needs. Partners will monitor demand for access support, reallocating this ringfenced budget towards grant support if appropriate.

Additional access support might be requested where for example:

• D/deaf and/or disabled and neurodivergent promoters with access needs themselves are required to spend more money travel/transport, accommodation or equipment which might make their events more accessible
• Promoters are booking and covering the additional costs for artists with access needs (e.g. additional hotel room for those with assistants, specific vehicles), where support is not already provided
• Promoters or artists incur additional childcare/caregiving costs to take part in funded events
• Please note that audience related access costs should be included in your main budget

Further guidance 

Grant support may range from £750-£3,500, with decisions and grant offers based on funding need, the number of live dates being promoted and the scale or promoter and music creator support.

We expect to pledge an average grant of £2,250 and this allows us to support approximately 220 early career promoters within the funding period.

Eligible events might include one-off performances/single events, or applicants may wish to outline plans for multiple events and/or tours. With an average grant of c. £2,250 we would expect most grantees to promote between 1-5 events but this will depend on scale of events, plus projected expenditure, income and funding need. We therefore encourage applicants to build funded projects around their own circumstances, funding needs and ability to deliver related performance activities while also considering wider capacity building needs.

It may be appropriate to reduce the number of live dates included in applications in order to allow for capacity and skills building needs to be met.

While most applicants’ funded events will fully focus on live music and performances, some applicants may wish to organise ‘live-adjacent’ activities around their core focus area of live music and/or club events (e.g. arranging a panel discussion before a gig, or promoting a multi-art form event). So long as there is an element of live or performed music, these activities will be deemed eligible.

Within the application form we will ask applicants to include a detailed outline of live and performance activities , including indicating the current status of venue and/or act booking (e.g. confirmed, provisional, unconfirmed). All categories are eligible.

PRS Foundation, Arts Council England and DCMS recognise the value and importance of the full grassroots music ecosystem, including grassroots music venues, night clubs, music festivals, artists, DJs, other promoters, recording studios, rehearsal spaces and booking agents.

We encourage partnership and collaboration with others in the grassroots music ecosystem including hiring grassroots music venues and nightclubs, collaborating or partnering with festivals, and paying artists, DJs, crew, venues and others fairly.

While we appreciate there will be circumstances in which early career promoters will want to or need to work independently of others, those who can demonstrate that funded activities will benefit multiple stakeholders within the grassroots music ecosystem will be prioritised (with scoring weighted towards activities which benefit and pay others fairly).

Selected grantees will receive 80% of grant support up-front, and 20% upon receipt of a satisfactory project report once their live activities are complete.

What support is available to help me to build my skills and capacity?  

It is vital that – through funding support and other support from partners – grantees build their capacity, skills, and networks within and beyond the music promoter community (including within scenes/genres, and with key regional venues and festivals).

Common skills and knowledge gaps we have identified alongside sector bodies include:

• building relationships with agents, other promoters, venues, nightclubs and/or festivals
• negotiation and people management
• understanding various deal types and related terms understanding various deal types and related terms (including upfront fees and ticket company advance options)
• understanding contracts
• upskilling in marketing, promotion, branding, data analysis, etc.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) practice and accessing DE&I training
• budgeting
• time management
• managing change
• accessing individuals or groups of experts to learn from and contact with questions will be key, and some of this will be provided to all grantees
• building towards sustainable careers

We actively encourage applicants to include capacity and skills building within their applications and grant requests in order to address relevant gaps and needs.

This means applicants might mix costs associated with booking and promoting shows with costs for activity that helps grantees to build skills and connections.

Eligible skills building activity will include:

• mentoring
• coaching
• shadowing and partnering with other promoters, festivals or venues
• attending workshops, masterclasses and/or conferences
• training, including DE&I training and support relating to sustainability
• accessing relevant legal advice or accounting services
• other costs relating to skills gaps identified above, or bespoke gaps identified by applicants

We recommend attending at least one industry event and (using the grant to cover costs if needed) access to other support to build skills and connections. Eligible events include ILMC Futures Forum, the JPN Conference, Festival Congress, The Great Escape, IVW’s Independence Day, Liverpool Sound City, MVT’s Venues’ Day, PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Conference, the ABO Conference, Night Time Industries Association’s Night Time Economy Summit, WOMEX (Manchester 2024) and many more.

In addition to grantees including capacity building costs within their grant request, PRS Foundation will manage ‘wraparound’ support delivery including:

• Toolkits for early career promoters

PRS Foundation will collate existing support resources and develop new toolkits for selected promoter grantees based on need, in collaboration with live sector trade associations and PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Network partner organisations.

These will be shared directly with grantees and may in future be accessible to all applicants to build their capacity, and to foster consistency within the sector.

• Online Workshops & Masterclasses

Selected grantees will access an initial Induction Call and Signposting Session online alongside their monthly cohort of grantees. This will include introductions, signposting to toolkits and support organisations.

We will then host in-depth workshops/masterclasses/seminars for combined cohorts every 3-4 months. During these sessions, grantees will engage with experts in promotion and capacity building topics including deal types, budgeting, licensing, health and safety, inclusive practices, etc.

With this in mind, we encourage applicants to ensure they will be available for wraparound support provided by PRS Foundation and associated organisations.

When can I apply and what are the funding application deadlines?  

Eligible independent promoters will be able to apply to the Early Career Promoter Fund from May 2nd, 2024 when application forms open via our online grants portal (FlexiGrant).

PRS Foundation will manage monthly deadlines between mid-June 2024 and mid-February 2025. The first deadline takes place on June 13th 2024, with rolling monthly deadlines and decisions delivered between 6-8 weeks after each deadline. This enables the Fund to respond to the needs of dynamic independent promoters working in all genres.

See all deadlines here

Can I apply for and/or receive Early Career Promoter Fund support more than once?

PRS Foundation expects the Early Career Promoter Fund to be in high demand. To encourage sustainable practice which considers manageable workload, fairness to all applicants and avoiding administrative burden for applicants, we will be setting a guide of a maximum of 3 x applications per applicant during the initial phase of deadlines (between June 2024 and February 2025). And applicants can only receive funding once during this period.

In most cases we would expect repeat applicants to wait 3 months before reapplying, though we understand and accept that some may need to reapply immediately in order for proposed events to take place within a suitable timeframe. We encourage applicants to follow recommendations laid out in notification/feedback communications and if unsure about reapplying, please email applications@prsfoundation.com.

No Early Career Promoter Fund grantee can return to the Fund for further support within the advertised opening and closing fund dates (between June 2024 and February 2025) in order to ensure that we support as many early career promoters as possible.

What to expect in the application form

The application form will be made up of the following sections:

• Eligibility
• General details (including your work and track-record)
• Proposed activities (including proposed events and capacity building plans)
• Our funding priorities – Intended outcomes & impact of support
• Budget
• Monitoring

There will be an opportunity to present a case for support, including explaining how you meet the Fund’s criteria, how you propose to allocate funding support, how this will help you to achieve your intended outcomes, and what additional support you may require.

Applications should be submitted via PRS Foundation’s online applications portal, FlexiGrant. This involves written answers to key applicant information e.g. name, address, genre, with applicants presented with the following format options to answer main (decisive) questions:

• Written Application Responses
• Video Application Responses
• Audio Application Responses

Video or Audio applications allow applicants to present a case for support in a less formal way.

Our tips based on the many applications we have received in Video or Audio format are:

• You must stick to stated time limits which have been given to allow applicants to be as direct as possible
• Please ensure that you answer each question point and follow the guidance on the application form
• We do not expect to submit ‘release-standard’ video or audio production, professionally directed or edited video submissions. However, we welcome submissions which reflect the creativity of the applicant
• Please ensure that your voice is audible (for Audio and Video submissions) and your face is visible (and lit well enough) for Video submissions
• Make sure your video/audio links work (e.g. YouTube links are ‘Unlisted’ not ‘Private’)
• Make sure your video links are available for at least 12 weeks from the deadline date

Application tips 

Check guidelines

Before applying to any PRS Foundation funding scheme, make sure you have read the guidance in full or accessed guidance in other formats. It is important you understand eligibility criteria, have taken note of all relevant application and decision dates, and that you understand which areas of support you can apply for. We advise making it obvious within your application how you meet funding criteria and how funding will make a difference to your development.

Keep it simple and make yourself clear

Where bullet points are given, please try to answer as many of the points as succinctly as possible. Consider the word counts given and try not to waste word count by only covering one of several bullet point areas.

We do not insist on perfect English. Clear, concise and direct language is often more effective than linguistic devices and embellishments.

Please consider that your application is assessed by music experts and use language that suits the context of your project in the real world. Headings and bullet points can help to structure an application in a way that makes it easier to read.

Present a strong plan

Use your application to demonstrate that you have a good understanding of what you need to do next and how the Early Career Promoter Fund support will help you.

Be aware of your own self-development needs

Outlining a plan for addressing your own development needs is just as important as the activities and events you plan to promote. Think carefully about what your development needs are and how you plan to tackle them using funding from the Early Career Promoter Fund.

Don’t rush into it – take time, re-read, re-write

Prepare fully for each application you write. It helps to get started at least a few days before a deadline, so you are not rushing your application. If possible, get someone else to read over your application so you can be confident it is ready for submission.

Can my representative apply on my behalf?

We expect the individual potential grantee to be the main applicant but understand in some cases, including where there is an access-related need, you may seek or access support to submit an application. It is important you are heavily engaged in the plan and in the application process.

Status of proposed activities

Demand for our funding is very high. For most schemes we ask for an outline of planned activities. Within activity charts applicants can outline the status of activity, usually with the options ‘Confirmed’, ‘Provisional’ or ‘Unconfirmed’.

We recognise that for many applicants and for many working in grassroots music scenes, it is unlikely all activities will be fully confirmed. In most cases we will be funding activities that will only happen subject to funding from the ECPF, so in this instance your activities will be either ‘Provisional’ or ‘Unconfirmed’.

Should this be the case we recommend:

• in your application, show us that you have a track record of making similar projects happen
• tell us if you’ve had a conversation with venues, agents or performers
• if you don’t have exact dates, show us the timeframe and venues you have made plans with
• at the very least indicate the types of acts, venues, likely locations or possible options you are exploring

There are a selection of guidance videos for the Early Career Promoter Fund available on our youtube channel – where you can subscribe to keep up to date with all our funding,

Further webinars may be held ahead of future rounds, but we recommend you watch the following content prior to making your application:

How To Make a Strong Application to the ECPF

• Introduction from Grants and Programmes Manager Ben Price
• Brief PRS Foundation presentation on the fund and eligibility
• Top tips on how to make a strong application and what to avoid
• A run through the budget section of the application form

How The Early Career Promoter Fund Can Help To Develop Your Skills And Network

• This was an ‘in conversation’ with guest Promoter and co-chair of the Association of Independent Promoters, Anna Moulson who discussed her career and advised on how to advance as a Promoter.
• We discussed how the Early Career Promoter Fund could support Industry Professionals with skills, networking and career development.
• Q&A

We understand that deadlines and form-filling can present challenges to some applicants with access requirements, and we recognise that for D/deaf and/or disabled and neurodivergent applicants, some additional support may be required to complete our applications.

We also recognise that some applicants’ proposed activities will incur additional access-related costs which may make the applicant eligible for increased grant support.

Applicants with access requirements are advised that:

• An easy-read version of the guidance is available HERE, and applicants can request other formats for our funding guidance and to see application forms in advance of using our online application portable (Flexigrant)
• Flexigrant is set up as an accessible funding platform, and applicants requiring additional support can contact the PRS Foundation team with requests – email applications@prsfoundation.com
• We will run regular funding advice workshops online, implementing good practice to improve the accessibility of webinars
• For most questions within the online application portal, applicants will be given the option of submitting written, video or audio responses
• D/deaf and/or disabled and neurodivergent applicants can request an extension on deadlines of up to 2 working days which recognises that they may need additional time to apply. Please email applications@prsfoundation.com if this applies to you, and note that requests must be made at least 1 working day before the deadline
• We may signpost prospective applicants to organisations we fund within their regions if it is clear that those organisations can offer impartial advice

Applicants requiring additional access support on top of the main Early Career Promoter Fund grant support are advised that:

• Applicants should submit Total Project Budget and Request Amounts that do not consider additional access costs for the applicant or those working on your activities. However, audience related access costs should be in your main budget and factored into your Request Amount
• An additional budget question allows applicants to detail additional access requirements which will be considered by our management team and will therefore not be seen or considered by external advisors unless mentioned in main application responses
• Funding decisions will not be affected by additional accessibility support requests and if selected, an appropriate offer amount will be pledged
• We have ring-fenced a budget for applicants and projects which require additional access-related funding support, and a contribution towards such costs will be offered at the discretion of management

We appreciate as an early career promoter there may be expenditure and income that applicants may need further guidance on. The application form has a dedicated budget form which allows you to break down costs relating to booking and promoting live events, as well as capacity/skills building activities. We would not expect every budget line to have a cost associated to it, but the guidance below offers further advice on each budget form category.

The below guidance is exhaustive but to get an overview of how to prepare your budget we recommend watching our ‘How to Budget for Your Events’ video here .

EXPENDITURE GUIDANCE 

Costs relating to booking and promoting shows

Artist, DJ and Performer Fees and Related Costs:

• Headliner fees:
  • This is the fee to book the main artist / DJ for the event which might be a solo artist, a DJ, a band, an ensemble, an orchestra or other groups or performers
  • Common gig payment/deal types include fixed fees, door splits (for example an 80% vs. 20% profit share), guarantees (e.g. a variant of the door split which involves a guaranteed fee upfront out of the percentage deal)
  • We encourage you to explore different options, seek advice from sector bodies and other promoters, or to sign up to Early Career Promoter Fund online workshops we will be organising and recording to give further budget advice
  • If you are unsure of different models available to promoters, please email applications@prsfoundation.com with relevant questions so that we can signpost you to expert advice
  • Within your application and budget section you may prefer to outline to us the model you will be using, and to add a preferred headliner fee/fees to your budget form
  • You might for example prefer to state the guaranteed up-front fee you are offering the headliner, and can rely on our expert advisors’ understanding of your preferred models
• Support act fees – a fee to book the supporting artist(s) / DJ(s) for the event
• Backline hire – where relevant, for example if not included in a venue hire fee and the promoter has to hire or purchase equipment
• Artist accommodation costs (where relevant, particularly for those from other regions or countries and not factored into your fee offer)
• Artist transport costs (where relevant, particularly for those from other regions or countries and not factored into your fee offer)
• Catering/rider – where relevant and not including ineligible alcohol costs (estimated at. £25-50 per head)
• Chairs or equipment other than backline e.g. Towels (to be used during or post-performance)
• Access costs for artists/DJs/performers not covered above e.g. setting up calm spaces

Venue Hire:

• Venue hire – which may and often does include some of the below costs (please explain within the description box)
• Venue staffing costs (where relevant and if not included in venue hire fee)
• Security (e.g. security staffing, barriers and associated costs, if not included in venue hire fee)
• Box office commission (where relevant, some venues offer a box office and will expect to retain a percentage of ticket sales)
• Other venue-related costs – this includes any costs in addition to the ones listed in this section.
• Production Costs (if not covered in venue hire fee)
• PA and lighting costs (includes hiring and delivery, if not included in venue hire fee)
• Production crew costs (includes stage crew for loading, sound engineers, lighting engineers and venue representatives, if not included in venue hire fee)
• Other production costs – this includes any costs in addition to the ones listed in this section.
• Access for audiences e.g. providing clear access information online ahead of the event such as offering PA tickets

Marketing and Promotion Costs:

This is the budget allocated to marketing and promoting your event(s), which we recommend should represent up to 20% of your projected ticket income, or in the case of free events or low-ticket income events, we advise you to ensure marketing and promotion costs do not exceed 20% of event costs.

Costs may include:

• Artwork/design costs (where relevant)
• Posters/flyers and distribution costs (where physical promotional assets are used)
• Print adverts (fees for adverts in magazines, newspapers, paper publications and on physical billboards)
• Digital adverts (fees for adverts online and in premises / locations with digital advertising screens)
• Digital marketing (cost of sponsored posts on social media platforms)

Additional staffing (where not covered above):

For example:

• Rep and staffing – including door staff, artist liaisons and show representatives on behalf of the promoter)
• Other staffing costs (please describe)

PRS For Music:

• PRS for Music licence fee – the standard percentage of your ticket revenue that should be set aside for this licence is 4.2% (or 4% if full accounts such as booking fees are declared)
• Please be prepared to report on all box office receipts
• If not covered by the venue/within venue costs, we encourage you to explore holding a licence and considering related fees
• While it represents good practice to do so, we do not expect every budget to include PRS For Music costs, if you are successful and are awarded the grant, the wraparound support will help to clarify your liabilities in this regard

Insurance costs:

• Public liability insurance. In the UK, Public Liability Insurance is a type of insurance policy that promoters can purchase in order to provide cover for the costs and expenses incurred as a result of a claim made against you due to your negligence. It protects the policyholder from unwanted and/or unaffordable costs and expenses relating to accidental bodily harm, damage/loss of property and/or death. We advise you to add public liability insurance costs where needed
• Cancellation insurance. Cancellation insurance protects you from irrecoverable costs and expenses you may incur as a result of your event having to be cancelled due to circumstances beyond your control. Event cancellation insurance reimburses your irrecoverable costs and expenses incurred or loss of profit following the unforeseeable abandonment, postponement, interruption or cancellation of your event. We advise you to add cancellation insurance costs where needed
• If insurance covers multiple events, please state the specific amount that will cover your proposed activities
• While it represents good practice to do so, we do not expect every budget to include insurance costs, if you are successful and are awarded the grant, the wraparound support will help to clarify your liabilities in this regard

Other administrative costs:

This includes accounting, office running costs, subscriptions for software or services used, visa approvals costs (if there is a clear need and benefit) and travel agent fees.

Costs relating to capacity building:

• Mentoring
• Coaching
• Shadowing and partnering with other promoters, festivals or venues
• Attending workshops, masterclasses and/or conferences (we recommend attending at least one industry event and using the grant to cover costs if needed), to build skills and connections
• Promoter brand development (e.g. developing a stronger social media presence)
• Membership fees (i.e. to join relevant music trade bodies or sector specialist organisations such as the Association of Independent Promoters (AIP), Jazz Promoters Network (JPN) and the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF))
• Any other costs relevant to your own development
• We have found during the decision-making process so far, that those including capacity-building costs within their requests were better placed to receive support. We therefore strongly encourage you to consider your development needs and to build them into the expenditure within the budget section of your application

INCOME GUIDANCE 

Income from your related live event(s):

• Ticket income – revenue generated from ticket sales, please state if this is at venue capacity or based on a percentage of capacity. This can be broken into the following;
  • Projected advance ticket sales income
  • Projected ticket sales on the day (where relevant)
• External funding support (not from PRS Foundation). We do not anticipate many of the applicants to this fund to have access to the below support so want to be clear there is limited expectation of sponsorship, grant-support or other fundraising income here. Where this is relevant, please include details and projections. Relevant external funding may include:
  • Sponsorship income (where relevant) – if a company/brand are sponsoring the event please state the source and level of support
  • Public funding confirmed or expected (please describe)
    • If you or any of the artists/DJs/performers you are booking have received public funding for this activity, please specify which funding organisation provided the grant and which parts of the budget are covered by that funding. This will help us avoid duplicating funding for the same aspects of the event.
  • Trusts & Foundation support (please describe) – if supported by another funding organisation
  • Other fundraising income (please describe) (e.g. crowdfunding)
  • Private income (e.g. a contribution from a company or individual to help cover the costs of events (where relevant))
  • Other income – any income that doesn’t fit in any of the categories in this section.
• Own contribution (where relevant, e.g. funds saved from previous promoted activities)
• PRS Foundation request amount (i.e. the amount which will help your budget to balance)

Expenditure 

Within the expenditure section of the budget form, applicants should outline all expected and projected costs associated with proposed activities. We will include sections relating to live and performance activities as well as sections relating to capacity/skills building as per our guidance.

Our advisors work on the frontline of the music industry and understand realistic costs and income projections relating to grassroots music across England. We encourage ambitious plans since we want grant support to help promoter development, but you should stick to or near industry standard levels of expenditure. Please ensure costs given are realistic and that projected income is realistic and achievable.

Our budget template allows you to add extra information in the ‘details’ box. Advisors prefer to see breakdowns of expenditure areas. For example, rather than simply stating that Marketing and Promotion will come to £2,000, we prefer you to use the ‘details’ box to break this down so we can see likely amounts for marketing and promotion (e.g. Design (£x,xxx); Print (£y,yyy); Digital Marketing (£z,zzz)).

Since live activities and capacity building are funding priorities, we recommend limiting the proportion of total expenditure allocated to Marketing and Promotion to 20% of your projected ticket income, or in the case of free events or low-ticket income events, we advise you to ensure marketing and promotion costs do not exceed 20% of event costs.

Fair pay 

In line with PRS Foundation’s priorities for fair pay for music creators, and Arts Council England’s Fair pay guidance within National Lottery Project Grants and other programme guidance, we are committed to making sure creative practitioners and those who work in the cultural sector are paid fairly.

When putting together the budget for your application, you should make sure you can provide proper and fair payments to artists, DJs and other practitioners. Fees/payments should consider the cost of travel, accommodation, food and other expenses as well as time and expertise, and should be in line with relevant trade union agreements and industry standards.

We are not able to offer specific guidelines on rates of pay for artists or creatives from parts of the sector that don’t have a lead union body. We would encourage you to find out and put in place best practice guidelines and industry standards from the relevant industry bodies.

Within applications, you will be asked to demonstrate how fees for artists, DJs and other creative practitioners are in line with or better than recognised codes of practice and guidelines set by relevant sector bodies. We encourage applicants to read guidance issued by the Musicians’ Union in their Fair Play Guide and to read related Fair Play Venue Scheme guidance.

We will monitor how much is being paid to artists and will ensure that there are fair splits (e.g. good industry practice relating to the proportion of fees paid to support acts vs. headliners).

These principles of fair pay and spreading risk and reward apply to other stakeholders including DJs, crew, venue hire fees, etc. We would expect Early Career Promoter Fund grantees to negotiate fair fees with all those stakeholders so that there is a fair balance of risk and reward.

Within our application form we will expect promoters to outline projected expenditure paid to various stakeholders. We will also ask how you have made sure that you are paying people fairly, so that advisors can consider the various nuances within your calculations.

Contribution towards promoter costs/fees and development 

We welcome the inclusion of a contribution towards your own time and expertise (or a promoter fee) where this is appropriate. As such, you can ask for grant support towards your time booking, promoting and managing your events. The amount you request should relate to the time spent on the project you’re seeking support for, so please explain how you calculated it.

We cannot cover regular day-to-day expenses or ongoing costs such as staff salaries, equipment, rent, yearly insurance, or maintenance. However, you can request funding for time-limited costs related to your project, like extra staff time (including your time to run the project or hiring event staff).

We also strongly reccomend applicants to include capacity-building costs within their requests. Additional ‘wraparound support’ organised by PRS Foundation and affiliates will be available for cohorts of grantees, but we advise all applicants to include some holistic capacity-building plans and costs within their applications.

Encouraging best practice 

To encourage safer touring and event practice, and as the Early Career Promoter Fund uses funding from public sources, we consider any monies spent on alcohol within riders an ineligible expenditure (i.e. you should not include this in your funding request).

We welcome expenditure on other elements or riders and costs relating to creating safer spaces for performers, crew and audiences, and encourage compliance with inclusivity and access riders where expectations and requests are realistic.

And we encourage green touring practice and sustainable touring.

Can I apply for administration and office costs?

Yes – you can include administration costs (e.g. insurance, utilities, printing and other admin costs) within your projected expenditure sections.

Administration costs should make up a maximum of 10% of the requested grant amount.

Income 

Applicants should also include confirmed and unconfirmed (predicted) income projections relating to the proposed activities.

This might include but is not limited to projected ticket income and other income relating to live and performed events, confirmed or unconfirmed public funding and/or funding from other Trusts & Foundations, sponsorship and donations, or own contributions.

Although in most cases, a grant from the Early Career Promoter Fund may represent a significant contribution towards the total costs of proposed activities, we cannot support 100% of costs and we expect applicants to include projected income from other sources. A minimum of 10% of the total income should be made up of income projected from other sources.

We understand that there are various deal types, including different models for artist-promoter deals (often via agents), and for promoter-venue hire deals. We encourage applicants to include details of arrangements or likely arrangements with those stakeholders, and to make projections based on realistic ticket sales predictions. This might be based on previous promotion experiences, and it is often wise to use conservative estimates (see guidance below on making a profit). For example, you may be able to justify using projected ticket sales income figures based on selling 70-80% of tickets (if for you that is a realistic forecast).

Balancing your budget

PRS Foundation and advisors need to see a balanced budget (i.e. a budget submission that shows that the Early Career Promoter Fund grant will help your activity to be effective and to break even when total income is compared to total costs.

A tip here is to outline all related project or activity costs/expenditure before projecting likely income from non-PRS Foundation sources. The difference between those costs and expected income is the amount you need to ask PRS Foundation for in order to balance your budget (i.e. the Early Career Promoter Fund request amount will allow you to balance your budget).

For example, your total project expenditure may be £10,000. If before adding a request amount from PRS Foundation you are projecting income of £7,000, you would request £3,000 in grant support so that total income equals total expenditure and your budget balances.

Am I allowed to make a profit?

For the purposes of your funding application, it is important that you can show how Early Career Promoter Fund grant support is likely to help you to break even so that income matches expenditure. Using realistic projections, if your total income projection exceeds your total projected expenditure, you will not receive the full level of support as you have shown that not all the funding is needed to make the project break even.

However, we understand that projecting events income accurately is not always possible and that in some cases, live income (e.g. ticketing income) will exceed projections. We support and celebrate promotion of events which exceed projections and will ask grantees to provide updates within evaluation reports while encouraging good practice which may involve:

• sharing the ‘reward’ fairly among stakeholders e.g. increasing fees to stakeholders including artists (which is often covered in deal terms), or dividing profits fairly among other stakeholders
• reinvesting profits into other events or future events to benefit more stakeholders and further develop as a promoter
• covering more of your time and expertise by paying yourself more than you originally outlined in your application
• reinvesting profits into capacity/skills building activities
• claiming less than 100% of pledged grant support so that PRS Foundation can reinvest budgets into more Early Career Promoter Fund grantees

The key principle we encourage grantees to adhere to is fair pay and being in a position (with funding support) to spread the risk and spread the reward.

If you have read all the guidance and checked the deadlines page:

APPLY HERE 

When do I find out if I have been funded?

Funding decisions will be delivered within 6-8 weeks of each funding deadline. If you have not heard from the PRS Foundation team within 8 weeks of a funding deadline, please contact applications@prsfoundation.com.

If selected, when can my funded activity begin? And when would it need to finish.

No funded activities can take place until after decisions have been delivered, so please ensure when applying that your funded projects do not start until at least 8 weeks after the relevant funding deadline. It can take between 2-4 weeks after an offer letter is returned satisfactorily before any cash reaches your account, so please also consider this when planning your cash-flow. Please also consider if you have time to market your events from the date of an expected decision. Panellists will often make decisions by considering if a project is feasible based on the decision date in relation to the activities.

We would expect most grantees’ funded activities to take place within 12 months of the grant being offered, and in most cases funded projects will be completed sooner.

Can I receive this grant more than once?

During the advertised opening and closing fund dates (with deadlines between June 2024 and February 2025), since we expect demand to be high and want to support 220+ promoters, those selected for support will be unable to come back in for Early Career Promoter Fund support. We will encourage grantees to consider other PRS Foundation or Arts Council England support in future and will inform grantees of any updates affecting the availability of the fund.

I am part of a promoter collective, can I apply?

What happens if I am not selected for funding?

This is a highly competitive fund and as such only a small percentage of applicants will be selected. We understand this will make it harder to deliver your proposed project and when delivering decisions PRS Foundation will outline some common reasons for applications not being selected, while sharing if any other form of feedback will be available. This might be made available to shortlisted candidates or in the form of online workshops.

We may accept re-applications or encourage you to reapply in the future, and this will be made clear when you receive notification of an unsuccessful application.

What do PRS Foundation expect will be the most common reasons for unsuccessful applications?

Many applicants meet our funding criteria and score well. But high demand means we have to prioritise the highest scoring applications and arrive at a suitable balance in terms of genre, geography or other factors.

The competitive nature of funding will in most cases be the reason an application has not been selected for support.

Some applications are ineligible (e.g. applying for activity that is happening before the decision date, applying for 100% of project costs with no other income projections). Some applicants submit strong projects but do not clearly demonstrate how funding will impact their career development or how it will benefit the wider grassroots music ecosystem.

In some cases, applicants will fail to clearly demonstrate a funding need, and in other cases applicants will present activities that do not seem feasible based on the turnaround times or the experience level the promoter has been working at previously.