Early Career Promoter Fund
Early Career Promoter Fund recognises the vital role independent promoters play in supporting the talent pipeline across England, and offers grant funding and capacity building support, with the aim of bolstering the local, regional and national ecosystems.
Grants of up to £3,500 will be available to support a range of activity, including:
- The booking, programming and promotion of gigs, concerts, club nights, showcases, tours and other performances
- Costs associated with those activities (including venue hire, production, artist and/or DJ fees, crew fees, administration and other related costs)
- Capacity building (including mentoring, coaching, shadowing, workshops, masterclasses, and other skill building and networking opportunities)
- Other expenditure which helps grantees to programme a diverse range of artists, develop new audiences and build their skills
The new fund aims 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. Those receiving support will be able to step up to book and promote talent at a scale beyond their current level, and build their capacity, skills and networks.
FIND OUT MORE WEBINARS – MAY & JUNE 2024
HOW TO APPLY WEBINAR
Tuesday 21 May, 5-6pm
- Introduction from Sean Kelly at Arts Council England
- Brief PRS Foundation presentation on the fund and eligibility
- A run-through of the application form
- How to budget for your events
- Q&A
Please note: We encourage applicants to attend the live webinar. For those unable to attend, a video will be made available shortly after the webinar
HOW THE EARLY CAREER PROMOTER FUND CAN HELP TO DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS AND NETWORK
Thursday 30 May, 5-6pm
- This session will be ‘in conversation’ with a guest Promoter, who will discuss their career and advise on how to advance as a Promoter.
- We will discuss how the Early Career Promoter Fund can support Industry Professionals with skills, networking and career development.
- Q&A
Please note: We encourage applicants to attend the live webinar. For those unable to attend, a video will be made available shortly after the webinar.
ASK US ANYTHING
Monday 10 June, 5-6pm
Ahead of the first deadline for the Early Career Promoter Fund, Grants & Programmes’ Manager Ben Price hosts this ‘Ask Us Anything’ for all those considering applying.
Please note: this will be a closed session so we encourage applicants to sign up and a video will not be made available afterwards.
Managed by PRS Foundation and supported by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (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.
PRS Foundation will be managing monthly deadlines from mid-June 2024 until mid-February 2025, and decisions will be made within 6-8 weeks of each deadline.
Check deadlines before applying: click here
Read the Guidance and Apply Here
Applicants with access requirements
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:
- Easy-read versions of guidance will be available, 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 regarding accessible 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. Applicants are asked to outline non-accessibility related expenditure and income within their main budget submission
- 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