Deadline: Friday 25 September 2020 at 5pm
The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA), with financial support from the Association of Pole-lathe Turners and Green Woodworkers (APTGW), is offering grants of up to £500 for UK green woodworkers and pole-lathe turners operating as sole traders and small businesses to invest in something that will help make their business more sustainable during the COVID-19 pandemic (and in the months that follow) or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured.
Based on the result of our recent sector survey, crafts businesses are being particularly hard hit by the economic implications of the crisis, so this fund has been set up to help small crafts businesses access new markets, trial new ways of operating, or keep them afloat until they can be more sustainable.
Examples might include (but are not limited to) investing in:
- market research and development of products suited to the emerging economy;
- tools and equipment to make new products;
- targeted advertising to reach out to new markets;
- improved online presence to develop the mail order side of your business;
- training and skills development;
- developing online teaching/workshops as an income stream; or
- paying the bills until a time when applicants have reason to believe that business will improve.
Applications will be considered based on the potential of the idea to develop new ways of working that will improve craftspeople’s sustainability during difficult times or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured. As well as the grants, the HCA has some capacity to provide advice and guidance to help applicants make their idea a reality.
The deadline for applications is Friday 25 September 2020 at 5pm. Funds are limited, so unsuccessful applicants from this round may be contacted again in future if more funding is secured later, to ask if they want their applications to be reassessed in future rounds.
Applicants must:
- be green woodworkers or pole-lathe turners practising a craft that requires a high degree of hand skill and has been practised in the UK for two generations or more, (including migrant crafts);
- rely on green woodworking or pole-lathe turning (making, teaching, demonstrating etc) for over 50% of their personal income;
- be based in the UK or intending to practice their craft in the UK on a permanent basis;
- actively promote the crafts of green woodworking and/or pole-lathe turning as part of their regular practice;
- demonstrate how they will use the grant to make their business more sustainable during and after the COVID-19 pandemic or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured;
- be HCA members or indicate in their project plan that they will allocate part of their grant to a year’s membership (£20 for sole traders or £40 for small businesses of two or more); and
- not have received funding of more than £500 from the HCA in the last 24 months.
Please download an application form here and email your completed form to info@heritagecrafts.org.uk by 5pm on Friday 25 September 2020.
