A huge shout out to the Youth Arts Open Fund from YouthLink Scotland, currently open for freelancers (£10k max) and organisations (£20k max) until 21 July 2026.
- Open to freelancers and community groups - way too rare!
- They include example answers from successful applications. I have always found this the best way to strengthen a bid. Not to plagarise, but to see what a good answer looks like so you can write your own.
Anyone applying to a fund that wants to know how you are youth-led would benefit from having a look at the example answers in their guidelines. You can get detail on how to describe what you are already doing, you can get ideas to try with your group or take to your planning sessions to explore.
CLICK THE ARROW BELOW RIGHT TO DOWNLOAD THE GUIDANCE
Or scroll to the bottom of this page: https://www.youthlink.scot/national-grant-programmes/youth-arts-open-fund/
User-led is a more common funding priority and can be a bit vague and hard to get your head round, so I love seeing other people's answers. This is also why the Truffle Pig Resource Library includes loads of successful applications I've written so that you can use them for inspiration. (I can't stop you feeding them to AI but that won't create specific enough answers to use so honestly just don't - use it to draft, not to edit).
If you are a Scottish based youth arts project then you should consider applying to the fund as well, (not music, sorry, you can go for Creative Scotland YMI funding).
Deadline 21 July, up to £10k/£20k (I always recommend a middle of the range ask, see why at How Much To Ask For). The form is mid-sized : 12 longer text questions mostly 200-300 words, plus facts, figures, dropdowns and tick boxes. I couldn't see a document with the questions on so I made one - click the arrow below to download all the questions in an editable word doc.
I'll be running a bid clinic on this fund for Youth Theatre Arts Scotland that will be free for their members and open to non-members. This is a chance to bring a draft and ask questions. If you work in youth theatre come along! Pick my brain for a very reasonable price.
Did you know peppermint oil makes your cold sensing nerves fire? Stick a few drops in a spray bottle, shake and mist your skin (not the eyes) if you need to cool down and smell fresh this week. Worked for me while touring a youth circus in Valencia in 40 degree heat. Too many degrees.
from the desk of the Peppermint Piggy,
Phyllis
