What are Briefs?
Briefs are where you’ll find all of our arts funding and creative opportunities. A brief can be anything from one of our Ideas Funds to the Sky Arts Futures Fund, the IdeasTap Photographic Award to our quarterly Editor’s Brief.
How do I apply for IdeasTap funding?
First of all you need to be a signed up member of IdeasTap to apply for our funding. Don’t worry, it’s free to join and only takes a couple of minutes. Then, find a fund that interests you in our Briefs section. On each brief there’s a How to respond tab towards the top of the page. Just follow the instructions and you’re off.
You can apply for (and win) as many briefs and funds as you like. A word of warning, though: boring though it may be, read all of the small print. For all of our funds there is an application form - download it and make sure you fill it in thoroughly. If there are Terms & Conditions, download them and read them. Applications that don’t meet the criteria for a particular brief will be ineligible.
Finally, don’t leave your application to the last minute. If you have a technical issue with the site or don’t understand one of the questions on the application form and you tell us about it on the day the brief closes, we may not be able to help you because of the volume of emails we receive. We will not accept applications by email, post or any other method if you are unable to upload your application to the site.
What is the Ideas Fund?
The Ideas Fund is our way of helping you to make your creative ideas a reality. We know how hard cash is to come by, especially in the current climate – so we’ve made the application process as easy as possible.
We can’t fund every project, but at least you don’t need a PhD in form-filling to be in with a chance. However, some mistakes can be easily avoided – read our article: Five common Ideas Fund application mistakes.
The Ideas Fund is currently split into themed categories, although these are subject to change and more funds may be added in the future.
Ideas Fund Innovators
Open all year, with four deadlines for submissions, this Fund offers £500 awards for projects from any creative discipline. As the name suggests, the focus is on innovation. Got an original idea that needs a cash injection? Apply today. In the past we’ve funded everything from performances to photography collectives, visual artists to filmmakers.
Ideas Fund Edinburgh
Normally open for six weeks from October, the Edinburgh award provides winning companies with funding along with expert mentoring, to take a show to the world’s largest arts festival. For the last two years, Ideas Fund Edinburgh winners have gone on to secure Fringe First awards for their productions. In 2013, the Edinburgh Fund was renamed the IdeasTap Underbelly Award.
Ideas Fund Shorts
Open for six weeks from Spring, Shorts offers young filmmakers £5,000 to create a short film. Entries this year included documentaries, conceptual pieces, music videos, fashion films and animated shorts. You can watch some of the winning films here...
Top Up Fund
The Top Up Fund is our member-led fund, broken down by discipline. The Top Up Panel is made of IdeasTap members who decide the theme and do the judging. This Fund offers 20 projects a £500 cash injection to Top Up their project budget.
Desert Road by Walker.Carpenter available under a 2.0 (CC BY 2.0)