Applications open for creatives to apply for grant funding under ACP-EU programme

Kingston, April 6, 2023: Creatives can now apply for grant funding in Round 2 of the ACP-EU 3 million Euro Grant Support Programme available in 15 Caribbean Countries. Individuals and organisations in the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in areas such as music, fashion, costume, design, film, animation, new media, visual and performing arts, and all subsets of entertainment can qualify for grant funding.

The deadline for the submission of grant applications which can be accessed at Creative Caribbean Second Round Grant Calls | OPENED! (unesco.org), is May 5, 2023, by 11:59 pm EST.

Creative Caribbean aims to improve the economic conditions of creatives to stimulate sustainable growth of the CCIs in the Caribbean, a sector which provides millions in revenue and in which thousands of people find full time and part time work.

This second round of grant calls now includes three categories: industry grants, enabling environment grants, and training grants.

The Industry grant category includes:

1. Artist Mobility – Artist Residencies;
2. Product Development and Content Production;
3. Small Grants for Professional Associations;
4. Small Grants for Emerging Creative Content Originators;
5. Scaling Grants for Export-Ready Creatives;
6. CCI Festival Business Exchange Networks and Fora.

Falling under the Enabling Environment grant category are the following: 

1. Visual Literacy and Performing Arts;
2. National Artist Registries;
3. Data Intelligence;
4. Cultural Policy;
5. National Implementation Plans;
6. Draft Legislation;
7. Institutional Strengthening;
8. Creative City Sub-Sector Accelerators.

The Training Grant Scheme includes:

1. Visual Literacy and Performing Arts;
2. Transversal Capacity Building Workshops.

The project aims to generate the research and data needed to improve regional policies and laws around the creative and culture industries while facilitating capacity-building activities to expand the various sub-sectors of the CCIs across the Caribbean. The eligible entities/categories of persons are:

• CCI actors, artists, entrepreneurs with emphasis on young to mid-career practitioners
• Registered CCI professional organizations, associations, collectives, guilds, civil society organizations & groups
• Secondary and tertiary academic faculty, students, and researchers

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat and The University of the West Indies (UWI) are implementing the project ‘Creative Caribbean – An Ecosystem of “Play” for Growth and Development.’

The 15 Caribbean countries identified for implementation will benefit from this injection of support into the CCI ecosystem: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, The Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Creative Caribbean project is being implemented over forty months and is expected to end in 2024.

The final recipients of the Creative Caribbean Grant Awards – Round 1 have now been selected and will be formally announced in the coming week.