24 Feb 2025
A second phase of the Glasgow 850 Festival Fund is now open for applications, offering another opportunity for existing festivals and events to support the city’s birthday year.
With a funding pot of £30,000, event organisers can apply for up to £5,000 to enhance an existing city festival or programme of activity that will run between June and December, this year – the second half of the city’s anniversary year.
The one -off Glasgow 850 Festival Fund is designed to support and add value to popular city events and festivals, this year, by incorporating Glasgow 850 themes and activities.
The Fund aims to support organisers to celebrate the richness and diversity of Glasgow talent, engage young people, and deliver community outreach activities. They can use it to expand the range of programming, reach and duration, of existing initiatives.
During this phase, additional funding of £20,000 has also been made available to support community groups around the city.
For this strand, applications are invited from incorporated community groups and organisations, to bid for small grants of up to £850, towards local events, projects and activities. This could be for new or existing community events such as gala or family fun days, sports activities or heritage walks and talks.
Applications for both streams are open from 24 February until Friday 4 April 2025. Full terms and eligibility and application criteria is available at https://www.glasgow850.com/funding
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: " Popular city festivals like the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, Mela and Piping Live! have already secured funding and really embraced the opportunity to support us in celebrating our birthday.
“Now there is another chance for organisations, that maybe weren’t in position to apply for funding last year, to put in a bid and help the celebrations continue until the end of the year.
“This is also a fantastic opportunity for local groups to get involved and make our birthday year memorable in their own communities, supporting storytelling, participation and projects that mean something to their neighbourhood.”
The £100,000 Glasgow 850 Festival Fund was launched last year with only £70,000 being committed. The remaining £30,000 will now be used to support events in the second half of the year and an additional £20,000 has been guaranteed to allow smaller grants of £850 to be administered.
