The first round of our Micro Fund grant awards is now complete, and we were pleased to have had a huge response – thanks to everyone who submitted applications. We received 122 proposals, requesting at total of £390,000. As we had only £127,000 to allocate this time, competition was very strong and the assessment Panel had some difficult decisions to make. We are delighted to be supporting 36 amazing and wide-ranging projects right across the Fund area.
You can see the full list of Round 1 awards here.
Recipients include:
- Afan Vale Chocolates – a grant of £3,250 to purchase an essential new machine. Anita Angove is delighted with the Award “we are a small business barely keeping up with the rapidly growing demand for our produce – being able to buy our new machine will free up time for marketing and promotion and will really help our business to grow.”
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Showcase Sioegerdd Performing Arts Association – a grant of £3,045 to support a young people’s production of South Pacific in Aberdare. Roger Williams of Aberdare based Showcase Sioegerdd Performing Arts Association said “We work with young people on a range of performing arts projects, and this grant will enable us to put on a production of South Pacific later this year. This will be an amazing experience for all the young people involved – and hopefully for our audiences too!”
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Dark Sky Wales’ Sidewalk Astronomy programme – a grant of £4,891. Allan Trow, Dark Sky Wales Manager explains: “We’ll be introducing young people in the Rhondda and Cynon Valleys to astronomy, aiming to reduce incidents of anti-social behaviour. This might sound like an unusual approach, but we know it works and we have the strong support of the police. It’s a positive and creative way of tackling a challenging problem. Our Micro Fund grant will enable us to reach even more young people.”
We know that those who were unsuccessful this time will be disappointed, but the Community Fund will be in place for the next twenty years, so there will be many further opportunities to apply. The next Micro Fund Round opens on the 1st June 2017 and the closing date is p.m. on Monday 14th August. We’ll be announcing Round 2 Awards at the end of September.
If your group is thinking of re-submitting your application, you must contact us for feedback and discuss the proposal with us beforehand.
Thanks again for all your support!