Supporting our communities
Cultural Community Grants Scheme in 2024 and 2025
We have commissioned Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation to support the delivery of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) Culture Fund, an arts and culture grant scheme to support communities and deliver outcomes across its strategic objectives in Central Bedfordshire.
We play a leadership and enabling role in supporting the culture sector in Central Bedfordshire. This programme is part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is an opportunity to support the cultural sector and local communities within Central Bedfordshire.
We invite applications to apply for the fund, which will enable us to support local community activity and ambitions going forward, helping more people access more art forms.
Grants will be awarded to projects that support the priorities and aspirations outlined in the criteria of the grants available.
Grow and Maintain Grants
The Grow and Maintain Fund is open now!
Grants of up to £20,000 are available for organisations to grow new partnerships, create more ambitious projects, and sustain their impact in the creative sector in Central Bedfordshire. Funding is available for up to a year.
The deadline for Grow and Maintain Fund applications is 5pm on 9 January 2025.
Find out more about this funding
Support for communities and place include:
- funding for improvements to town centres and high streets, including better accessibility for disabled people
- funding for new, or improvements to existing, community and neighbourhood infrastructure projects
- community measures to reduce the cost of living, including through measures to improve energy efficiency, and combat fuel poverty and climate change
- funding to support relevant feasibility studies
Town centres
Five town councils in Central Bedfordshire are developing investment plans to deliver circa £91,000 each of capital improvements in their town centres during 2024 and 2025. They will also receive circa £29,000 each to develop cultural activities in 2024 to 2025. They are:
- Biggleswade Town Council
- Dunstable Town Council
- Flitwick Town Council
- Houghton Regis Town Council
- Leighton-Linslade Town Council
We are also delivering carbon literacy training to these councils to support sustainable development of their town centres and local communities.
Libraries are vital community hubs, bringing people together and giving them access to the services and support they need to live better lives. UKSPF is providing much needed resources to our libraries such as books and magazines to suit the needs of our community, from board books for babies, to manga for teens to large print for those with failing sight.
Community and neighbourhood infrastructure projects
The UKSPF and REPF Community Grant Fund, is a capital grant funding scheme that aims to improve local communities, neighbourhood, buildings and equipment, offering grants of between £5,000 and £40,000. Read about the first round, which took place in 2023 and 2024.
Sensory Adventures
A SEND production launching in our libraries in April 2024.
Free climate change training for our residents
An online course providing an introduction to carbon literacy. The accredited course introduces people to the science behind climate change and equips learners with information and tools to take action in their own lives and communities. Read more about our climate literacy courses.