Creative Commissions Round 4: Call for Practitioners
Commission Theme: People + Place-shaping
Artform: open
A range of Commission budgets available: £1,000 - £2,500 (including VAT)
Location: Exeter
Timeline: October 2025 – February 2026
Deadline for applications: 9am on Tuesday 26 August 2025
Creative Arc is looking to fund a series of commissions to be delivered between October 2025 and February 2026.
We are looking for projects that provide participation opportunities for residents, led by Exeter-based individual creative practitioners or organisations that involve Exeter-based communities (Exeter District Boundary - see map for details.)
Projects must be relevant to the priority theme Thriving Places, and focus on Community, People and Place-shaping.
Creative Arc is jointly funded by the University and through a percentage of Exeter City Council’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This funding is focussed on the role of culture and creativity in developing and shaping place.
Project Aims
Deliver tangible outcomes for community and place
Contribute to ‘building pride of place and increasing life chances’
Support local business (this includes freelancers and independent practitioners)
Increase opportunities for people to engage with and participate in arts, culture and creativity
Support opportunities for the development of skills
Funding
For these commissions, we have a total funding pot of £15,000 available, and intend to use this to support a variety of projects with awards typically ranging from £1,000 up to £2,500. While this funding can be used to activate new projects, we welcome proposals that seek to further develop/deepen projects that are already underway/planned. All projects must be delivered and provide full reporting data by 1 March 2026.
Application Criteria
This is an open call in terms of artform and project outputs.
Proposals must:
Involve an Exeter-based community (of interest, geography or need). By ‘Exeter-based’, we mean within the Exeter District boundary. This is due to the nature of the funding through the Shared Prosperity Fund. The Exeter boundary is defined by the 13 wards that make up the District Authority. Please see map for details. If you have any questions on this, please ask the Creative Arc Team.
Be led by an Exeter-based Creative Practitioner (an individual or a group/organisation) from any artform with a track record for community-engaged practice. To be eligible for this commission, you must be able to identify the community with which you intend to work, or already be working with a specific community.
Be relevant to the theme of People & Place-shaping.
Describe projects that will deliver all activities and/or outputs by 1 March 2026.
We actively encourage applications from practitioners/groups who have experienced barriers to making work – LGBTQI+, female, non-binary, disabled, global majority, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Please note: This call is also open to practitioners/organisations previously commissioned by Creative Arc, if your application proposes activity that extends/develops/adds value to the project previously funded, or builds on the learning derived from a previously funded project.
How to apply:
Please tell us about your project by completing this short form by 9am on Tuesday 26 August 2025. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
In advance of your application, please visit the Creative Arc Project Pages, to see what we have already funded.
All applications will be reviewed by the Programme Manager and members of the Creative Arc Steering Group, and scored against the above listed Project Aims and Application Criteria. Shortlisted projects will be invited for a conversation with the Creative Arc team. Successful proposals will then need to submit a full budget breakdown that includes:
All practitioner & participant fees to deliver the project.
Production costs for the project.
Any travel, accommodation and subsistence required.
Practitioner/group representative attendance at meetings with the Programme Manager.
Please note: all funding awards are inclusive of VAT.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with Belinda Dillon, Creative Arc Programme Manager, on b.dillon@exeter.ac.uk.