People Dancing :: Fundraising :: Foundation for Community Dance

At People Dancing we develop programmes and support services to enable dance artists, practitioners and leaders to develop and sustain their community and participatory dance practice. On this page you will find information on raising income to support your work.

Proof of the Pudding – toolkit for participatory artists

We are delighted to introduce you to this toolkit produced in conjunction with ArtWorks Alliance, the strategic network for participatory arts.

Proof of the Pudding: Part One is a resource for artists to help them demonstrate the value and impact of participatory arts and develop partnerships for funding work.

Individual artists are often limited in the grant programmes to which they can apply. Working with partners, either through joint fundraising or as part of a commissioning relationship, can open up all sorts of new income generation opportunities. Partners may be arts partners or non-arts partners, for example in the community development, criminal justice, education, or health and care sectors. Whoever they are, they need to know – and you as an artist need to show – what difference participatory arts makes to people and how what you do can align with what they’re trying to achieve.

This toolkit offers some existing evidence about the impact of participatory arts, with signposting to additional resources. There are also some guide ideas so you can start to build our own evidence bank.

Proof of the Pudding Part One has three sections:

Insight: Locating your work in a wider context
Impacts: Telling the difference through ‘stats and stories’
Images: Showing the difference through pictures.

Proof of the Pudding: Part Two
A Marketing & Communications pack supporting you to get your message across.

Proof of the Pudding: Part Three
A set of Case Studies contributed by members of ArtWorks Alliance or members of the individual alliance organisations.

Toolkit credits:
This toolkit has been developed by People Dancing with funding from Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy sector innovation fund. Created and written by, Mary Schwarz, Rob Lindsay, Stephanie Brown and Ruth Lee. We would like to thank all the artists and organisations who contributed to the case studies, in particular Kiz Crosbie & Zoe Anderson at Mortal Fools, Sara Rose, Kaja Nisha Patel, John Whall at Derby Quad, the Dance staff at UCLAN, Rachel Dunlop & Justine Wheatley at Peak and Hannah Jenkins at Community Music Wales. Special thanks to David Johnson at Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy.

Further CPD:

People Dancing has produced an online learning programme: Developing income streams for participatory arts practice. The programme is FREE to members of People Dancing and can be purchased by non-members. Webinars created with support from Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy accompany this toolkit and can be accessed here for FREE.

Proof of the Pudding Part One

Download file (3.5MB)

Proof of the Pudding Part Two

Download file (5.2MB)

Proof of the Pudding Part Three

Download file (3.3MB)

Accompanying online workshops

Evaluation and Narrative: how to identity the impact of your work

This two-hour participatory Zoom session was led by Hannah Jenkins, Director of Community Music Wales, a participatory music charity that has been developing and delivering community-based projects for 30 years and Emma Beynon, freelance creative practitioner and fundraiser who has led projects for Children In Need and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

It took place on 12 November, and was the third and final workshop to accompany the Proof of the Pudding: participatory arts evidence for artists toolkit, published with People Dancing and supported through the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Innovation Fund. The session included:

How to establish an effective evaluation model
Consideration of which evaluation tools to use, why and when
How to shape your evaluation into a credible and persuasive narrative
The role of research in strengthening your business case/impact/efficacy.

Download a PDF of the Evaluation and Narrative here:

Download file (1.4MB)

Identity and Purpose: Making a credible and compelling business case as an independent artist

This workshop was commissioned by People Dancing and ArtWorks Alliance as part of Proof of the Pudding, a comprehensive development toolkit for participatory artists, and delivered by Mortal Fools.

It is part of Mortal Fools’ CONNECT programme of training workshops, designed to help participants form better connections with people to achieve their development goals in their different contexts. Their training utilises techniques from actor training, theatre practice, business development theory and the social sciences to provide training that is experiential, highly effective and rooted in wider theoretical knowledge.

A recording of the online workshop is available to view and workshop notes can be downloaded.

View here

Developing your income and Developing a communications plan to support income generation

Developing your Income
In this recording of a live webinar that was broadcast on Wednesday 13 May 2020 Ruth Lee, with dance artists that participated in the live session, developed ideas around income generation including budget setting, creating a financial model appropriate for practitioners and understanding and engaging with the ‘market’. As an introduction to the webinar participants were encouraged to look at People Dancing’s ‘Developing income streams for participatory arts practice’ online learning programme – Part A.

Developing a communications plan to support income generation
In this recording of a live webinar that was broadcast on Wednesday 27 May Ruth supported participants to generate ideas, utilise networks and create a communications plan to support developing income streams. The session was supported by the Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Innovation Fund and participants were also able to access an online toolkit to support communications campaigns.

View webinars here

Resources and Knowledge Bank

To find essential sources of practical information and resources to support your work in community dance, such as training materials, teaching packs, DVD's, magazines and other reading.for a variety of documents and links to further information please visit our Knowledge bank.

If you would like to search through articles in Animated, the community dance magazine please visit Animated magazine.

Further resources can be found in our Fact sheet and legal compliance information database.

Places to look for funding and funding support

www.fundingcentral.org.uk - Useful portal for searching for funding

fundsonline.org.uk -Search tool for fundraisers

www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk - Joint website of all Lottery funders in UK

www.navca.org.uk - National Association for Voluntary and Community Action – offer advice and guidance on funding and setting up organisations

www.voluntaryarts.org - Information and training provider

www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk - Membership body for fundraisers

www.dsc.org.uk - Directory of Social Change – information and support to voluntary and community sectors

www.grantsonline.org.uk - Online information service - Subscription

www.euclid.info - European and International funding information

www.ncvo.org.uk/practical-support/public-services/cultural-commissioning-programme - Working with the arts and cultural sector, commissioners and policy makers to strengthen commissioning of arts and culture, and deliver better outcomes for people and communities

www.artscouncil.org.uk - Here you can find the latest news stories about how ACE are supporting art and culture across England.

Trusts & Foundations with an interest in dance and arts programmes

Programmes are all national open progammes. If your project/idea is local remember to try local funders as well, as this may be more successful.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation: www.phf.org.uk

Various programmes to support arts and education

Clore Duffield Foundation: www.cloreduffield.org.uk

Funds performing arts and education initiatives aimed at Children & Young People

Jerwood Charitable Foundation: www.jerwood.org

Major funder of performing and visual arts

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation: gulbenkian.pt/uk-branch

Offer various different programmes that cover arts and education projects

Rayne Foundation: www.raynefoundation.org.uk

They are interested in the arts, health and wellbeing, education – in its widest sense, and social issue

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation: www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk

Funding given to projects that aim to improve the quality of life for people and communities in the UK

Carneige UK Trust: www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk

Various funding programmes

Comic Relief: www.comicrelief.com

Focus their giving on work with young people who are located in disadvantaged areas of the UK

Garfield Weston Foundation: www.garfieldweston.org

Very open criteria for funding. Like to support a wide range of charitable activity

Lloyds Bank Foundation: www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk

Aims to fund projects that focus on disadvantaged or disable people to play fuller roles in communities in England and Wales

Nesta: www.nesta.org.uk

National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Invests in innovation in science, technology and arts programmes

Princes Trust: www.princes-trust.org.uk

Support projects that help young people overcome barriers

Tudor Trust: www.tudortrust.org.uk

Grant making trust that aims to support projects that address social, emotional and financial needs of people on the margins of society

Wellcome Trust: www.wellcome.ac.uk

Awards funding to projects that are inspired by biomedical science

Wingate Foundation: www.wingate.org.uk

Scholarships awarded to individuals who have potential and who need financial support to undertake creative or original work of social or artistic value

Winston Churchill Memorial Trust: www.wcmt.org.uk

Grants for UK nationals who would benefit from a period of travel and learning to support their practice