- Words
- It's Nice That
- —
- Date
- 5 April 2023
- Tags
Have a creative project you’re hoping to realise? We want to hear from you for the Extra Nice Fund
We’re looking to fund one creative project – whether that’s a magazine, podcast or anything in between – which positively impacts underrepresented or marginalised groups.
Share
- Tags
Share
If you stayed up to date with our last Extra Nice Fund, you might have heard us shout about the winning recipient Abiba Coulibaly bringing affordable, community-driven film screenings to Brixton using the fund’s financial support. It’s a wonderful example of what the Extra Nice Fund exists to do – to inspire and enable creativity, while highlighting the most impactful work happening right now. We want to see many more projects like Abiba’s brought to life, and that’s why we’re thrilled to announce that applications are now open for this year’s Extra Nice Fund!
At the first screening of the Brixton Community Cinema
The Extra Nice Fund was established to tackle the lack of diversity in the creative industry. While awareness around representation has increased, this problem persists and our creative landscape is still not representative of our wider communities. In publishing, for example, over a third of children don’t feel represented in books they read. In design, 85.6 per cent of managers in the UK design workforce are from a white background. We hope the Extra Nice Fund can improve this imbalance by helping to bring about one meaningful project a year that sparks further change.
As this initiative looks to enable a project that positively impacts underrepresented or marginalised communities, we are particularly welcoming applications from individuals from these groups. If you do not identify as being from an underrepresented group, you can still apply for the Extra Nice Fund; we just ask that you show how your project or idea will positively impact underrepresented or marginalised groups in your application.
The Extra Nice Fund will offer one recipient £2,500 in financial backing for a creative project – whether this idea is already in the works or has only just come to you while reading this article! This funding is made possible by our Extra Nice membership programme; every year, 10 per cent of our membership pot is put aside to be invested back into the industry through the Extra Nice Fund.
We want to keep guidelines for applications as open as possible to encourage creative ideas of every shape and size. You’re welcome to submit ideas across any discipline, for example, and to use the £2,500 to fund a whole project or just one aspect of an idea – from hiring a space for hosting a workshop or exhibition, to helping with the printing of a publication. However, we know a completely open brief is not always conducive to getting the creative juices flowing. So here are some examples of how the fund has been used in the past.
Our last fund recipient, Abiba Coulibaly, used the support to launch Brixton Community Cinema. Now a full-time programmer at the BFI, Abiba sought to make cinema more accessible by setting up a salary-dependent, pay-what-you-can approach to ticketing, as well as a more welcoming environment to audiences who might experience exclusion from other venues in London. She has since used the fund in conjunction with support from other vital sources to make this dream a reality, securing a venue in Make It In Brixton and curating an international programme that engages in socio-political issues. As Abiba puts it, the Brixton Community Cinema exists to screen “films from around the world that speak to what’s going on in Brixton at the moment”.
Abiba Coulibaly, the recipient of last year’s Extra Nice Fund
1 of 5
1 of 5
Okocha Obasi used the first ever Extra Nice Fund to support the launch of RaceZine, a publication which works to explore the experiences of creatives of colour and to challenge racist standards. Of the £1,000 awarded, £500 was put towards the production of issue three of RaceZine, £250 supported marketing the second issue, and another £250 helped with setting up an online shop and further marketing.
If you have an idea of how this year’s fund would be best spent, we’ve gathered further information on how to apply below. Applications are open now and will close on 14 May. You can submit proposals here and we encourage anyone with an idea to give it a go. Good luck!
Okocha Obasi, RaceZine
Share Article
Further Info
About the Author
—
This article was written by the It’s Nice That team. To find our editors and writers, please head over to our Contact page.