SUPPORT YOUNG CREATIVES IN NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE

Aim

We’re raising money to invest in young creatives; the future of North East Lincolnshire’s Arts and Cultural Sector.

Hey! We’re lowercase theatre, a Grimsby based arts organisation committed to developing new work rooted in our community, and making space for young creatives in North East Lincs to thrive. 

We know how hard it is for young people to start a creative career or side-hustle locally. There are hardly any entrance opportunities. Few visible pathways. The common idea that in order to pursue something creative, it would have to be in a different town or city, with more to offer.

It’s hard. For the local creative scene to thrive, we need all generations including brilliant, emerging talent in the mix. But in order to retain creatives (or bring them back!), there has to be support, mentorship, collaboration, encouragement.

There has to be investment.

We know this, because we experienced this. Lowercase would not exist without the support we received from our community, who invested in our development, encouraged us to take risks, try new ideas, and paid us fairly for our work. The people around us helped us to see that a career in the arts was possible in North East Lincs - it just looked a little different than in other places. 

However: this is not what a majority of young creatives have experienced locally. Through dozens of consultations and conversations, we recognised that many people in a similar position to us felt isolated, uninspired and disconnected to the local creative sector. Something needed to change.

In 2021, we started our Lowercase Social Network: Networking and Workshop opportunities for young creatives aged 18-30. A safe entrance space into the arts sector. To meet people in similar positions, to feel connected to a wider community, to feel less alone. A group of people, working it out together. No jargon, no pressure, no expectation.

Through these events, we’ve been able to support dozens of young creatives. Early-career musicians and photographers have been paid a fair wage for their services. We’ve worked with people to submit bids, enabling access to funding for work and training. We’ve connected young creatives to experienced practitioners, encouraging meaningful collaboration.

This is one of our ongoing projects, supporting young people locally.
This is the beginning.

Our vision for the future is a thriving, intergenerational creative sector. A future where our young people are encouraged to pursue a creative career locally, if it’s something they want to do.

100% of this crowdfunding will support young creatives in North East Lincolnshire, as a continuation of our Lowercase Social Network project. Here are some of the ways we see this happening:

• Bursaries and seed commissions - Providing young creatives with small amounts of financial support, to kickstart a project, pay towards new equipment, fund some training. Really, anything that will help their artistic development.
  
  
• Workshop opportunities - Bringing in brilliant, experienced practitioners to share skills and knowledge with our network. Connecting our local experiences with national experiences, broadening our horizons and perception of what is possible within the wider sector.
  
  
• Match funding - Using a portion of this funding as 'match-funding' to access larger funding pots. It's really important to show investors that our community are supporting the work that we do. Any amount of money used for match funding will still go towards supporting young creatives.

Young people are the future of our creative sector. In years to come, they will be producing our theatre, playing our gigs, hosting our comedy nights, running our festivals, curating our exhibitions. Let’s support them as best we can.

Whether you’re able to make a donation, send this to a friend, or share on facebook, a huge thank you for your support. We’ll keep our community updated with the crowdfunder, and if we hit our target - how we distribute this money. 

We appreciate you all,

Lisa and Matt @ lowercase x

This project successfully funded on 8th March 2023