Engage

Engage is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (charity number 1087471).

Engage is a registered charity whose purpose is to promote and advance education, especially visual education, for the public benefit, in particular through training and workshop facilities in gallery education. It works through advocacy, research and training to help ensure the quality, inclusivity and relevance of engagement and participation opportunities across the UK. It was established as a membership organisation and currently has a membership of over 700 beneficiaries. The amounts stated for its grants are £500 to £1,000 for its micro grants, open to individual and organisational members, and £15,000 for the ARMA award.

Priority Areas

Engage’s work centres on engagement and participation in the visual arts, promoting inclusive access for broad and diverse audiences. It supports arts educators, organisations, freelancers and artists to work with communities in dynamic exchanges that enable people to learn from and benefit from the arts. Its approach combines advocacy, research and training with professional development, shared practice and networking, helping to improve inclusive and relevant practice across the sector. In its described Micro grants programme, individual and organisational members could seek support for self-determined activity to develop practice in learning and engagement in the visual arts, including trying new ways of working, adapting working practices or developing existing plans. This programme sits alongside Engage’s wider training, advocacy and support for the field.

Themes

• Visual arts engagement

For the described Micro grants programme, applicants were asked to complete an application form.

What to send:

• Micro grants programme
  • Tell us about yourself / your organisation and the work you do (maximum 150 words).
  • Tell us how you propose to spend the micro grant to enable you to try new ways of working, to adapt working practices or to develop existing plans (maximum 300 words).
  • Tell us how this will benefit your practice or your organisation (maximum 300 words).
  • Provide an outline budget for how you will spend the micro grant.
  • If your micro grant will be spent on activity which involves engaging children, young people and/or vulnerable adults, provide a copy of the safeguarding policy for your organisation, or for yourself as a freelance lone provider.

What the charity says:

• Applicants were encouraged to explain how the proposed activity would benefit their practice or organisation and the people they engage with.
• Recipients were expected to describe the grant activity and how it benefited their work in a sharing-practice template, with documentation if relevant.
• Recipients were expected to complete a short evaluation form to share their learning and feedback.