Apply by
Sunday 17 August 2025 at 11 PM
Expanding Horizons is a bespoke business development programme exclusively for arts and culture organisations in the Bradford district. It offers personalised coaching, training and access to funding and is designed to empower organisations to grow and thrive in their creative ventures.
Through Expanding Horizons, Bradford Producing Hub will support a cohort of 8 organisations through a series of group coaching sessions and 1-2-1 mentoring alongside training and development sessions. Upon completion of the programme, organisations can apply for up to £1,000 to invest in further development work based on their needs identified during the programme.
Through coaching, mentoring and training sessions, the programme will explore:
- Business development and operating models
- Leadership skills for sustaining a successful organisation
- Board development and management
- Financial accounting
- Organisational confidence and resilience
- Goal setting and the routes to achieving what short and long-term success looks like to you
- Measuring success for your organisation
- Growing networks and collaborative partnership working
- Managing people and projects
- Scaling up your operation
Participation in Expanding Horizons is free of charge, with each place worth over £3,000! For information on what additional financial support is available, see our FAQ Section at the end of this page.
Who is Expanding Horizons for?
Expanding Horizons is for arts and culture organisations in the Bradford district.
Eligible organisations will be:
- Small arts and culture organisations based in or operating significantly in the Bradford district.
We define small companies and organisations in line with the HMRC definition of micro-entities, which is having:
- A turnover of £1 million or less
- £500,000 or less on its balance sheet
- 10 employees or fewer
- You can be in the process of actively scoping or setting up a formal organisation. If this is the case, you must have at least 3 years of experience working in the arts and culture sector within the Bradford district.
- If you are an existing Arts Council England NPO – you may only apply to Expanding Horizons if you were new to the National Portfolio in 2023.
- Those planning to make a future application to the Arts Council England NPO Investment Programme are welcome to apply for Expanding Horizons.
We expect applications to be made by a representative from your organisation who has the most influence over strategic planning and decision-making. This representative will attend the group coaching sessions and 1-2-1s with the host. Attendance at the training sessions can be delegated to another team member if their role aligns more closely with the session themes.
Online info session
Expanding Horizons timeline
After a kick-off meeting in September, Expanding Horizons will run from October 2025 to February 2026.
Your commitment to this programme includes the following sessions:
Group coaching sessions
These will take place at 10.00 AM – 1.30 PM
- Wednesday 8 October 2025
- Wednesday 22 October 2025
- Wednesday 5 November 2025
- Wednesday 19 November 2025
Mid-point call
This will take place during the first two weeks of December 2025.
Training sessions
These will take place at 10 AM – 1 PM
- Wednesday 10 December 2025
- Wednesday 14 January 2026
- Wednesday 28 January 2026
Final group coaching session and funding applications
February 2026
The representative from the organisation that made the application is expected to attend all coaching and mentoring sessions. If there is a team member whose role relates more closely to the themes of the training sessions, they may attend these alongside or instead of the main representative.
Meet the host
Minoti Parikh
Minoti is a community artist and a trained classical Indian dancer working within communities across West Yorkshire. She has over 18 years of experience developing and implementing value-driven, strategic coaching support and training programmes for more than 100 organisations. These initiatives include designing leadership development programmes, culture and value-focused frameworks, evaluating operating models and staff needs, and executing customer engagement programmes across 25 countries. Her work focuses on creating value-led initiatives that provide a supportive and nurturing environment for the sustainable growth of organisations.
As a Coach and Consultant, Minoti has collaborated with senior leadership teams from large FTSE 100 companies, the NHS, local councils, universities, community groups and arts and culture organisations.
How to apply for Expanding Horizons
The application deadline is Sunday 17 August 2025 at 11 PM.
Applications are made by completing our online application form. If you need to make your application another way, please see our FAQ Section below, where you can also see a copy of the application questions.
We will be hosting an online info session on Tuesday 12 August, where you can find out more about the programme and how to apply.
Book your place or register for a recording of the session.
If you have any questions at all, please drop us an email at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
FAQs
If it’s more accessible for you to make your application by submitting a video or audio file, you are welcome to do so. Please email your application to hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk by the closing date.
Here are some guidance notes for submitting your application via email:
- Please use the subject line ‘Expanding Horizons application submission‘.
- Please attach, or link to, an audio/video application of no more than around 5 minutes in length. This should answer all the questions detailed in the ‘What are the application questions?’ FAQ below.
- In the email, please include the following information:
- Your full name
- Your email address
- Your telephone number
- Your full postcode
- The name of your company or organisation and a brief explanation of what you do
- Your connection to Bradford
- Whether you have any access requirements we need to consider when communicating with you, or when handling your application (you’re welcome to upload an access rider too)
To help you to prepare your application in advance, here are the main questions asked in the application form:
- What is your connection to Bradford?
- What is the name of your company or organisation?
- Please tell us a bit more about your company or organisation
- How long have you been going?
- What kind of work do you do?
- Who do you mainly work with?
- How many staff do you employ?
- Do you have a particular mission or ethos within your organisation?
- Please provide any links to your organisation’s website and/or social media accounts
- Are you an Arts Council England NPO?
If you have been an NPO since before 2023, you’re unfortunately not eligible for Expanding Horizons. - Are you planning to apply to become an Arts Council England NPO in the next round?
For more information about what this is, head to artscouncil.org.uk/npo-investment-programme - Do you have any access requirements we need to consider when handling your application, communicating with you, or to enable you to participate in this programme?
- What are your access requirements?
- If you would like to upload an access rider, you can do so here.
- What are your current challenges, barriers, sticking points, or development/growth needs?
- What are your organisation’s short-term/long-term goals or aspirations?
- Why is now a good time for you to join our Expanding Horizons programme?
- Is there anything else you want to tell to support your application?
After the closing date, we may contact you by email or telephone to ask a few questions and clarify some of the information provided in your application. Expanding Horizons is a significant investment in and commitment from your organisation, so you and Bradford Producing Hub need to feel confident that Expanding Horizons is a good fit for you and that now is the right time.
We will then assess applications against our eligibility criteria before selecting applicants who will gain the most from the programme and represent the diverse range of art forms and communities across the Bradford district.
Strong applications will clearly state your organisational goals and how you hope the programme will help you to achieve them.
We have a development fund of up to £1,000 per participating organisation, which you will gain access to once you have completed the core elements of the programme.
Over the course programme, the host will learn a lot about you and your organisation. Together, you will identify the specific areas of development that will most benefit you and agree on the best way to invest the Expanding Horizons fund.
Each place on Expanding Horizons is worth at least £3,000. This is covered by Bradford Producing Hub with no cost to you.
We expect your organisation to cover your time and additional costs, such as travel, as part of your staff development budget. If this isn’t feasible for your organisation, we can discuss bursaries and access funds on your offer of a place on the programme.
Bursaries are usually paid at:
- £50 for a half-day session
- £75 for a full-day session
Our access funds can cover things like travel and other expenses, as well as any other access provision you may require, such as childcare and other caring costs, language and interpretation costs and access support workers.
So that we can support as many artists and creatives across the district as possible, we ask that you only request what you need to support your participation in the programme.
