Spare Bob microgrants are designed to help artists and creative freelancers in Bradford develop their skills, expand their practice and access new opportunities
Next deadline
Monday 17 March 2025, at 11 PM
Applicants can now apply for up to £500 Spare Bob, or up to £100 in our Spare Change grants, depending on your needs.
Whether you’re looking for specialist training, advice or resources to nurture a new skill, funding to attend inspiring arts and culture events or to make new connections and opportunities at industry events – these grants are here to support your growth.
Who can apply?
Spare Bob and Spare Change are open to artists and creative freelancers who:
- Live in the Bradford district
- Are 18 years or older
- Work as individuals or in small organisations (with no more than 5 employees and without NPO funding)
- Have not received a Spare Bob/Spare Change grant in the last 12 months
- Can outline a development activity which includes a clear breakdown of costs
- Are involved in making live or visual arts*:
- Live arts include spoken word, dance, theatre, storytelling, music, movement and other art forms that have elements of live interactiveness with audiences
- Visual arts include sculpture, printing, painting, drawing, photography, pottery and other art forms that involve creative expression through visual means
- When we say ‘artists’, we mean creative people of all kinds including all of the roles required to make brilliant art, including; creative producers, curators, administrators, company managers, marketers, technicians, production managers, makers etc.
What you can apply for
You can apply to cover costs towards the following areas of development:
Advice, guidance or learning from others
Consultation or advice on areas such as:
- Engaging audiences
- Marketing and PR
- Organisational development
- Dramaturg, director or producer advice
- Touring
- Music producing or songwriting advice
- Technical skills relating to your practice
- Leadership or change-making within the sector
- Shadowing or visiting another artist or creative professional
- Any other area of advice relating to your development
Remember: we also have a mentoring scheme if you’re looking for longer-term support or advice from someone.
Training and workshops
To pay for things like:
- short courses
- training events
- masterclasses
- a series of lessons to develop a new skill
Going places and getting inspired
Ticket and travel costs for attending things like:
- networking events
- industry showcases
- pitching events
- conferences
- performances, exhibitions or festivals
- inspiration trips
Personal development
These grants can be used to pay for the costs related to your creative development, but not solely for your time.
In your application, you will need to demonstrate where and when you plan to undertake your personal development and how much it will cost i.e. studio time, residencies, retreats etc. You will also need to include a budget for any materials you need.
Equipment
These grants can be used to purchase or hire specialist equipment related to a new skill you want to develop. This fund cannot be used to buy more general equipment most artists need for their practice such as laptops, printers, tablets, or replacements for existing kit such as instruments or technical equipment.
Remember: These grants are for your development, not making a ‘product’. It’s also not a fund to pay someone to do a job ‘for’ you, it aims to help you develop your skills, learning or ideas in a specific area of development for your career.
What you can't apply for
These grants are not for the following:
✘ Activity that is not linked to the development of skills related to a creative practice
✘ Purchasing or hiring general equipment not specifically related to developing a new skill, or more general equipment most artists need for their practice such as laptops, printers, tablets – or replacements for existing kit such as instruments or technical equipment
✘ The creation or delivery of a ‘product’ or piece of work i.e. a performance, workshop or event, a recording/EP or album, a piece of art, film, body of work or an exhibition
✘ Costs for rehearsal or studio time linked to the creation, or delivery of a final product or piece of work
✘ Contribution towards university courses or other longer-term courses
✘ Your time to write a funding bid
✘ Someone to do a job for you
✘ Core delivery costs for programmes, projects or organisations
✘ Long-term mentoring (please note we have a separate scheme for mentoring)
✘ Activity you have already received a Spare Bob/Spare Change grant for in the past
✘ Activity you have already undertaken
✘ We cannot support activities where the main discipline is fashion, film (such as cinema, as opposed to an artist using film or video to make or share their work), commercial graphic design or video game design
Apply now
To apply for Spare Bob or Spare Change, please complete the application form below.
To help you prepare your application in advance, you can see a copy of the application questions in the FAQ section at the end of this page.
- Eligible applications will be entered into a ballot
- Applications will be numbered and then selected at random using a number generator website
- We will aim to allocate approximately 50% of the available funds to the £500 Spare Bob applications, with the remaining funds randomly allocated to Spare Change grants until the whole round of funding is allocated
- Applicants will be notified of the outcome within 3 weeks of the application deadline
If you need further guidance or support with completing your application, please email us at hello@bdproducinghub.co.uk
FAQs
How much can I apply for?
You can apply for up to £500 for Spare Bob and up to £100 for Spare Change.
When completing the application form, you will be asked how you plan to spend the money. There are two sections in the application form to complete.
- How much ‘the things’ costs
You will need to link to the product, service or opportunity where the price, inclusive of VAT is listed. Other things might require you to obtain a quote. - How much it will cost you to do ‘the thing’
You will need to work out costs like accommodation, travel and other expenses related to your chosen development activity
I've received a Spare Bob/Spare Change grant before, can I apply again?
Yes you can apply, as long as you didn’t receive the grant in the last 12 months.
What is the selection process?
Due to the restricted funding available for Spare Bob, we allocate funding through a random selection ballot process to ensure fairness in decision-making and equal opportunity for applicants.
Applications will be screened for eligibility via the application form and eligible applicants will entered into a ballot and selected at random. A member of the BPH team will also complete a cross-check of eligibility following the ballot process. We will aim to allocate approximately 50% of the available funds to the £500 Spare Bob applications, with the remaining funds randomly allocated to Spare Change grants until the whole round of funding is allocated. For example, If we have £5000 to distribute – we would give out 5 Spare Bob grants, and 25 Spare Change grants.
We will confirm the outcome of your application within 3 weeks of the closing date.
Can I include access costs?
In addition to the £500 Spare Bob grant or £100 Spare Change grant, we can contribute to any access costs you might face. Please list your access costs separately from your main budget in the application form.
What if my total amount comes to over £500
If the total cost of your development activity exceeds £500, you will need to cover these additional costs yourself.
If you are applying to Spare Change and your total amount exceeds £100, please apply for Spare Bob instead.
Can these grants be used for match funding?
Yes, these grants can be used for match funding if the activity meets the eligibility criteria. Please remember, that that these grants are allocated through a random ballot selection, so we don’t advise listing Spare Bob or Spare Change as match funding in any other funding application.
What are the application questions?
To help you to prepare your application in advance, below are a copy of the questions you will be asked in the application form. You will receive a copy of your submission on completion of the form.
- Please confirm that you meet the following eligibility criteria
- What is your full Bradford postcode?
- Your contact information
- Tell us a bit about your current creative practice.
- Please tell us briefly how you plan to use Spare Bob/Spare Change to develop your practice
- What’s the total cost of your main development activity?
This might be things like tickets, courses, workshops, retreats, studio time, residency fees, core equipment or quotes for advice or consultancy. - Please provide links to the main development activity where the costs can be seen.
If the costs have been obtained via a quote, please provide a link to the supplier’s website. - How much do you expect the associated costs to be?
This might include things like travel, accommodation, materials and other expenses.
If you expect to face additional access costs such as childcare, caring, disability access, language or other interpretation costs – don’t include these here as we have a separate access fund available to support successful applicants. - Please provide an itemised breakdown of your anticipated associated costs.
- What is the total cost of your development activity plus associated costs?
If this comes to over £500, you will need to cover these additional costs yourself. - Do you have any access needs that we should be aware of?
- Will you need any additional access costs covered?
Please let us know what type of costs you will need and how much you expect the total access costs to come to.Access costs might include things like childcare, caring, disability access, language or other interpretation costs etc.
- Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your application?
If I am successful, how is the grant paid to me?
To enable us to process your grant, you will need to send us an invoice for the agreed amount which follows our invoicing guidance. Payment will be made within 30 days of receipt of a valid invoice.
