Small Project Grants
Our Small Project Grants support projects that widen access to folk singing in England. Communities across England have richly varied folk singing scenes and different access challenges. That means there’s no one size fits all solution to supporting and developing access to folk singing.
Our approach
By inviting organisers to start new folk singing groups or develop access to existing ones, our goal is to support the people who know their locality the best to test out new ideas and approaches to making singing more accessible in their locality.
Watch Fay and Rebecca discuss Access Folk’s Small Grants and why it’s important for our partners to work with our partners to find solutions.
Our partners
Anna Anise (CHORUS Songwriting, Devon) will run a series of 6 songshare events – unplugged, open-mic style folk singalongs – for members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Totnes.
http://chorussongwriting.co.uk
Instagram: @chorussongwriting
Joanie Bones (London) is developing a piece of participatory gig theatre that addresses silences in the folksong canon about womanhood and gender issues.
Nigel Carden (Saltburn Folk Festival, North Yorkshire) will be working to connect community choir members with local folk singing opportunities through a series of workshops leading up to the festival, performance and networking opportunities at the festival, and special welcome nights with the Cutty Wren, Guisborough, Saltburn, and Ring of Iron Folk Clubs.
https://www.saltburnfolkfestival.com
Facebook, Instagram: @saltburnfolkfestival | X: @saltyfolkfest
Jon Coley (Scribblingtown Folk Club, Manchester) is starting a new monthly acoustic session at The Peer Hat and exploring how different venues support engaging different participants in folk singing.
Instagram: @scribblingtown
Sophie Crawford (Harrison Singaround, London) will host a series of special events featuring artists of colour as part of the line up of the Harrison Singaround.
https://sophiecrawfordmusic.com
Instagram: @harrisonpub
Imogen Fell and Ella Brolly (Wolves Lane and Black Rootz, London) are starting ‘Songs from the Land,’ a queer-led series of singing sessions set in a community garden project. The sessions welcome people who are interested in trying folk singing for the first time.
Instagram: @songsfromtheland
Jennifer John (Liverpool) will run community gatherings that document and explore folk repertoires of Caribbean and Black communities that have resided in the Merseyside since the time of the transatlantic slave trade.
https://www.jenniferjohnmusic.com
Instagram: @jenniferjohnmusic
Miriam MacDonald and Sarah Hinds (Heartwood Social Farming Centre, Matlock, Derbyshire) hosts a series of workshops that follow the cycle of a year from spring to winter, exploring the landscape of the farm through song, craft, and landwork related to plants, people, and place.
https://www.heartwoodsfc.com
Nev Meek (St Gerrans and Porthscatho Old Cornwall Society, Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall) will organise a multigenerational folk choir that draws together participants from schools, community groups, and members of the public to kickstart a revival of carolling traditions on the Roseland.
https://www.stgandpocs.co.uk
Facebook: @gerransoldcornwall
Stephanie Meskell-Brocken (The Met, Greater Manchester) will organise a series of monthly gatherings for youth aged 14-25 that explore the intersections of folk, punk, and poetry.
http://www.themet.org.uk
Facebook, X, Instagram: @MetBury
Rupert Philbrick (Music at the Heart of Teesdale, Durham) will pilot a folk choir for youth aged 11+. The new group builds on already establishing folk music and local repertoire programming offered to youth musicians in the region.
http://www.mathot.co.uk
Facebook, Instagram: @musicattheheartofteesdale
Roary Skaista (Oxford) will run a series of workshops for participants who are interested in learning to adapt and write folk songs that represent their identities. The workshops aim to build confidence and offer a supportive bridge to existing folk singing events in Oxford – each workshop immediately precedes an existing singing event where participants will be welcome to share their songs if they wish.
https://linktr.ee/roaryskaista
Instagram, Facebook: @roaryskaista