Round two of applications for the United Kingdom’s Community Radio Fund 2013/14 will begin on Wednesday October 9 and will close about a month later on November 6. The first round concluded in mid-July. The window is being run by the UK’s Ofcom agency, roughly equivalent to the United States’ Federal Communications Commission.
As with the first window, the CRF panel will look for applications that help a station achieve “long term stability.” So proposals that suggest that the support will go to fundraising, management, and outreach personnel will probably catch the panel’s eye before anything else. I’m guessing that filings that ask for CRF cash to develop new radio programs probably won’t go as far.
Here’s a list of round one award recipients. Look at what the CRF money went for and you get the idea:
Ofcom Community Radio Fund Grants (source: Ofcom)
Britain is launching community radio stations at a rate of around one every thirteen days. But while subscriber revenue is growing, income from grants has declined thanks to the global recession. Hence Ofcom’s emphasis on helping community stations help themselves.
Another small UK grant opportunity also caught our eye. BRFM radio on the Isle of Sheppey is sponsoring a project titled “Arts Transmission”:
“The experiment has been devised to inspire clubs, groups and societies to step out of their comfort zone and try something new. Art Transmission will offer 3 micro-commissions to established artists to work with Swale based groups to make new art for the airwaves, or experience new art that is shared on the airwaves.”
The results will be shared on BRFM’s Daniel Monday Night Community Show. The event is being co-sponsored by the Francis Knight art project support group.
