The University of Leicester's arts centre - open to all

We are delighted to announce that Embrace Arts has been awarded funding from Arts Council England to strengthen our role as a lively and inclusive centre to participate in the arts.

A £65,000 Grants for the Arts award will support research and delivery of a major national conference on arts and disability in 2012 and, after a highly competitive process, we have been selected to join a new portfolio of regularly funded organisations from 2012-2015. An annual grant of @£50,000 will support our public programme of events, workshops and performances together with initiatives to develop our audiences.

'Keeping you up to date with what is happening in our city.'

For details on cultural and leisure events and activities taking place in Leicester. Visit the One Leicester website.

Want your creative business to thrive or grow?

Creative Enterprise Hub has secured £22,500 from the European Regional Development Fund to support creative businesses to prepare for growth and increase their customer base. Fifteen lots of up to £1500 each are available, to pay for specialist consultancy advice to assist small businesses to partner with other small businesses to pitch for and deliver contracts (known as supply chain networks).

The financial resources could be spent on activities which would help your business take the next steps, such as:

• Industry specific consultancy advice
• Support and guidance to overcome specific industry challenges
• Getting consultancy help to tender for bigger contracts

To apply please contact Cheryl Gill on 0116 242 2955 or email cheryl.gill@lcbdepot.co.uk

Cheryl Gill
Enterprise Support Officer, LCB Depot & Phoenix Square Workspaces
LCB Depot, 31 Rutland Street, Leicester, LE1 1RE
T: 0116 242 2955  www.lcbdepot.co.uk

Grassroutes e-catalogue now ready
The first phase of the Arts Council’s Grassroutes: Contemporary Leicestershire Writing has now ended with the launch of the Grassroutes e-catalogue. The e-catalogue is an open access database of transcultural writing in Leicestershire with information about titles, authors, genre, year and place of publication. You can browse the entries or search for a particular author or title. If you know of any relevant titles that ought to be added, please contact Corinne at csf11@le.ac.uk. You can also send her your feedback or comments about the catalogue.

Grassroutes Contemporary Leicestershire Writing promotes public knowledge of Leicestershire’s diverse literary cultures.

Grassroutes promotes public knowledge and engagement with transcultural writing in Leicestershire that has been published since 1980. The e-catalogue is based on a survey that was conducted by Dr. Corinne Fowler in 2011. The survey yielded an unprecedented number of titles and suggests quite how prolific Leicestershire's writers have been.

Grassroutes supports the efforts of independent publishers and literature development agencies to inspire public engagement with the diverse writing cultures of multi-racial Britain.

The Grassroutes Writers Gallery is edited by Corinne Fowler (University of Leicester), designed by Kate Horsley (Lancaster University) and features photographs by Kevin Ryan from Charnwood Arts. The Gallery was devised as a companion gallery to the Moving Manchester Writers' Gallery. It was conceived as a series of original creative works by writers living in Leicestershire. Each author page is accompanied by the profile and the reflections of its authors on the genesis of the writing in relation to Leicestershire and their experiences there.

National Open Art Competition
Now in its 15th year, previously known as Chichester Open Art Competition, the National Open Art Competition (NOAC) now attracts many artists across the UK every year, from the emerging to the established, offering an entry point and selling platform for artists, makers and photographers, and a Prize Fund in 2012 of £40,000.

Further information

Read the press release