WE, THE LEADERS Creative Commissions

Commissions are open to early-mid career:

• Individuals and independent artists
• Bands and artist groups 
• Grassroots creative and music collectives (can be informal groups)
• Promoters
• Record labels

Applicants should be aged 18+ and based in Greater Manchester.

We’re open to all genres and styles.

We’ll prioritise organisations and collectives who have less opportunity to access money for funded projects, but have significant experience delivering exceptional work at a grassroots level.

You’ll have between June-October 2024 to develop your work. Throughout this time we’ll:

• Arrange regular check-ins based on your availability 
• Connect you with relevant people and organisations
• Provide marketing support
• Support with budget management
• Share best practices on access and safeguarding to feed into your own planning

Completed new work needs to be showcased in October 2024. The output of your commission is flexible. For example, it could be:

• A live performance of new music
• A listening party of new music
• A physical release

If you need a venue for your commission we’ll work with you to find the right one.

Please be aware we’re unable to support projects in the research and development phase.

You’ll be given a £5,000 commission fee to cover:

• Artist and freelancer fees
• Event production costs
• Event marketing
• Travel, accommodation and expenses
• Anything else needed to bringing your commission idea to life

We’ll cover access costs for things like disability support, translation or childcare.

The output of your commission can be ticketed, as long as the price is accessible and agreed with us before. For example, we'd expect some tickets to be free or pay-what-you-feel. Any ticketing income must go back into the project, and we can't commission ideas that are for profit.

In our application form we'll ask you some basic details, along with the following questions:

• Tell us a bit about you or your organisation/collective
• Describe the project you would like to be commissioned
• What audience would you like to reach?
• How is your project innovative?
• How will you spend the commission fee?

You can either answer these questions in writing, or you can record yourself. If you do this, you'll just need to include links to your video or audio recordings. Have a read of our Application Guidance for more information on how to answer these questions.

The application deadline is Sunday 30 June, 11pm.

We encourage you to submit your application before the deadline but if you need a bit more time we can stretch an extra day or two. If you'd like an extension please let us know by Wednesday 26 June.

You're welcome to apply with support from a personal assistant or carer. If there is anything we can do to help you to apply, please let us know.

Ready to apply? Head over to our Google Form.

If you know someone who you think would be interested, why not nominate them?

Send the person’s name and email address/social media profile to [email protected] and we’ll send them the details.

We aim to create spaces that are welcoming, engaging and supportive. Spaces where everyone is able to be themselves, and where abuse and discrimination are not tolerated.

Read our Safer Spaces Policy for more information.

Our approach to Safeguarding is the foundation of our Safer Spaces approach. By Safeguarding we mean the wellbeing, and protection from harm, abuse and mistreatment of anyone who benefits from our work, team members and others we come into contact with. Anyone who is part of our team has appropriate safeguarding knowledge and an understanding of how to deal with safeguarding issues should they arise.

Read our Safeguarding Policy for more information.

Have a read of our Creative Commissions FAQs.

If you still have questions you can get in touch with [email protected].

Or you can give us a call on 0161 546 5334. Leave a message and we’ll get back to you.