Applying to the Create Growth Programme
This page provides supporting documentation for local area partnerships submitting expressions of interest (EOIs) to apply for funding to participate in the £17.51 million Create Growth Programme.
Applies to England
Overview
This competition has now closed. Further information for businesses applying to participate in the Create Growth Programme will be provided by successful local area partnerships in due course.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) is inviting local area partnerships in England (except London) to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) to participate in the Create Growth Programme (CGP) over three financial years, from FY22/23 to FY24/25. Each successful local area partnership will be awarded approximately £1.275 million in grant funding for business support. Creative businesses in participating local area partnerships will also have the opportunity to benefit from up to a £7 million fund for finance support, as well as investor networking activities.
The CGP is an expansion of the Creative Scale Up pilot (2019-2021), which provided the Greater Manchester, West Midlands and West of England Combined Authorities with a package of business and investor support to support creative businesses to scale and access finance outside London. The CGP will build on the success of the pilot to provide six regions in England outside London with a bespoke package to support high-growth potential creative businesses and build investor networks. The support package will comprise three complementary strands: business support targeted at the creative industries; finance; and investor capacity building activities.
Local area partnerships will be directly responsible for delivering targeted business support to high-growth potential creative businesses. It is expected that participation in the CGP will help to build local knowledge, capacity and infrastructure to support creative businesses beyond the programme.
EOI applicants will be shortlisted by a panel appointed by DCMS. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit full applications to bid to participate in the programme.
Competition timeline and events
| Event | Date/Deadline |
|---|---|
| EOI Stage opens | Thursday 9 June 2022 |
| Deadline for submission of EOIs | Thursday 7 July 2022, 23:59 BST |
| Shortlisted applicants invited to submit full applications | Thursday 21 July 2022 |
| Deadline for shortlisted applicants to submit full applications | Thursday 25 August 2022, 23:59 BST |
| Final decision on successful applicants | September 2022 |
Who can apply
The programme is open to EOIs from local area partnerships in England and outside of London only. London boroughs and the Greater London Authority are excluded from applying to the programme either as a stand alone application or as part of a consortium bid. The CGP is focused on supporting creative businesses and unlocking economic growth in other parts of the country.
Applicants must be either a combined authority, local authority or local enterprise partnership (LEP). In the case of a consortium application, the lead organisation must be either a combined authority, local authority or LEP.
How to apply
Please carefully read the guidance for applicants. Shortlisted applicants are required to complete and return the full application forms provided to creategrowth@dcms.gov.uk before Thursday 25 August 2022, 23:59 hrs BST. Only notified shortlisted applicants are eligible to apply at the full application stage. Any application forms received after the closing date will not be considered.
Funding
Successful applicants will be awarded a grant worth approximately £1.275 million to deliver the business support package across three financial years. In addition to this, businesses across participating local area partnerships will have the opportunity to benefit from a £7 million fund for finance support. Local area partnerships will also benefit from the investor capacity building activities developed through the programme.
Required documents
Updates to this page
Last updated 29 November 2022 + show all updates
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Updated page to reflect that this competition has closed.
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Page update to reflect EOI period has now closed.
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First published.