Interwoven Arts CIC is a year-one Community Interest Company, pre-trading with £0 unrestricted reserves and £0 restricted reserves. The financial model combines diversified grant and donation funding with earned revenue from installations, commissions, consultancy, and merchandise. It is structured around five funding streams and four earned-revenue streams.
Funding streams
Named targets below are drawn from the company’s active internal grants pipeline. All entries flagged for live re-verification before application.
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Unrestricted core grants — multi-year unrestricted funding from foundation funders. This is the immediate fundraising priority. Multi-year-unrestricted funders for newly incorporated CICs are scarce; identification of replacement candidates is underway, with Tudor Trust (invitation-based, relationship-building required) as the closest medium-term candidate.
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Restricted project grants — direct applications — specific grants for specific installations or research outputs. Application sequencing is built around National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All as the highest-fit entry point for newly incorporated CICs. Priority targets:
- National Lottery Community Fund — Awards for All England (£300–£20k, rolling 16-week decision)
- Arts Council England — Project Grants under £30k (£1k–£30k, rolling 8-week decision via Grantium portal)
- National Lottery Heritage Fund — Heritage Grants (£10k–£250k, rolling 8-week decision, requires pre-application call and confirmed venue partner)
- Esmée Fairbairn Foundation — Communities & Collections (£30k–£200k, EOI deadline 22 July 2026)
- Paul Hamlyn Foundation — Arts-Based Learning Fund (£30k–£300k, requires school partnership)
- Worcestershire Community Foundation (£500–£10k, home-turf first-win priority)
- Secondary targets across foundation funders, local-authority small grants, and regional community funds: Heart of England Community Foundation, True Colours Trust UK Small Grants, CLA Charitable Trust, Goldsmiths’ Foundation Open Grants Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation, Henry Smith Charity, Baring Foundation arts-and-mental-health programme, Naturesave Trust (May–June 2026 window), Worcestershire County Council Community Wellbeing small grants, and Wyre Forest District Council Community Grants.
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Project funding via partner venues — host-site partnered funding for specific installations.
- Current standing: agreement in principle for an Arley Arboretum pilot (winter 2026–27); early-stage conversation with Whitlenge Gardens (Hartlebury, Worcestershire).
- Longer-term partner-venue targets: Bridges of Light Worcester (Severn Arts / The Arches Worcester Festivals); Light Night Worcester; Bristol Light Festival; Birmingham Light Festival; Canary Wharf Winter Lights; Without Walls Innovative Outdoor Arts; Nottingham Light Night; Dudley Creates Metro Art; Kidderminster BID Events commissioning.
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Donations, supporters, and sponsorships — four sub-channels:
- Individual donations — direct one-off and recurring giving. Channels designed for activation alongside the first installation.
- Tiered supporter / membership scheme — designed at £25–£100/year tiers per the company’s internal strategy, with launch planned alongside the first installation.
- Local and corporate sponsorships — sponsorship arrangements with businesses aligned to the beneficiary communities (Wyre Forest, Worcestershire, West Midlands). Pipeline development underway.
- Tech in-kind sponsorship — major nonprofit programmes (Microsoft for Nonprofits, Google for Nonprofits, TechSoup, Adobe, Canva, Slack, Zoom; estimated combined in-kind value £2,500–£6,000/year). Activation gated on secondary Charity Commission registration, which is under review as the unlock pathway for this stream and other charity-only funder channels.
Earned revenue streams
Earned revenue from installations and services complements grant and donation income and underpins the company’s path to sustainability beyond initial seed funding.
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Public installation ticket revenue — visitor admission to public installations. Cross-subsidises the access side of the work: tailored school visits, quieter sessions outside public opening hours, and adapted installations brought directly into settings where public attendance is not practical. “The reach is part of the structure, not dependent on external charity.”
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Commercial commission fees — paid commissions from light festivals, councils, and commercial venues to deliver bespoke installations. Every commission carries a community access provision as a standard contract term (see how we do it).
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Installation merchandise — catalogues, prints, themed merchandise (totes, apparel, audio recordings, sensory-friendly products) sold at and after public installations, tied to each installation’s thematic content. Activates at first public installation.
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Sensory-accessible experience design consultancy — paid advisory work for heritage and cultural venues seeking sensory-accessibility integration, alongside other CICs and small charities working with neurodivergent and disabled audiences. Soft-launches from Year 2.
Funding position
The company is pre-trading and actively fundraising. Its three-year financial projection is being finalised. The Year 1 deliverables — the Arley Arboretum pilot installation, the Year 1 asset-base build, and formal outreach partnerships with Wyre Forest School and Aurora Wilden View School — are sequenced against the unrestricted funding currently being secured.
Operating principles
Asset lock and surplus reinvestment (see what a CIC is): any surplus generated is reinvested into further community benefit activities — access initiatives, programme development, research and development, and infrastructure. No surplus distributable to members or directors.
Community access provision on every commercial commission (see how we do it): the CIC delivers the commissioned work, takes the fee, and funds its core mission through the revenue. Every commission becomes a second layer of mission delivery — leaving the host site with infrastructure or commitments that benefit the company’s primary communities at that venue.
Annual accounts first due January 2028 (alongside first CIC34 report).
Current ask
Replacement multi-year unrestricted core funding is the immediate priority. Specific project funding for the Arley Arboretum first installation (winter 2026–27) and the Coherent Sensory Spaces research feasibility study running alongside it is also being sought. A founder pack with governance, theory of change, and the artistic and research proposals is available on request at info@interwovenartscic.org.