Emergency Fund opens on Friday for third sector
Edinburgh Integration Joint Board (EIJB) funding which has been scrapped for some charities will be partly replaced by a new emergency council fund which has been drawn down from council reserves.
A one-off Third Sector Resilience Fund will launch today 28 March and will remain open for two weeks.
It will only be open to organisations in Edinburgh which have been directly impacted by the closure of the EIJB’s third sector grants programme and applications must be made by 12 noon on Friday 11 April.
This package of support will include a funded programme worth £1 million to allow third sector advice providers to continue to offer income maximisation, debt, and welfare advice services previously funded by the EIJB grants programme.
Applications will be reviewed and reported to a special meeting of the council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee on Monday 12 May, with the intention of releasing funds in June.
Further work is progressing to review the relationship between the public sector and third sector in Edinburgh, to improve funding certainty in future years.
Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said: “Many of these local charities are at the forefront of helping those in our city with the greatest need. We’ve urgently been working to provide a lifeline to those affected by the closure of the previous grants programme, and I’m really pleased that we’ve found a way forward.
“This fund should provide enough money to potentially support all 64 affected organisations for up to nine months. It must be said that this is a one-off emergency fund – we need to act quickly, and I urge applications to be made as soon as possible.
“Alongside this we must develop a stronger way of supporting the third sector in our city. We recognise that the EIJB, like the Council, is under significant financial pressure and there needs to be longer-term change.
“Tackling poverty and inequality is one of the biggest challenges we’ve set ourselves as a city and this will be a really important piece of work – for us, for our partners and for the whole third sector.”
Benjamin Napier, CEO of Citizens Advice Edinburgh, is a member of the third sector reference group which the Council has set up as it reviews the funding relationship the city has with charities.
He said: “We welcome this investment in the third sector and hope it will go some way to providing resilience, while we continue our work with colleagues across the Council to find a longer-term solution.
“We recognise the pressures on public funding and thank the Council for their efforts in securing this funding. The third sector in Edinburgh plays a vital and very cost-effective role in supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.
“We look forward to strengthening the relationship between the Council and the third sector. By working together in this way, we can create real and lasting change for our citizens.”
All interested charities or groups are advised to email policyandinsight@edinburgh.gov.uk for the full list of criteria for the fund and to apply for an award.
Hidden Door – Building as a Myth
The programme for Hidden Door Festival at 15.5 acre site at The Paper Factory just off Maybury Roundabout has been announced.
With the theme now announced the organisers say that every rusted pipe on the site will become part of an artistic reclamation. The scale of the task is immense – as was evident during the pop up festival weekend last autumn when music lovers and art lovers were introduced to the huge warehouse, only to realise this was only a small part of the site.
From Wednesday 11 – Sunday 15 June 2025, the festival brings together the talents of more than 100 creatives to offer live music, immersive art installations, dance performances, poetry, spoken word, and unique collaborations.
Hazel Johnson, Festival Director of Hidden Door, said: “Since November’s venue launch party, we’ve been busy clearing more of the vast industrial site and getting ready to fill every corner with our most ambitious programme yet.
“We exist to support the creative community and to connect audiences with emerging artists, and The Paper Factory will be at the heart of that ambition in 2025.”
- Hidden Door 2025 will take place from Wednesday 11th June to Sunday 15th June 2025.
- Tickets are now available at hiddendoorarts.org/tickets
Invisible Cities welcome a prince
Zakia Moulaoui, founder of Invisible Cities, a tour guide company which employs people who have expereinced homelessness or who are in recovery, welcomed a royal visitor this week. The charity began in Edinburgh and has now spread to seven cities.
She said: “Prince William joined guide Angus and me for the first ever tour of Aberdeen, our seventh city.
“Invisible Cities became a reality back in 2016 and despite my big ambitions, I never quite imagined that we would grow so much.
“Next year we turn 10 and we will launch our 10th city and show that we can make a positive social impact in cities and communities and do tourism differently.
“Our launch today was part of a Homewards initiative and is the first of six new cities, and more beyond.
“But for today, thank you to everyone who has been an incredible part of our story so far.”
RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Frances Priest, the renowned ceramic artist based in Easter Road, Edinburgh, hosted teenagers and adults from the Scottish charity Down’s Syndrome Scotland at a creative workshop, where they were the first people to see the specially commissioned tiles the studio has designed for the ‘Down’s Syndrome Scotland Garden’ at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May.
The garden’s designers, Nick Burton and Duncan Hall of Burton Hall Garden Design, commissioned Frances last year to create 21 individually patterned colourful tiles that will feature in the paving of their debut RHS Chelsea garden. The number 21 was significant in the brief, as it represents the cause of Down’s syndrome – the presence of a third copy of Chromosome 21 – whilst each tile will provide an element of fun, joy and playfulness, typical characteristics of people with Down’s syndrome.
Whale sculpture
In Granton there is a new piece of public art installed in the new Gasholder 1 Parkahead of the park’s official opening on Saturday 5 April. The sculpture, commissioned by the Council, has been designed to portray one of the Firth of Forth’s most special visitors – the humpback whale.
A design portraying one of the Firth of Forth’s residents – the humpback whale – has been commissioned by the Council to be displayed in the new Gasholder 1 public park.
The piece of public art by Svetlana Kondakova Muir has been put in place to take centre stage in the new park which opened at the end of last year as part of the £1.3bn regeneration of the wider area. Visitors will be able to enjoy the new piece of art at the park’s official opening on Saturday 5 April.
Artist Svetlana Kondakova Muir said: “It was a great honour to be awarded the Gasholder Public Art Commission and I am excited to see the sculpture complete. The best part about this project has been working with the local community to come up with ideas – it was them who chose the whale – and to create elements of sea life which will be cast in aluminium and added to the sculpture. I feel privileged that my artwork will be housed within such a distinctive landmark in Edinburgh’s landscape. Most importantly, I hope that Granton Whale will highlight the importance of marine conservation and the value of our relationships with the natural world.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
