You are here Funding: Lottery Millions Making Playful Ideas Reality
The Big Lottery Fund wants projects to bounce in with innovative ways of capturing the playful imagination of children and young people to make a big difference to the way our children play in their neighbourhoods.
Playful Ideas is the new Lottery good cause programme seeking to fund projects with a creative and novel approach to play. This programme, open for applications from 28 March 2006, forms part of the Fund’s £155 million commitment to support children’s play.
Ade Adepitan, Paralympic bronze medallist says it is great news for kids: “Children and young people across England have won the lottery today. This money will mean children can have a say in how they play by being actively involved in designing, planning and running play projects.”
The Playful Ideas programme focuses on originality and will empower children to have more choice and control over their play activities. There is £16 million of funding available in England until 31 December 2007 with grants of between £10,000 and £250,000 available.
Mark Cotton, Big Lottery Fund Head of South West region, said: “With the £16 million Playful Ideas programme, we are focussing on innovation. We want ideas that are new and different, that will challenge and stimulate children promoting their greater well-being.
“In addition, under the Children’s Play programme there is more than £11.3 million available to local authority areas in the South West for local play schemes that have already proved popular, like BMX and skateboard parks, mobile play teams and small public playgrounds.“
The Big Lottery Fund wants every community to get involved in creating play adventures that allow children to grow through a wider range of high quality, inclusive and accessible play experiences. Applications for funding must come from play partnerships led by the local authorities, who will develop children’s play strategies for their areas.
The Children's Play Council (CPC), part of the National Children’s Bureau, has been awarded a grant to deliver the Play England Project, a major five-year development, to help local agencies in planning for play across their area by setting up a national support and development infrastructure across the regions. The local play strategies created in liaison with the CPC will enable Local Authorities to apply to spend their part of the £124 million through the Children’s Play programme.
Details of allocations made to each local authority in the South West region can be found at the Big Lottery Fund web site.
See full press release here.
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