Applying to the OKRE Fund

The OKRE Fund is open for applications.

How much is available?

We provide grants from £500 – £25,000

Eligibility

  • The project must involve creative collaboration. Strong projects will involve creative working with someone from another sector or community i.e. between researchers, people with lived experience of an issue and entertainment professionals. Work with communities should follow best practise and can involve working with intermediary organisations.
  • Projects must be in R&D or early-stage development. It is not a production fund.
  • The OKRE Fund is open to both individuals and organisations

Current opportunities

We are currently interested in projects that explore one or more of the following areas:

  • Women and STEM-based careers
  • LGBTQIA+ issues
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Mental health, infectious disease and/or climate health
  • International development and the communities they seek to support.

Projects do not need to focus solely on a single issue or community. We’re interested in how they can be embedded and explored in unexpected and nuanced ways.

How to apply

If you’re interested in applying to the OKRE Fund, here’s what comes next:

  • Read through the OKRE Fund FAQs below
  • If you’re eligible, complete the application form below (a PDF is also available here, but please submit via the form)
  • Attach a project treatment at the end of the form in the format of your choosing.
  • If you have an accessibility requirement and need assistance please email [email protected]

Please note that any attachments should be in pdf format and no bigger than 10MB. Should you wish to attach a larger file, please contact [email protected].

FAQs

Please read the OKRE Fund FAQs before applying

Who can apply?

Individuals and organisations

What are we looking for?

The project must involve creative collaboration. By this we mean collaboration should meaningfully and creatively shape the direction of the project through the sharing of knowledge and perspectives. In entertainment, we’re interested in projects that take a fresh approach to exploring issues that impact our everyday lives and ideas that shape society. The audience for the project should be clear. In research, we’re interested in innovative approaches that make use of technologies and skills from the entertainment industries. Collaboration could be between researchers, people with lived experience of an issue and entertainment professionals. Work with communities should follow best practise and can involve working with intermediary organisations.

Are there specific subjects or issues you’re focused on?

Specific focus areas are shown further up this webpage. These are updated on a rolling basis. Please check out ‘Current Opportunities’ for more information.

What should my project treatment look like?

You can provide a treatment in a format familiar to your industry. It should excite and inspire us.

What are eligible costs?

  • Salaries, if persons are not already receiving a salary for the duration of the grant
  • Contractor fees e.g. consultants, creatives, delivery partners, community partners
  • Materials and equipment
  • Reasonable travel costs

When can I expect to hear about the outcome of my application?

We aim to provide responses within 8 weeks. Please note we are unable to provide individual feedback on applications.

How will applications be assessed?

Funding decisions are made by the OKRE Fund Committee and members meet once a month to assess applications.

Criteria include:

  • freshness of the idea
  • potential for creative collaboration to shape the project
  • ability to deliver on the ambition of the project
  • alignment to current funding opportunities
  • potential for impact.

My project wasn’t awarded the first time around, can I apply again?

Resubmissions for the same project are by invite only.

Diversity Monitoring Survey

We would be grateful if you could also spend a couple of minutes answering the below questions relating to special category data (data concerning physical and mental health (including disability), data revealing racial or ethnic origin, and data concerning sexual orientation).

This will help us to better understand the demographics of the teams we reach and fund to inform our work moving forward. This data is captured independantly of the application form and will be aggregated after one month so that you can not be identified, and is then retained for internal reporting purposes only.

Got More Questions Not Covered Here? Book a 30 minute session with OKRE’s Network Producer, Abisoye Adelusi