Contact is a registered charity and offers free-to-attend creative opportunities for young people aged 13-30. In order to offer free opportunities, we fundraise year-round.

Contact is a registered charity and offers free-to-attend creative opportunities for young people aged 13-30. In order to offer free opportunities, we fundraise year-round.

Alongside commercial income, our work is made possible by grants from public and private funding bodies and individual donations. Public funding is provided by the government at national, regional and local levels and private funding is offered by trusts and foundations for charitable purposes.

Funding is typically offered for 1-3 years and can be ‘unrestricted’ (no strings funding that can be used for anything within an organisation’s charitable objectives) or ‘restricted’ (for a specific purpose/project).

Funding is further categorised as either ‘core’ or ‘revenue’.

Core funding provides support for organisational running costs such as staffing, venue upkeep and energy costs whereas revenue funding provides support for the running costs of specific projects and programmes of work. For that reason, revenue funding is often referred to as ‘project’ funding.

The creation of this website has been made possible with support from the Weston Culture Fund.

Our public and private funders make Contact’s work possible and positively impact the lives of all the people with whom we work. Thank you for your generous support.

Current Funders

We are thrilled to have continuing relationships with:

• Arts Council England (ACE) is a government-funded body dedicated to promoting the performing, visual and literary arts in England. A long term Contact funding partner, we are thrilled to have secured a place as a 2023-2026 ACE supported National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). You can learn more about their work and priorities here.
• The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of the ten Greater Manchester councils and Mayor, who work with local services, businesses, communities and other partners to improve the city-region and give local people more control over issues that affect their area. GMCA have supported Contact with core funding for many years and we are part of their 2023-2026 Cultural Partnership portfolio, working together to achieve the aims of the Greater Manchester Culture Strategy
• Manchester City Council (MCC) is the local government authority for the city of Manchester. Continuing their long-term support for Contact’s work, MCC has awarded us a Cultural Partnership Grant for 2023-26. Grants aim to “fund and support cultural organisations that contribute to making Manchester a thriving, equitable, vibrant and liveable city with high quality cultural and creative experiences that all Manchester people can benefit from.”
• The University of Manchester (UoM) has a Memorandum of Understanding with Contact outlining the nature and purpose of our relationship. Currently, this includes an annual grant and free lease of our building through a ‘peppercorn rent’ agreement. We work closely on initiatives e.g. providing space for drama students to use our building, Contact staff contribute to course delivery and joint funding opportunities to support academic collaborations.
• Coutts Foundation have generously supported Contact with core funding since 2021 and will continue to contribute to our work with young people until March 2024. Their mission is to support sustainable approaches to tackle the causes and consequences of poverty, in the communities where Coutts (bank) has a presence. The Foundation currently focuses on work that supports vulnerable women and girls and work that empowers young people through the performing arts.
• In addition to providing core funding, Manchester City Council are supporting our school holiday provision via their Holiday Activity & Food programme (HAF) and our Creative Connections programme which is a cross-sector group providing creative opportunities for children and young people in Manchester through collaborations and shared learning experiences. This project runs in partnership with Curious Minds.
• The National Lottery Community Fund supports The Agency our national programme empowering young people to become the creative leaders and change-makers of their communities. Celebrating its 10^th anniversary in 2023, The Agency is a partnership project with Battersea Arts Centre developed from a model created by the Brazilian theatre maker, Marcus Faustini in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro.