COMMISSIONS CLOSING SOON 👀 - ONE £20,000 & FIVE £1,000 ARTIST OPPORTUNITIES

Artists, creative collectives and permaculture practitioners - we have two fantastic opportunities to fund innovative. In order of closest application deadline, please consider if your practice could be a great connection with the following:

1. Owtside the Lines & Redefined: Radical Acts of Growth

Applications close: Friday 31st July 2026, 5pm (this coming Friday)

Commission Value: £20,000 in total

We are looking to explore a programme of work where the main practices are growing, sharing food and permaculture in community hubs across County Durham. We are looking for a socially engaged artist where horticulture and permaculture is part of their practice.

This commission is inspired by the initial work in North Durham with Quaking Houses, where we hosted an R&D phase of this work. The main objective of this commission is to connect people within the community, specifically sanctuary seekers and resettled individuals and families connecting with the community centre.  We want to explore how permaculture*, growing and connection to the outdoors can enable communities to connect on a deeper level, and create stable, lasting connections with people and their locality. 

By radical, we mean acts of social change, of resilience and resistance in the face of challenging times but the acts may be as small as a hot meal or a chat or as big as changing somebody's living circumstances for the better. This commission is all about shining a positive light.

We expect the artist or organisation to work with a minimum of two communities in County Durham, one of which will be Quaking Houses Village Hall. 

The artist or organisation will deliver a minimum of 24 days’ worth of engagement/contact sessions with local communities (based on 1 day a week/2 half-days) between September 2026 and March 2027. These workshops will be a mix of horticulture workshops and arts practice workshops. We expect sessions to be delivered in line with the AUE rate of pay.

2. Imagination Infrastructure Seed Commissions

Applications close:‍ ‍Monday 3rd August 2026, 12pm midday.

Commission Value: Five commissions of £1,000 in total

At our 13th July Imagination Tour event, participants spent time imagining different futures, asking bold questions, sharing experiences and exploring what might become possible when creativity is placed alongside community organising, collective action and local leadership. Whilst events like this can be powerful catalysts, we are interested in what happens next. 

• How do ideas move beyond conversations?

• How do moments of inspiration become practical experiments?

• How do artists and communities begin to test alternative ways of working, organising and creating change? 

To support this next stage, we are offering five £1,000 seed commissions that will enable individuals, groups and organisations to develop and test ideas emerging from the themes and conversations explored through the event.

These commissions are intentionally small. They are intended to create space for experimentation and learning. We are interested in supporting people to trial an experiment in Imagination Practice. Imagination isn’t just about dreaming of different futures but can also about creating the conditions to explore them. Through these commissions we want to support practical acts of imagination that help people rehearse, test and experience alternatives in the present, here in County Durham.