This consultation is now closed.
Manchester City Council offers grants to support cultural organisations with their core running costs through the Cultural Partnership Grants (CPG) programme.
The Aims, Principles, and Priorities for the next funding round have been updated in line with ‘Always, Everywhere: Manchester’s Cultural Ambition’, the city’s cultural framework.
This upcoming round of funding will cover the period from April 2026 to March 2029.
Who Can Apply?
You can apply if your organisation is:
- A community, voluntary, or not-for-profit group
- Focused on arts, culture, or heritage
- Based in Manchester or has a strong track record of supporting the city
- Not already receiving strategic cultural funding from the Council
What the Funding Supports
The CPG programme supports organisations that:
- Create and share culture in Manchester
- Make arts and culture inclusive, vibrant, and fair
- Help everyone access culture and creativity
- Celebrate a wide range of art forms and voices
- Build spaces where culture can grow across the city
Our Principles and Values
1. A commitment to inclusion and representation
Systemic inequalities adversely impact Manchester residents’ health, wellbeing, and quality of life. We are calling on cultural organisations to embed equality, diversity and inclusion in their work. And to be working towards making their organisations representative of the diversity of the city of Manchester’s population and of the communities they serve.
2. A commitment to a more sustainable future
Manchester has committed to a science-based target to be a zero-carbon city by 2038, and we ask cultural organisations to support that mission by having a carbon reduction plan or to be working towards one. This plan will include reducing the carbon emissions of their own activities, promoting sustainable transport to and between cultural events, and making carbon awareness and literacy part of their everyday activities.
3. A commitment to good governance
We ask that organisations have a robust and engaged board (or equivalent management committee) that follows recognised principles of good governance and good employment practices. Arrangements are in place to ensure the successful delivery of their outcomes with the Manchester communities they serve being involved in leadership and decision-making in your organisation.
4. A commitment to co-production and partnership working
Working together with artists, residents, communities, partners, venues and other charities and learning from one another will lead to the greatest impact. To make their work as impactful and creative as possible, they will have strong links with artists, residents, co-produce with community groups, or work with other cultural partners in Manchester and beyond.
We want to hear from you
We want your feedback on the priorities for the 2026–2029 funding round. These priorities will be used to assess applications.
Click the button below to take part in the consultation:
Please respond by Wednesday 25 June 2025.