Impact Arts secures creative employability funding from The National Lottery Community Fund

Wed 30th July 2025

Community arts charity Impact Arts is delighted to receive £99,808 of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund!

Through TNL’s Young Start Fund, we have been awarded this substantial funding for Impactful Starts, our creative youth employability programme.

About The National Lottery Community Fund

The National Lottery raises money for good causes and distributes funding that enables people across the country to do extraordinary things, transforming lives and improving communities. The projects granted funding are those that aim to transform communities, protect our heritage, and enrich lives through arts, sports, and culture.

The purpose of Young Start, a fund run by The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland for the Scottish Government, is to help young people aged 8-24 become more confident and play an active part in realising their potential.

A substantial funding boost for Impactful Starts

Between August 2025 and July 2027, we will deliver 2 x 12-week blocks of Impactful Starts in Glasgow each year.

Impactful Starts is a stage 1, non-traditional creative employability project. Over 12 weeks, using the arts as a focus, we help participants build their confidence, make new friends, get creative, and prepare for progression into work, further education, or training.

In this programme, young people aged 16-24 work with by an artist, youth worker, and opportunities co-ordinator who provide 1:1 and group support. They get to explore creative engagement techniques such as painting, sculpture, musicmaking, theatre, photography, animation, or poetry. Young people also have the opportunity to go on field trips and take part in local community art, heritage, and/or climate action projects. At the same time, they get support to establish a routine, create a CV, prepare for interviews, identify opportunities, and plan next steps for their future.

This is a vital programme for young people and the whole team at Impact Arts is very grateful for TNL’s support.

(Impact Arts is currently running a fundraising campaign for Impactful Starts Edinburgh and Glasgow. Give a young person a brighter future – make a donation before August 29, 2025 and be automatically entered into our prize draw to win one of three framed artworks.)

Welcome back, Sketchy Youths!

In other exciting news, this new funding will also allow Impact Arts to relaunch our popular Sketchy Youths programme.

Sketchy Youths is a peer-led group and young artists collective for 16-24 year olds and will be open to both past and new participants. In Autumn 2025, over the course of 10 weeks, eight initial Sketchy Youths ‘champions’ will meet weekly to receive training in preparing and delivering their own creative workshops for young people on the next Impactful Starts programmes.

Throughout the following 20 months, Sketchy Youth creatives will encourage ‘graduates’ of Impactful Starts to join them in attending monthly facilitated Sketchy Youth half-day workshops to learn additional creative skills and shape the ongoing design of our programmes. To strengthen community arts, youth voice, advocacy, and leadership skills, they’ll encourage the ‘graduates’ to volunteer on programmes where they can also access dedicated open studio space within The Boardwalk on an independent, drop-in basis.

We would like to thank The National Lottery Community Fund for their contribution which will help us deliver life-changing art programmes for young people in Glasgow.

Fund Impact Arts’ programmes in your area

Would your organisation like to contribute funding towards an Impact Arts programme?

Email development@impactarts.co.uk to discuss with our Development Team.

Commission a project

Would you like to commission Impact Arts for a project? We deliver a variety of commissions including public art like murals, community consultations, and creative workshops in locations across Central Scotland.

Visit our commissions webpage to learn more and see our creative work.

Impact Arts is a community arts charity based in Scotland. Since 1994, we’ve been delivering creative arts and support programmes for children, young people, adults, families, and older people who are facing disadvantages or barriers to progress in life. Our mission is to tackle inequalities, address poverty, and transform lives through art and creativity.  

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