Levelling Up Fund Round 2 application resources

Levelling Up Fund Round 2 application resources

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Overview

These resources have been collated to support those involved in the development of culture or heritage bids for the Levelling Up Fund.

Here you can find a list of resources relating to arts, museums and libraries that may be useful when making a submission to Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund. 

General information on the development of bids, can be found in the prospectus on the Gov.uk website.

These resources are designed to steer the development of bids, and act as a portal for further information. Further advice on submitting cultural and heritage bids to the Levelling Up Fund is available through the following expert organisations:

  • Historic England
  • Sport England
  • National Lottery Heritage Fund
  • British Film Institute
  • Visit England
  • National Lottery Community Fund

The resources in the following sections are based around three categories: data; case studies; and advice.

Data

What are the cultural assets of your place? 

Do you have a good understanding of the potential opportunities for cultural investment that will have a high impact and make a positive visible difference to your place?

Cultural investment is defined in the prospectus as maintaining, regenerating, or creatively repurposing existing cultural, creative, heritage and sporting assets, or creating new assets that serve those purposes including theatres, museums, galleries, production facilities, libraries, visitor attractions (and associated green spaces), sports and athletics facilities, heritage buildings and sites, and assets that support the visitor economy.

Resources

The Active Lives Survey - A survey about people in England (aged 16+) which provides information on people’s engagement with culture at a local tier local authority level.

The Audience Agency - The Audience Agency offer a range of tools which support collecting and analysing local data. 

Our Priority Places Data - This page lists the methodology we used for identifying priority places, along with the full data for every local authority in England.

Data Report: Arts Council England Funded Cultural Infrastructure - A data report analysing experimental high streets data by Ordnance Survey, and a survey of Arts Council funded cultural infrastructure across England. 

Case studies

What are the sources of information you can use to make your case?  

Do you have sufficient evidence to demonstrate the strategic fit and economic growth potential of your cultural investment proposal?

Your cultural investment proposals will need to demonstrate how they will support the economic, community and cultural priorities of your place and how they align with wider planning and investment strategies and programmes. You will need to show how your proposals represent good value for money both now and in the future. It will be particularly important to ensure your proposals are well designed to reflect local character and local market conditions and capacity, and this will include showing a good understanding of the needs of the local community. 

Resources

Our Case Studies - Our capital web pages contain a series of useful case studies. 

CABE Culture and Leisure case studies - An archive of 66 case studies from across England.

Culture Hub: good practice in cultural services - An online hub we developed with the LGA which highlights good practice in the delivery of cultural services by councils and their partners.

The Impacts of Hull UK City of Culture - The main evaluation findings and reflections on the impacts of Hull UK City of Culture.  

Great Place report - A year 3 report into our programme which pilots new approaches to local investment in arts and culture and includes case studies. 

Meta-evaluation of place-based programmes - Our evaluation of 6 place-based investment programmes which shares learning from five fundamental areas which are needed to ensure impactful place-based programmes. 

Advice on capital

Who and what is needed to turn your vision for cultural investment into a reality?

You will need to identify your key partners and show that your objectives are sufficiently aligned. You will also need to produce a credible delivery plan, covering procurement, skills and experience of the project team, governance, risk, costings and your approach to monitoring and evaluation. 

Resources

Building excellence in the arts: a guide for clients - A CABE and Arts Council guide on undertaking an arts capital project.

Building inclusion: Physical access guidance for the arts - Our guidance on the requirements to consider in creating a fully inclusive environment.

Championing archives and libraries with local planning - Our guide with The National Archives to help organisations working with libraries advocate for their work within the context of local authority planning. 

Greening Your Capital Projects - Our webinar with Julie’s Bicycle providing both inspiration and practical insights for cultural organisations planning and developing capital projects which use culture to work towards net zero targets. 

Capital Works! Building Transformation - Evaluation findings from our Strategic Capital Programme.

The Construction Playbook - Key government policies and guidance for how public works projects and programmes are assessed, procured, and delivered.

Culture Strategy in a Box - This LGA guide gives key lessons and guidance in writing a cultural strategy that can be tailored to suit the needs of the local authority and its place. 

Theatre Green Book - A series of online books and toolkits developed by theatre-makers and sustainability experts on how to make theatre buildings more sustainable. 

Industry bodies that provide further guidance and resources: