Culture Mile and Foundation for Future London have partnered on the FUSION PRIZE, a new competition - with a £50,000 prize fund - to find innovative ways to upskill future generations, empowering them to meet the demands of today’s employers.
The FUSION PRIZE invites schools, universities, charities, businesses, and others to work together and pitch ideas for innovative programmes or products designed to develop the creative, communication, organisational and thinking skills of London’s children or young people through cultural experiences.
APPLYING FOR THE PRIZE
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Proposals must respond to the following challenge statement:
'What new ideas can demonstrate how engagement with creativity and culture can help young Londoners develop the skills they need for the 21st century workplace?'
WHAT IS THE FUSION PRIZE?
The Fusion Prize is a ‘Challenge Prize’ – a public call for ideas through a competition, with a prize of £50,000. The deadline for written submissions is 11.59PM on the 17th January 2020. Six finalists will then be awarded £1,000 to develop their proposal further, and one winner will be awarded £50,000 to pilot their proposal in May 2020.
Successful proposals will use creative and/or cultural activity to develop fusion skills in young Londoners so that they can be prepared to thrive in the ever-changing 21st Century workplace. Our definition of fusion skills consists of the following:
Oral communication/presentation skills Collaboration and teamwork Initiative Problem solving Organisational skills Adaptability/flexibility Independent working/autonomy Written communication Critical thinking Resilience Creativity Analysis and evaluation skills
Culture Mile and the Foundation for Future London believe that engaging young people with creative and cultural activities can help them develop what we call ‘Fusion Skills’. We believe, and our research demonstrates, that Fusion Skills are becoming increasingly critical skills for the 21st Century workplace.
The Prize is being run by two of London’s newest cultural and education districts, Culture Mile and the Foundation for Future London at East Bank. These two districts are major partnership and place-based initiatives that embody and seek to promote the value of culture and creativity.
WHO CAN PROPOSE IDEAS?
We have called a proposal of a Fusion Skills development solution an Idea. We welcome Ideas, which can be submitted using the simple Idea Proposal Form from individuals, groups, commercial companies, not-for-profit organisations, and social enterprises.
Any Idea must come from a Team. A Team can be made up of one or multiple individuals. Details of all Team members must be clearly explained in the Idea Proposal Formwith all Team Members named and their roles defined in relation to the Idea.
Any UK-based individuals or organisations who are based in, or can physically access, Greater London, can propose ideas except the City of London Corporation, Culture Mile Learning partners, or Foundation for Future London and the East Bank partners and their employees, Employees can apply independently of their organisation if they wish to.
A Team must be led by a named individual who is aged 18 or older. This individual will take formal responsibility for the development of the Idea, and for any grant monies your Team receives. This individual must also take responsibility for safeguarding of any Team members who are aged under 18 years, or are vulnerable adults.
Teams that are diverse – in terms of experiences, skill sets, and ways of thinking, as well as age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith and ability are welcome.
Teams must ensure that all of its members and collaborators have the right to work in the UK and can produce evidence of this if requested.
HOW DO I ENTER?
Complete the Proposal Outline describing an Idea that responds to the challenge statement: 'What new ideas can demonstrate how engagement with creativity and culture can help young Londoners develop the skills they need for the 21st century workplace?'
Proposal outlines must adhere to section word limits and may include appendices as long as these are directly relevant to the proposal.
An existing company, or a group that intends to incorporate as a company, can propose - or be involved in a supporting role within - an Idea. Any organisations or groups must provide full details of named individuals as part of their Team’s proposal.
Individuals cannot be on more than one team.
Each Team can submit one or more Ideas. If more than one Idea is submitted a separate Idea Proposal Form must be submitted for each new Idea.
Each Idea must meet the Eligibility Requirements below and the Judging Criteria.
Consider 'what you don’t know' and include any areas that you’d like support with as a finalist. Finalists will receive £1,000 and expert support where possible to prepare for the second round of pitching.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR IDEAS
Full Team contact details must be supplied, including Company Registration Numbers/Charity Numbers for Ideas proposed by Teams that are Incorporated Companies/Registered Charities
The beneficiaries of your proposed Idea must be young Londoners by which we mean children or young adults aged 3-25 years who live, work or attend education in Greater London.
Ideas can aim to enable the development of Fusion Skills among all young Londoners within the target age bracket, or sub-sections of this group whether by age or another subsection (e.g. gender, ethnicity, location, ability, socioeconomic category, context). Focusing your Idea on a subsection in this way will not negatively affect the Judge’s assessment of the Idea.
A completed Idea Proposal Form must outline how a Team has, as part of the process of developing its Idea, tested the Idea with its intended beneficiaries and/or consulted with relevant experts. Teams should engage as much as possible with the group(s) that they intend to benefit from their Idea to strengthen the Idea and to understand and explain its potential impact.
Your Team’s proposal must explain how, in the event of winning the £50,000 Prize money, your Team plans to implement a pilot version of the Idea in collaboration or partnership with one or more artists/creative professionals and/or one or more creative, arts or heritage organisations. These specified artists/creatives/organisations must be based within Greater London for your Idea to be eligible for the Prize.
w/c 10th February 2020: We will notify up to six Teams that they have been selected as Finalists.
w/c 24th February 2020: Up to six finalists will be awarded seed funding of £1,000.
March - April 2020: Finalists will be offered support to enhance and develop their proposals. In Proposal Outlines teams should describe the support they may need to further their plans. This can include advice and practical support from the Culture Mile and the East Bank partners. This should be described in as much detail as possible i.e. if you’d like to be connected with a financial expert to assist you in budgeting or you’d like to be put in touch with a teacher to advise you we will endeavour to facilitate this.
A detailed Budget Breakdown for your pilot project
A project plan for your pilot project
A plan for how impact of your pilot project will be measured and evidenced
An outline of any consultation and/or user testing carried out so far including any evidence of this
Descriptions of the collaborations and partnerships that will support the delivery of your pilot project and letters of commitment from any partner organisations
Proposal outlines must adhere to section word limits and may include appendices as long as these are directly relevant to the proposal.
30th April 2020: Finalists pitch their proposals to the Judging Panel. One Team is chosen for the winning Idea.
May 2020: Award Ceremony and Prize awarded in accordance with payment plan agreed with winning Team.
19th June 2020: Cities of the Future Conference. All finalists will be provided with the opportunity to attend and present their Ideas to a conference with representation from up to 15 European cities.
HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU ON THE JOURNEY…
We’ll be running a day of 1-1 sessions with the Fusion prize team on the 17 December, book your space via this link on a first come, first served, basis.
SLACK WORKSPACE
Use the Fusion Prize Slack workspace to ask any questions you may have about the Prize process. These will be answered publicly to ensure transparency.
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