Colour photo of a small black single storey building surrounded by green pasture and under a blue sky, white text at bottom reads Community Engagement Award.

A core aim of the SPMA is the promotion of the archaeology of the late medieval to modern world. The Community Engagement Award is designed to support individuals, groups and societies to develop new public-facing initiatives. They can be one-off events, programmes of activities, digital archaeology or other creative outputs. We welcome proposals which seek to develop innovative forms of engagement and proposals which demonstrate the potential to engage non-traditional audiences. Please note that the Society’s existing lecture bursary has now been discontinued and subsumed within this new grant. 

Previous award holders and their projects are listed on this wepage and short reports about funded projects are published in our Newsletter.

You can apply for funding of up to £500. The deadline for applications each year is 15 September. SPMA Council makes decisions within two months of the closing date. 

Eligibility:

  • Applicants must be members of the Society
  • You can apply on behalf of any group, institution and organization
  • You can be an amateur or professional archaeologist
  • Post-medieval archaeology (late medieval to the present day) must be a core aspect of the proposal
  • Community engagement must be a core aspect of the proposal

Priority will be given to the development of new initiatives rather than the funding of established activities.

Applications could concern, but are not limited to:

  • Seed funding for community based initiatives
  • The development of digital post-medieval archaeology
  • The development of educational resources
  • Payments for talks, lectures or workshops
  • A one-off event such as a walk or open day
  • Development of creative outputs in a variety of media

Applicants are encouraged to define the types of audiences which they are targeting and to describe expected outcomes and outputs, including the development of skills and expertise. A timetable and itemised budget should be included. Please provide adequate detail to demonstrate justification of proposals and costs. 

Your can apply for a Community Engagement Award by filling out an application form (Word document, link below) and emailing it to the Grants and Prizes Officer, Dr Erki Russow: grants@spma.org.uk

Award holders can download a copy of the Society logo for use on reports and publicity associated with their funded activities.

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