Some call it a dirty old town, but over the last three years Salford CVS have found out that the only thing Salford is littered with is creative talent and cultural flair.
This is of course nothing new to the people of Salford, whose neighbours and friends have ranged from Shirley Baker to Bez, and whose streets are home to incredible creative venues like Islington Mill, The Lowry, Salford Museum and Art Gallery and Salford Arts Theatre. The growth of MediaCityUK has seen huge creative outlets put roots down on the docks of our city too.
But since 2023, Salford CVS have had the privilege of managing over £900,000 of dedicated cultural investment. Various funders have come to us as the place-based local infrastructure organisation with a common goal of supporting, promoting, expanding, and cheering for the cultural and creative people, places, and spaces across our old canals and factory walls.
As a grants function at Salford CVS, we process over 900 awards per year, directly funding VCSE sector organisations across Salford and Greater Manchester. Since 2023, over 300 grants were directly awarded to achieve cultural or creative outcomes.
Thanks to Salford City Council, we have supported 49 individual artists to grow and develop through the Salford Creatives Fund across two rounds in 2025 and 2026. We have also awarded 65 grants with Whose Art, Whose Culture? UKSPF funding since 2023, using which VCSE organisations explored what arts and culture mean to their communities.
Images - Funded projects through Whose Art, Whose Culture?
Image
| Image
|
In 2025, Salford CVS managed and distributed £25,000 of investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund via The Lowry through the Together We Create Fund. This funding empowered 11 VCSE organisations to strengthen their community’s links with the theatre and build their creative confidence through performance, painting, and poetry. Salford CVS also managed GMCA’s landmark Inspire fund across 2023-2025, facilitating £250,000 of investment to artists across Greater Manchester to help rebuild the creative sector following the pandemic.
We have also gratefully received over £350,000 of UKSPF/Local Place Flexible Grant funding via GMCA and Salford City Council to refurbish and revitalise the Old Town Hall’s once derelict courtroom. Corrie fans may be interested…that once was the site of Deirdre’s fate is now becoming a high-spec, fully kitted out event and meeting space. The 60-capacity room has been lovingly restored in 2025 and in 2026 now stands proud as another gem of Eccles, complete with a welcome foyer, kitchen, and toilet facilities. This investment has allowed Salford CVS to create a much-needed community venue to be used by colleagues and friends across the sector and across the city whilst bringing a historic location back into use.
Images - Eccles Old Town Hall Courtroom before refurbishment
This newly refurbished courtroom will compliment the long-established Eccles Old Town Hall Ballroom, run by a dedicated team of volunteers at E.C.H.O.
This iconic, VCSE-managed venue is soon putting the town on the map by hosting the BBC Radio 6 Festival, which will run alongside an interactive, place based programme of activities in From The Other’s Get In! to Eccles festival on Saturday 28 – Sunday 29th March 2026.
These varied cultural investments have cumulatively given our city and our sector a chance to prove that talent knows no postcode, creativity is just around the corner, and potential exists in every community centre, hall, and park across our eight neighbourhoods. Culture, and cultural funding is an integral part of shaping the past, present, and future of Salford, and funding is vital to keep our communities vibrant, our places and spaces full of joy, and for Salfordians old and new, visitors, and passers-through to feel proud of the streets and city we call ours.
So what’s next? 2026 brings the 100th birthday of Salford, and we are proud to be managing the Salford Centenary Fund on behalf of Salford City Council. We look forward to bringing money to your communities to unleash your creative potential and community spirit. If you’re a Salford based VCSE organisation that would like to celebrate with us, all information about the Centenary Fund can be found on the Salford CVS live grants page.
Walk the Plank have also been commissioned to lead a huge programme of centenary events, supported by Salford CVS, funded by Salford City Council Culture and Place Partnership. Further information can be found on the Salford 100 website (linked).
Salford City Council have also announced that our city has been granted up to £40,000 of government-secured funding to be spent in, on, and for the good of regeneration across Peel Green and Pendleton, which will see these neighbourhoods thrive.
At Salford CVS we are excited to be part of the cultural, community, and creative activity that has been and will continue to take place for years to come in our 100 year old city.
All future funding opportunities, including arts and culture themed grants, are posted via our social media and e-bulletin. Sign up here to find out more - https://www.salfordcvs.co.uk/signup
Watch this space! And this place…