Liverpool’s Collective Encounters is celebrating after being awarded £105,000 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

Collective Encounters will use their funding to continue and extend their Women in Action programme, enabling disadvantaged women in the Liverpool City Region to use creativity to build confidence, develop skills and make their voices heard.

This new National Lottery funding will support at least 180 women over three years through a dynamic programme of creative workshops, training, and events. Activities will include the return of the popular ‘Confidence through Creativity’ course, accredited by Open Awards, and a weekly group for women who want to work towards performances exploring the issues that are important to them. There will also be an offer of free workshops for women’s groups, new training opportunities, and an annual celebration on International Women’s Day in March. The new programme starts in October 2022. For more information and to get involved, email tessa@collective-encounters.org.uk or call/text 07564 356809.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.

Tessa Buddle, Women in Action director said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this grant means that we can support women who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, providing fun and enriching creative opportunities and making sure they have the tools to play an active role in creating positive change, as part of a diverse, inclusive, intergenerational group of women. This will make a big difference to people’s lives.”

To find out more, visit https://collective-encounters.org.uk/projects/women-in-action/

During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk