mission statement
Our aim is to fund young creative entrepreneurs in order to combat the increasingly challenging labour market, inspire change and harness the true and full potential within our society.
Core values: Determination; Inspiration; Passion; Ambition; Success
There are two strands under this programme:
1. Creative Entrepreneurs Fund - The entrepreneurs fund is a £10,000 grant awarded to one inspiring entrepreneur, along with a mentor, to help set up their own business.
2. Dare2Dream Prize - is awarded to young creatives who want to use their talents to send a message to the rest of the world. Blueprints will facilitate your idea, whether that be helping to publish a book, hiring recording space in a studio or funding a photography or filmmaking trip. To make things simpler, we’ve split the prize into categories based upon your art form. At least one project from each project will be funded.
Dare2Dream Prize Categories:
Email James at creative@fairearthfoundation.org for more information on submissions.
Read on for information on each category to read more on the competition.
Core values: Determination; Inspiration; Passion; Ambition; Success
There are two strands under this programme:
1. Creative Entrepreneurs Fund - The entrepreneurs fund is a £10,000 grant awarded to one inspiring entrepreneur, along with a mentor, to help set up their own business.
2. Dare2Dream Prize - is awarded to young creatives who want to use their talents to send a message to the rest of the world. Blueprints will facilitate your idea, whether that be helping to publish a book, hiring recording space in a studio or funding a photography or filmmaking trip. To make things simpler, we’ve split the prize into categories based upon your art form. At least one project from each project will be funded.
Dare2Dream Prize Categories:
- Filmmaking
- Photography
- Illustration
- Story Telling
- Graphic Design
- Music
- Poetry/ Spoken Word
Email James at creative@fairearthfoundation.org for more information on submissions.
Read on for information on each category to read more on the competition.
1. Creative Entrepreneurs Fund
We are looking for passionate individuals who will excite the market, introduce new ideals and provoke a reaction. The entrepreneurs fund is a £10,000 grant awarded to one inspiring entrepreneur, along with a mentor, to help set up their own business. This is for those individuals who already have an established idea, or grassroots projects, and need a capital injection to kickstart the company into a viable business. The most common factor preventing business start-ups is a lack of capital and guidance (Sonfiled & Barbato, 1999). For you and your idea to succeed, you’ll need both ability and experienced advice. Through Blueprints, we can help with both.
We are excited to hear your ideas. An example of a business plan we want to fund might be an outreach music business increasing access to classical music for young people from a disadvantaged background, or a story book series designed to reconnect young people with nature and the environment. Your ideas may be social enterprise based, or focused on the environment. They could be either for profit or not-for-profit, it’s completely your choice.
The Competition
We are asking you for a video, no longer than five minutes, telling us why we should fund your project. This applies for both the Entrepreneur Fund and the Dare2Dream prize.
The video should include:
The videos will be shortlisted, and the final five from each category (including the Dare2Dream competition finalists) will be showcased at the London Eco Film Festival (The LEFF) to be held in November 2021! We encourage submissions for our virtual event at the end of March 2021 but the winner will only receive the prize after our November 2021 event. The winner will be decided based upon audience votes, along with the suitability of the project in relation to our mission as a charitable foundation.
For the entrepreneurs fund, as well as showing your business plan at the London Eco Film Festival, there will be a separate viewing for entrepreneurs prior. This means potential mentors and future investors may be watching your idea. If your video truly inspires, there may be options for extra funding from the investors.
The deadline for applying is on 1st November 2021, at Midnight.
The Prize
We are funding one entrepreneur to carry out their business plan, with the help of a mentor who is an expert in the field. The winner will receive £10,000.
The winner will work with their mentor to develop on their existing business plan and receive the grant once a robust business plan is in place.
This funding is for an entrepreneur, or a group of entrepreneurs, who have an established idea and need the funding and guidance to put this into action. You will have tuition in the fundamentals of business as well as more specific instruction relating to your project from a mentor that is an expert in the field you are going into.
The idea can be anything you like, but we are particularly interested in businesses that focus on inequality, the impact of Coronavirus, or environmental causes. The business needs to be demonstrably sustainable.
We are excited to hear your ideas. An example of a business plan we want to fund might be an outreach music business increasing access to classical music for young people from a disadvantaged background, or a story book series designed to reconnect young people with nature and the environment. Your ideas may be social enterprise based, or focused on the environment. They could be either for profit or not-for-profit, it’s completely your choice.
The Competition
We are asking you for a video, no longer than five minutes, telling us why we should fund your project. This applies for both the Entrepreneur Fund and the Dare2Dream prize.
The video should include:
- Who you are - what’s your background, what are your inspirations?
- The idea - what do you hope to achieve?
- How you will use the funding - For the entrepreneurs fund, we need a breakdown of where you would invest the £10,000 and how you are going to generate returns to sustain the business.
- How you will benefit from the mentorship - The mentorship only applies to the entrepreneurs fund, you need to tell us how you will work with the mentor to further your business, and how you will use their expertise to sustainably grow and maintain your company.
- How your business is sustainable - As Blueprints is part of the Fair Earth Foundation, we are keen to fund projects that have positive impacts on the environment. You will need to detail how you plan to ensure that your business or creative idea will be sustainable.
The videos will be shortlisted, and the final five from each category (including the Dare2Dream competition finalists) will be showcased at the London Eco Film Festival (The LEFF) to be held in November 2021! We encourage submissions for our virtual event at the end of March 2021 but the winner will only receive the prize after our November 2021 event. The winner will be decided based upon audience votes, along with the suitability of the project in relation to our mission as a charitable foundation.
For the entrepreneurs fund, as well as showing your business plan at the London Eco Film Festival, there will be a separate viewing for entrepreneurs prior. This means potential mentors and future investors may be watching your idea. If your video truly inspires, there may be options for extra funding from the investors.
The deadline for applying is on 1st November 2021, at Midnight.
The Prize
We are funding one entrepreneur to carry out their business plan, with the help of a mentor who is an expert in the field. The winner will receive £10,000.
The winner will work with their mentor to develop on their existing business plan and receive the grant once a robust business plan is in place.
This funding is for an entrepreneur, or a group of entrepreneurs, who have an established idea and need the funding and guidance to put this into action. You will have tuition in the fundamentals of business as well as more specific instruction relating to your project from a mentor that is an expert in the field you are going into.
The idea can be anything you like, but we are particularly interested in businesses that focus on inequality, the impact of Coronavirus, or environmental causes. The business needs to be demonstrably sustainable.
2. Dare2Dream Fund
For the Dare2Dream prize, we are looking to help you ‘publish’ your work in the most suitable format for the medium you are using. This could be a book or a film, a CD or photo exhibition. The aim is to bring your work to the public’s attention. Who knows where this might lead!!?
We are looking for inspiring and creative ideas to turn into a reality. It may be a book, a film, a photographic exhibition or a piece of visual art. Unlike the entrepreneurs fund, the prize is specific to your project and tailored to what each project needs most to succeed. It will help you make a public statement and, hopefully, kick-start a lifetime adventure. If you have something to say, we want to listen.
We are especially interested in funding ideas that focus on specific themes, such as the impact of Coronavirus on everyday lives, environmental causes, art & nature, poverty, disadvantage, discrimination and human rights but any and all ideas are accepted.
The passion, importance and clarity behind your message is what counts.
We are looking for inspiring and creative ideas to turn into a reality. It may be a book, a film, a photographic exhibition or a piece of visual art. Unlike the entrepreneurs fund, the prize is specific to your project and tailored to what each project needs most to succeed. It will help you make a public statement and, hopefully, kick-start a lifetime adventure. If you have something to say, we want to listen.
We are especially interested in funding ideas that focus on specific themes, such as the impact of Coronavirus on everyday lives, environmental causes, art & nature, poverty, disadvantage, discrimination and human rights but any and all ideas are accepted.
The passion, importance and clarity behind your message is what counts.
Dare2Dream Prize Categories:
photography
‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ - Fred R. Barnard.
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The most influential photo ever taken is arguably ‘The Terror of War’, by Nick Ut. Taken in Vietnam. It depicts 9 -year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc running from napalm, a gelling agent mixed with petroleum, which had been dropped by the US army on her village. The raw emotion and impact of the photograph evokes feeling to any viewer.
As a photographer, you have the power to share what you’ve seen and where you’ve been, to preserve moments and to provoke change with images. To do this, we could fund a photography trip to Tenerife in order to develop your skills, or facilitate a trip elsewhere in the world for you to explore a subject matter of particular interest. The prize will also include a photography exhibition at the London Eco Film Festival, covering all print costs. To apply, send us a short video explaining who you are, what your idea is, and why we should fund your idea. You should tell us about the message you wish to convey and why you believe it is important. The entry should also include some sample pictures. |
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filmmaking
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Whether fictional or a documentary, filmmaking is a powerful way to promote a message to a wide range of audiences. Films have the power to make people laugh, cry or even scream and so it is important that they are shared.
Young filmmakers are encouraged to submit applications detailing what their film will be about, what message you are trying to get across and how you are going to do it. We need details of where the filming will ideally take place, and how long you hope the final film to be. The final film, once edited, will be shown at the London Eco Film Festival to an audience in the thousands and will be eligible for our prestigious film awards. This opportunity has the potential to open many doors for your future in filmmaking, and give you a platform to show your talent. We are looking forward to hearing what you have to say. |
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story telling
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Aesop was a Greek slave storyteller whose messages and lessons have far outlived him, and have been read to children across the globe. For adults and children alike, giving a message in the form of a story increases its staying power, and is much more likely to be remembered.
The story can be serious, thought provoking or even comical. It should have a memorable message, and should not be longer than 5 pages of A4. We want to pair young writers and illustrators to create inspiring stories together, and so the winner will be paired with the winning illustrator. The opportunity to publish a story is every writer’s dream, and this is what we are offering to the author. Our initial offering is for 1000 copies, 50% of the profits will go to the author and illustrator, and 50% will go to the Fair Earth Foundations Global Citizenship programme. |
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illustration
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Illustration is a visual explanation or interpretation of a text, and enables the message to come to life and become much more powerful.
We are looking for a creative illustrator to collaborate with the winner of the storytelling section. To enter, we are looking for illustrations along one of three themes:
You should submit roughly five illustrations in your own unique style. You may interpret the three themes as closely or as loosely as you wish, but aim to show the emotion through the illustration as if the drawing were to tell a story on its own. The winner will be selected based upon these five images and paired with the winning story to create a book that will then be published. Unlike the entries in the other creative categories, you do not need to submit a video alongside your illustrations. |
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Graphic Design
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For any aspiring graphic designer, we are holding a logo competition for five areas within the Fair Earth Foundation:
There will be a prize of £500 for any logo adopted. |
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music
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Music in itself is another language, a universal way of communicating - without it, our world would be a very different place. We use music to escape reality or to communicate what words can’t.
We are looking for a young musician with big ideas. You might be a composer of your own pieces or cover other music, but we want to see your unique style and the passion you bring. We are particularly interested in music from underrepresented cultures to educate the public on different sounds. Your idea does not necessarily have to be performance related, for example, if you wanted to set up a community orchestra, or a small teaching school, we’d love to hear from you. To submit an entry, create a short video explaining who you are, what your idea is and how you would carry it out. If you are a performer, include a short clip of you playing/singing. The prize will be the facilitation of your idea, so include information about what it is that you need. This may mean studio time, access to networks and musicians or funding to help access to music. The performers will receive time in a professional recording studio, a CD and help promoting the recording. We would also want you to perform at TheLEFF to a worldwide audience. |
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poetry and the spoken word
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Poetry and the spoken word is another form of expression, and shows just how powerful words can be. Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’ fights against racism, and was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement from 1954-1968. The anger behind the words is evident and power in the poem left impressions on many minds even years on.
We are looking to fund one young poet or speaker to share their message with the world. We are particularly interested in poets writing about environmental issues, COVID-19, or the inequality we still face today. We will look favourably towards poems that resonate with the Foundation’s values: determination, inspiration, passion. The message needs to be clear, and the poet should aim to provoke lasting thought. The prize for the winner of this category is for a collection of poems or thoughts to be published and to have the opportunity to read your work to a live and global audience at the London Eco Film Festival (LEFF). |
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