www.firststory.org.uk
@FirstStory
Arts Council England awards First Story £600,000
grant
6 October 2015: First Story is delighted to announce it has been awarded a
Creative Writing in Schools grant for £600,000 to expand its national creative
writing programme in the North and the South West over the next three years.
Using the Arts Council Grant, First Story will serve 1,500 young people directly in the
North and the South West, and engage an additional 10,000 young people in other activities
including anthology launch events, creative writing events in universities and museums,
competitions and national writing initiatives. First Story will publish 76 anthologies of
students’ writing and run 140 professional development sessions for teachers and writers,
providing 4,730 hours of training, and 190 pupils will participate in an Arvon residential
week.
The grant enables First Story to reach thousands of pupils across England to engage them in
creative writing by:
- extending the current programme of creative writing residencies, placing acclaimed
writers to run 70 residencies in secondary schools serving low-income communities
across the North and South West;
- testing new programme models to engage even more schools in our regions;
- launching a National Writing Day, aimed at every school-aged child, to boost the
profile of creative writing in the national education agenda;
- working in partnership with organisations across the regions to share expertise,
collaborate on writing events and initiatives, and signpost opportunities for pupils to
develop their talents and for teachers and writers to enhance their practice through
Continuing Professional Development.
First Story is one of only two organisations to be awarded Arts Council England’s major
Creative Writing in Schools grant. This funding comes at an exciting time in First Story’s
development, enabling the charity to have a truly national reach and with major partners in
the charitable, arts and business fields including Teach First, Brunswick Group, Frontier
Economics, Arvon, Royal Society of Literature, CapeUK, RIO, Hull UK City of Culture,
Literature Works and LKMco.
Registered Charity No: 1122939
First Story, Omnibus Business Centre,
38-41 North Road, London N7 9DP
www.firststory.org.uk
@FirstStory
William Fiennes, author of The Music Room and The Snow Geese and co-founder
of First Story said
“We are delighted to receive this grant from Arts Council England. This funding will allow
First Story to reach more young people across the North and South West, celebrating and
promoting creative writing in schools serving low-income communities across those regions.
We know that writing is both a source of pleasure and a source of power, and this grant
represents a wonderful opportunity to spread that message.”
Emily Webb, Head of Programmes at First Story said
“Our long-term aim is to enable every child in England to have access to creative writing.
This fund will help us to test new programme models so that we can reach as many schools
across England as possible with the resources at our disposal. It also enables us to work
with a range of national and regional partners to achieve this aim. The fund announcement
marks the beginning of an exciting year for First Story with the launch of our National
Writing Competition and a new national creative writing initiative aimed at every school-age
child.”
Antonia Byatt, Director of Literature, Arts Council England, said
“We are delighted to be making these awards to enable young people to experience high
quality cultural education. The ability to write well creatively is an essential tool in
expressing ourselves and making sense of the world. These grants not only will give young
people the benefit of working alongside professional writers but they will allow the
recipients to test models that can.be rolled out across the nation.”
For media enquiries or to organise a visit to a First Story school: call Jay Bhadricha on
0207 481 7775 or email jay.bhadricha@firststory.org.uk.
Notes to editors:
First Story
First Story changes lives through writing. We believe that writing can transform lives, and that there is dignity
and power in every young person’s story.
First Story brings talented, professional writers into secondary schools serving low-income communities to
work with teachers and students to foster creativity and communication skills.
By helping students find their voices through intensive, fun programmes, First Story raises aspirations and gives
students the skills and confidence to achieve them.
First Story arranges and pays for residencies across the country in which acclaimed writers run creativewriting workshops for students. Each writer-in-residence leads weekly, after-school workshops for a group of
up to twenty-one students, and First Story publishes the students’ writing in a professionally produced
anthology launched at a public event for each school. They also run a host of additional activities including an
annual Young Writers’ Festival for over 800 students, regional creative writing events, training for teachers
and writers and a National Writing Competition, and a number of students are selected for fellowships to
participate in Arvon writing residentials.
Registered Charity No: 1122939
First Story, Omnibus Business Centre,
38-41 North Road, London N7 9DP
www.firststory.org.uk
@FirstStory
We focus on schools in which more than 50% of pupils are considered deprived according to the Income
Deprivation Affecting Children Index and/or GCSE results fall in the lowest third of the national distribution.
Today, First Story is running creative-writing residencies in 50 schools across the East Midlands,
Gloucestershire, London, Oxfordshire and West Yorkshire.
Arts Council England
Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s
lives. We support a range of activities across the arts, museums and libraries – from theatre to digital art,
reading to dance, music to literature, and crafts to collections. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us
together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. Between 2015
and 2018, we plan to invest £1.1 billion of public money from government and an estimated £700 million from
the National Lottery to help create these experiences for as many people as possible across the country.
www.artscouncil.org.uk
Philip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials Trilogy) said:
“First Story is a very exciting idea. Having been a teacher myself, I know how writing – real writing, not the
artificial exercises produced for tests and examinations – can liberate and strengthen young people’s sense of
themselves as almost nothing else can. I’m all in favour of anything that can help that happen, and First Story is
a very good starting point.”
Zadie Smith (winner of the Orange Prize for fiction and author of White Teeth) said:
“First Story is an inspiring initiative. Having attended a school with a lot of talented kids who didn't always have
the opportunity to express that talent, I know what it would have meant to us to have real-life writers
dropping by and taking our stories seriously. And what an opportunity for writers, too, to meet some of the
most creative and enthusiastic young people in this country! It's a joyful project that deserves as much support
as we can give it.”
Mark Haddon (author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) said:
“First Story is a fantastic idea. Creative writing can change people's lives: I've seen it happen. It's more than
learning a skill. It's about learning that you, your family, your culture and your view of the world are rich and
interesting and important, whoever you happen to be. Teenagers are under increasing pressure to tailor their
work to exams, and to value themselves in terms of the results. First Story offers young people something else
a chance to find their voices.”
William Fiennes (author of best-seller The Music Room and co-founder of First Story) said:
“In writing workshops there aren’t any exams or grades. There’s an atmosphere of mutual support and
encouragement. The shyest students grow in confidence when the whole group falls silent to listen to them
read. It’s as if they’ve at last found a space in which they can be heard. For many schoolchildren, an
opportunity like that could make all the difference.”
Katie Waldegrave (author of The Poets’ Daughters and co-founder of First Story) said:
“First Story gives a voice to young people whose stories might not otherwise be heard. It uses creativity to
build students’ self-esteem and self-confidence at a time in their lives when the curriculum in centred almost
exclusively on exams.”
Registered Charity No: 1122939
First Story, Omnibus Business Centre,
38-41 North Road, London N7 9DP
www.firststory.org.uk
@FirstStory
Azfa, First Story alumna said:
“First Story has changed my life. It has transformed me from an insecure, lost, quiet, sixteen-year-old
refugee, completely embarrassed about every aspect of her identity, to a confident, defiant,
ambitious, proud Scottish-African Muslim woman, who is determined to shape her future, and make
life better for those around her. It has made me realise that I am significant, and that my voice is
important in this world.”
Advisory Board: Andrew Adonis, Julian Barnes, Jamie Byng, Alex Clark, Julia Cleverdon, Andrew Cowan,
Jonathan Dimbleby, Mark Haddon, Simon Jenkins, Derek Johns, Andrew Kidd, Rona Kiley, Chris Patten, Kevin
Prunty, Zadie Smith, William Waldegrave and Brett Wigdortz.
Our Partners:
The Arts Council England grant enables us to work with a host of organisations across the country, including:
Arvon is a national creative writing charity that runs residential courses for individuals, schools and groups in
historic writing houses across the UK.
www.arvon.org
Brunswick is an advisory firm specializing in critical issues and corporate relations.
www.brunswickgroup.com
Cape UK is a non-for-profit organisation placing creativity at the heart of education for the benefit of children
and young people.
www.capeuk.org
Frontier Economics help companies with their market strategies, regulatory reviews and competition inquiries.
www.frontier-economics.com
Hull UK City of Culture works to encourage arts and culture in Hull, to re-establish the city’s reputation as a
gateway that welcomes the world as it embraces some of the biggest issues we face today.
www.hull2017.co.uk
LKMco work across education, youth and policy sectors to help organisations develop and evaluate projects
for young people.
www.lkmco.org
Literature Works is a charity set up to enable and nurture literature development and activity in South West
England
www.literatureworks.org.uk
RIO is a pioneering social enterprise supporting people to build better futures.
www.realideas.org
Royal Society of Literature is a national literary charity that produces a world class programme of events,
connects its fellows with aspiring writers and cultivates and celebrates literary excellence.
www.rsliterature.org
Teach First is an education charity that hopes to end inequality in education by building a community of
exceptional leaders who create change within classrooms, school and communities.
www.teachfirst.org.uk
Registered Charity No: 1122939
First Story, Omnibus Business Centre,
38-41 North Road, London N7 9DP