This partnership between BEMIS and Dandelion has been developed to support and celebrate community groups and organisations who want to start growing their own food across Scotland, and to create opportunities for diverse communities across Scotland to take part in the Dandelion Harvest Festivals in September.

Grants of up to £2,000 are available for community groups and non-profit organisations looking to get started with growing their own food, and celebrating the results with a Harvest Festival.

If your group is already growing food, then you can apply to the Dandelion Harvest Festival Fund at dandelion.scot/opportunities

About Dandelion

Dandelion is an ambitious new creative project commissioned by EventScotland and funded by Scottish Government as part of Unboxed (www.unboxed2022.co.uk). Dandelion aims to demonstrate the power of collective action in the largest ‘grow your own’ project of modern times; inviting people all over the country to get growing, sharing and celebrating sustainable food, music, and ideas, and evidencing the small steps each of us can take to make a big difference.

Driven by the concept of ‘Sow, Grow, Share’, Dandelion takes a unique approach to community growing. It is bringing together growers, artists, makers, scientists, performers and technologists to present events and programmes across Scotland– from its remotest islands to the centres of its great cities – as well as online through films and digital activities.

The Dandelion programme follows the arc of the growing season, from April to September 2022, and will culminate in hundreds of Harvest Festivals across Scotland. These will take place in the Dandelion Unexpected Gardens, in school playgrounds and in community spaces led by diverse community groups and organisations across Scotland; reimagining a cultural celebration of harvest for the 21st century. Find out more about the project at www.dandelion.scot.

Objectives

This BEMIS and Dandelion small grants fund is an innovative new initiative inviting people all over the country to start growing, sharing, and celebrating food, music, and ideas, in and with their communities.

Our aim is to provide this opportunity to diverse communities throughout Scotland to get involved in the Dandelion project by:

• Organising their own cultural harvest events to celebrate local community growing in creative ways, in September 2022
• Growing their own food to be shared at these harvest festival events
• Engaging new participants and volunteers with local community food growing

Who can apply?

• This fund is open to constituted charitable and non-profit organisations and community groups in Scotland.
• You will need to have a bank account in the organisation’s name.
• This fund is to support groups who are not currently growing their own food but would like to take their first steps into doing so.
  • If your group is already growing food, then you can apply to the Dandelion Harvest Festival Fund at dandelion.scot/opportunities

Apply

More information is available in the grant guidelines. Please read the full guidelines before submitting an application.

The guidelines and application form can be downloaded below:

Guidelines

Application Form

The application form is available in Word (.docx) and PDF formats. Please use whichever is most convenient.

Submit

Please submit completed application forms to dandelion@bemis.org.uk

The deadline for applications is Friday 20th May 2022.