Summer in Sutton 2026

Practitioner Brief

Call for Performing & Creative Arts Facilitators, Sports Facilitators, Authors, Performers, and Creative Health Practitioners

London Borough of Sutton Cultural Services are looking for local practitioners for their summer 2026 children’s programme: Summer in Sutton.

Summer in Sutton 2026 will see us provide free and low cost opportunities for primary school aged children before and during the 2026 summer holidays. Events will take place across the London Borough of Sutton’s Cultural Services venues and outreach venues across the borough.

The programmes aims are:

• To support the physical and mental wellbeing of children in Sutton.
• To encourage a love of reading among children in Sutton.

What’s on offer:

• 7 individual commissions for sports facilitators, to deliver an activity during the course of the programme.
• 15 individual commissions for performing and creative arts facilitators, to deliver an activity during the course of the programme.
• £350 per commission, inclusive of practitioner fee, workshop running costs session development and contribution to programme promotion and evaluation.

All commissioned sessions must have a wellbeing focus and this must be outlined in your application. Activities that feature or are inspired by a children’s book will be prioritised. Applications from practitioners local to the London Borough of Sutton will be prioritised. For performing and creative arts sessions, we are particularly welcoming applications from members of Arts Network Sutton.

Sessions must run for a minimum of 45 minutes, and and maximum of 2 hours.

We will consider multi-session ideas, at the rate of £350 per session.

Where: London Borough of Sutton, various locations.

London Borough of Sutton Cultural Services will make our spaces available, free of charge, for facilitators. Please note, our venues vary in size. We are also open to your suggestions regarding where you would like your activity to take place. Please confirm predicted costs of space hire if suggesting a space outside of our buildings. Some activities will be required to take place in the borough’s identified areas of deprivation and applications for activities in these areas will be prioritised.

Timeframe:

All commissions to be awarded by late March 2026.

Public events to be delivered during the 2026 summer holidays (late July - late August). Please outline your availability during this timeframe in your application.

Application process: The application window for these commissions will open on Wednesday 21st January 2026, and close on Friday 27th February 2026. Commissions will be assessed on a 0-5 scoring system, by a panel of staff from London Borough of Sutton Cultural Services and Public Health, and both adult and youth volunteers. Commissions will be awarded to the 22 applicants that score the highest. Please contact us if you would like to discuss your ideas before submitting your application.

Inspiration, topics, subject matter and outputs for these commissions need to connect to ways to wellbeing, and should inspire participating children to use the arts, creativity, physical activity and reading to support their wellbeing.

Some examples of this could include:

• A short theatrical adaptation of a well loved children’s book that tackles themes of navigating emotions, or promotes ways to wellbeing.
• A music, dance or drama workshop inspired by the wellbeing theme, or by an existing children’s book.
• A creative writing workshop that uses the theme of wellbeing, or an existing children’s book to inspire poetry, stories or character diary entries.
• A visual arts or design workshop in which children are asked to create work inspired by their interests, or a popular children’s book.
• A media based workshop, in which children are asked to produce photography, film or radio / podcasts based on the theme.
• A sports or physical activity that is either inspired by a children’s book, or that showcases the activity as a tool for health and wellbeing, inspiring children to engage in physical activity beyond the initial session.

The summer programme will run alongside our Summer in Sutton Reading and Activities Challenge and participating children will be asked to sign up to the challenge.

Expectation and Outputs

We are seeking local practitioners who can:

• Commit to the timeframe and deliver the brief.
• Develop an activity or engagement event based on the project’s themes. This could be in any artform or physical activity.
• Seek relevant copyright if working from an existing book, or produce work outside of copyright restrictions.
• Provide copy and supporting materials for social media and promotions.
• Collect evaluation from attendees (evaluation criteria provided by London Borough of Sutton).
• Demonstrate their proposal has a strong connection to promoting wellbeing in children, or to promoting reading for pleasure.
• Demonstrate how the needs of SEND audiences / participants have been considered in the design of your proposal. Demonstrate how you have considered Sutton’s diverse communities in your proposal. Demonstrate how you have considered environmental responsibility and responded to the London Borough of Sutton’s Environmental Strategy in your proposal, for example, you could use recycled materials for craft based events.
• Provide a risk assessment and relevant insurance documents before carrying out your sessions.
• Be able to run the event independently at the venue, without the presence of the venue team.

How to Apply

All those wishing to apply for funding to develop and deliver their Summer in Sutton 2026 proposal must complete the application form and checklist, ‘Application - Summer in Sutton 2026’ , which requests the following information:

1. A written or verbal description of your work on a website, in articles or on social media platforms (instagram, X etc.), with reference, where possible, to experience delivering public activities or services. If you would prefer not to share online links please provide a PDF document with visual or written examples of your work - no more than 10mb.

2. A supporting statement (500-1000 words, or 5 minutes film or voice recording), which includes:

a) An outline of your interest in taking up this project, and what you hope to achieve from the project

b) Details of how your project meets the brief, expectations and outputs. Please include details of your business or charity registration if you have it but this is not mandatory.

Completed forms along with the above information should be emailed to: arts@sutton.gov.uk. Please mark your submission “Proposal for Summer in Sutton 2026’’ .

Applications close on 27th February 2026, 11.59pm.

Summer in Sutton 2026 is funded by:

• London Borough of Sutton’s Neighbourhood Fund
• London Borough of Sutton’s Public Health and Wellbeing Directorate
• LibraryOn using public funding by Arts Council England