We’re inviting BPOC residents of Edinburgh to take part in this paid consultation opportunity!
Are you a Black person or a person of colour living in Edinburgh with direct experience of socioeconomic barriers or poverty and racism? Do you want to have your say in helping us build creative programming that builds justice-focused and greener futures in Edinburgh?
We’re looking to connect directly with those living in Edinburgh (defined as all locations within the City of Edinburgh Council area) on how we can create more creative programming and writing opportunities that fit your day-to-day life and lived experiences through The Regenerative Futures Fund.
To apply, complete this form before 16th November 2025.
Our partnership with The Regenerative Futures Fund
Our vision for a thriving Edinburgh is a future where BPOC writers can thrive within the literary sector without barriers.
We are one of 34 organisations participating in The Regenerative Futures Fund, which is a funding initiative that provides funding for 10 years to selected organisations to deliver resources, initiatives, and resources to Edinburgh residents (defined as anyone residing within the City of Edinburgh Council area).
This project takes place across several phases, and we are currently in the Capacity Building Stage where we are talking to residents for their input, gathering information and building up resources and a plan to create a pitch to receive funding.
By securing this long-term funding, we can continue to provide creative opportunities even in the face of funding scarcity in the literary sector, and can co-create experiences with the people who will be directly impacted.
What we hope to learn
- How to make writing more accessible
- Ways to address experiences of poverty
- Provide more creative opportunities
- How to provide more mental health support
- How to incorporate climate justice into our initiatives
- How we can reduce barriers to participation
- How to better centre residents in decision making
How your contributions help us
- Your opinions and insights will be received unfiltered
- Centring lived experiences from own voices
- Highlighting unique challenges from your perspectives
- Helping us shape programming that meets the needs of Edinburgh-based people
- Building community and resilience
- Ensuring more accurate representation
- Co-creating safer spaces for BPOC
Process/Consultations
Sessions will be facilitated by an experienced facilitator, and a member of the SBWN team will be present at the sessions as an observer and note-taker:
- Sessions are expected to run between 24th November and 14th December 2025
- Group session: up to 10 residents sharing in a group space
- 1-to-1s with a session facilitator
- Some sessions will be in-person and some online – you can select your preferences
- If group, online or in-person sessions won’t work for you, we can provide an online form or text document
Your Data and Privacy
Please read our Data Protection and Privacy Notice
How we support you during the consultation
- Honorarium participation payment: £160
- If you are a recipient of any income support or benefits, let us know how we can support you or provide alternatives. However, we encourage you to seek dedicated, independent advice before accepting, for example The Social Change Agency.
- Bursaries for travel (£30 per session), child/care (£30 per session) and data (£8 per session) to help cover participation expenses are available for each session.
- BSL interpretation is available from an interpreter of colour.
- Please add your access requirements during registration.
Eligibility and requirements
You must:
- Be based within the City of Edinburgh Council area
- Be aged 18+
- Identify as Black or Person of Colour or racialised
- Have the lived experience of racism
- Have experience of socioeconomic barriers, for example: low income, poverty, extreme hardship, economic precarity, are working class or come from a working class background, eligibility for school meals, use of food banks, in persistent debt, high school or further education (college) only, first person/generation in your family to go to university, qualifying for income support (benefits or education grants), struggling to cover your bills or ‘make ends meet’.
Optional:
- Interested in reading, writing, telling or listening to poetry or stories
- Come from a Global South community adversely affected by the climate crisis
Selection process
- The form is an expression of interest
- Please select the times you can attend
- Online participants will be placed into groups via random selection
- In-person participants will be randomly selected from aggregations based on their local/nearby areas.
- SBWN will contact you by 21st November 2025.
Who we are
Scottish BPOC Writers Network (SBWN) provides professional development, advocacy, and literary events for BPOC writers in Scotland. We connect these writers with the wider literary sector, partnering with organisations to promote inclusive programming and overcome systemic barriers. Our programmes include writing workshops, performances, publishing, networking, industry Q&As, and community-building. We offer bursaries to address socioeconomic barriers and prioritise accessibility for Deaf, disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent BPOC writers. Our robust Safer Spaces Policy ensures a welcoming environment, empowering diverse literary voices and fostering a more inclusive literary landscape.
About the Regenerative Futures Fund
The Regenerative Futures Fund is a ten-year community fund for Edinburgh that puts decision-making power into the hands of those who are most often excluded. It supports approaches to improve the lives of people living in poverty and experiencing racism, and contribute towards a just green transition, by enabling equity, power-sharing and long-term change.
More info
*BPOC stands for ‘Black people, People of Colour’ and is a self-identifying term. While we use the term BPOC, we acknowledge the limitations of this terminology. At the core of our network is the aim to address and overcome systemic barriers that our members face directly or indirectly based on their ethnic or national identities, race or perceived racial identities, or the colour of their skin as per the Equality Act of 2010. This includes people who identify as Black, brown, people of colour, Global Majority, mixed-race, multiple heritage and/or are from the Global South, and/or are East and South-East Asian, West Asian, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, African-Caribbean, Caribbean, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Indigenous, or First Nations, and diasporas.
**‘Scottish BPOC writer’ includes BPOC writers based in Scotland, Scottish BPOC writers living within or outwith Scotland, and BPOC writers with strong links to Scotland, for example, if they lived in Scotland for a number of years and still maintain regular contact with people in Scotland.