We are delighted that our Comedy in the Community programme has again been awarded funding from Medway Council in Year 3 of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to support initiatives that foster and develop pride in place across Medway.
We will provide a series of in person Stand Up to Stand Out workshops and open mic events, a virtual Confidence Crash Course and another headline How to Have Fun at Work event showcasing brilliant local talent. All our events are designed to empower leaders across Medway’s voluntary and business sectors and encourage the support of all genders, ensuring more diverse role models are visible within our local communities.
While we acknowledge that women are the backbone of many communities such as in the running of charities, local authority services, arts organisations and more, the importance of male allies will be a focus this time around. Our objective is to demonstrate that all contributions within a community are valued, encourage workplace confidence and create emotionally accessible environments with humour and having fun at work as an essential component.
The first Comedy in the Community programme was piloted in 2023 in partnership with local organisations including the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Women in Business North Kent & Medway and Medway Champions. Our programme earlier this year was fully funded by UKSPF Year 2 featuring workshops to build confidence, improve communication skills and engender leadership. This enabled us to expand our activities and reach a wider and more diverse cohort of participants in person and online.
As an organisation Funny Women is best known for developing and supporting female and non-binary creative talent both within the entertainment and live events sector. We also run comedy skills workshops to support people to grow in confidence for volunteering, community leadership and workplace contexts. We provide training, coaching and corporate event services under our ‘sister’ brand, HERlarious.
Comedy in the Community is a tailored version of Funny Women’s established, corporate services featuring Stand Up to Stand Out workshops and How to have Fun At Work events. We have worked with large companies and organisations from the business and creative sectors including NatWest, Canada Life, JP Morgan, LinkedIn, Airbandb and Grey London.
‘It’s an honour for us to receive funding again to serve our local community here in Medway,’ says Funny Women founder Lynne Parker. ‘As with this year, Comedy in the Community will be run in partnership with local groups and organisations to deliver a programme that improves confidence and wellbeing and supports a broader diversity agenda within arts and culture nationally.
‘We want to encourage participants to step into leadership roles and increase their contribution within Medway based organisations and local community initiatives. We are also building a strong team of creative practitioners to work with us on similar programmes nationally.’
More than £825,000 has been allocated to 56 projects across Medway to make a difference by supporting projects that focus on the enhancement of local community infrastructure, support the growth of local community groups, aid the development of projects that encourage visitors to the area, and target the improvement of training, skills and employment opportunities in Medway.
Comedy in the Community, described as ‘a hugely impactful and exceptionally well-received programme’ and ‘a positive influence across Medway’ has received £14,100 following our application. In UKSPF Year 3 we will build on the successful foundation we established with support during Year 2.
Cllr Harinder Mahil, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic and Social Regeneration and Inward Investment, said: ‘It is absolutely fantastic to be able to award the UKSPF funding to so many fantastic initiatives. So many brilliant projects have benefited from this funding over the last three years, and I am really excited to see the positive influence these initiatives are having across the wider Medway community.’
The UKSPF aims to improve pride in place and increase opportunities for all across the UK by investing in communities and place, supporting local businesses, and improving training, skills and employment opportunities.
Read more about Year 3 funding here and learn more about Medway’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund here.
