Aspex needs your vote to win £50,000 National Lottery Funding

The Gallery’s project, Welcome, will support members of Portsmouth’s refugee and asylum seeker
community through art, developing new skills, English language capability, as well as confidence and self-esteem, whilst becoming part of the wider local community.

The Gallery is one of five groups in the ITV Meridian West region in the running for a share of up to £150,000 of funding.

Now in its thirteenth year, the Big Lottery Fund, ITV and The National Lottery are teaming up to give the public a chance to decide how National Lottery funding should be put to good use in their local area.

Designed to celebrate some of the incredible projects the Big Lottery Fund has supported over the past year, 95 community-based schemes are now shortlisted across the UK. In each region, the three with the most public votes will receive grants of up to £50,000. This will help them to continue their work to improve local people’s lives. The entire amount up for grabs across the UK is a life-changing £3 million.

On Thursday 19 April, Aspex will showcase its project, Welcome on ITV Meridian West at 6:00pm. To be in with a chance of winning, Aspex is calling on viewers to support its bid. Voting opens at 9:00am on Monday 16 April at www.thepeoplesprojects.org.uk.

Joanne Bushnell, Director of Aspex, said: “We believe that art can change lives and that everyone has the right to access it. Aspex has a track record of working with a diverse range of people, from toddlers through to people with dementia.

"We now need public support to extend this work to more members of our community. A single vote can change lives.”

Joe Ferns, UK Funding Director of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “As the largest funder of community activity in the UK, we are proud to support grassroots groups that are using the vision, determination and drive of local people to strengthen communities. The
People’s Projects showcases the best of these and is a chance for you to have your say on how
National Lottery funding can benefit your local community.”

Since 2005, around £39 million has been awarded through the Big Lottery Fund, National Lottery and ITV/STV partnership to 865 Good Causes across the UK.

Voting closes at midday on Monday 30 April 2018. People can vote once per region and will need an email address to vote.

You can join the conversation via social media by using the hashtag #RefugeesWelcome and #PeoplesProjects.