Bursary Policy

To help as many people as possible benefit from our work, Writing West Midlands can offer Free Tickets (Bursaries) for our events and activities. These include: 

• Spark Young Writers Groups 
• Workshops & Short Courses 
• National Writers Conference 
• Birmingham Literature Festival Events & Activities 

Free Tickets are funded by donations from Writing West Midlands’ staff, Trustees and Patrons and from individual writers and from many other individuals who want to support our work.  

 
Eligibility 

We can only give Free Tickets to you if you Work, Live or Study in the West Midlands region. This region includes these local authority areas:  
 
Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Herefordshire, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, Telford & Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire 

We don’t need any official documents or financial proof, but we would need to know that you are in one of these categories:  

• You are receiving some form of Government assistance, for example Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Working Tax Credits or Pension Credit, 

or 

• If you are a student, you are benefiting from financial support from your university or college, 
   

or 

• If you are applying for a child, the child is eligible for Pupil Premium or Free School Meals, or the child’s family receives Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Working Tax Credits or Pension Credit, 

or  

• If you are self-employed, you can give information confirming that your household income is less than £17K per year or that there are other reasons why you cannot afford to pay. 

 

How to get Free Tickets  

If you need Free Tickets for one of our Spark Young Writers Groups or other events and activities for children and young people, please tell us that you qualify for a free place during the registration process . See Spark Young Writers website for details of all our groups.   

 

If you need Free Tickets for the Birmingham Literature Festival, the National Writers Conference, our Workshops & Short Courses or our other work, please send us a short note about your situation. Please confirm that you Live, Work or Study in the West Midlands and tell us your briefly about your financial situation (for instance, if you receive financial support). We don’t need any official documents or financial proof.  
 

Please send this note to info@writingwestmidlands.org as soon as possible. Our events and activities often sell out, and we can only offer Free Tickets if tickets are available.  

We will let you know as soon as possible if you are eligible for a Free Ticket and if tickets are still available.  

We will never share your information and if we are able to give you a Free Ticket we don’t tell anyone that this is the case – you will simply be one of many people enjoying and benefitting from our events and activities.  

If you have any questions about Free Tickets, please e-mail us on info@writingwestmidlands.org.