2024 Dying Matters Community Grants projects announced

For the first time, hospices were able to apply to the community grants programme in partnership with a charity, community group or arts organisation. This change in direction aims to support relationships between hospices and underserved groups, as well improve the sustainability and impact of the projects themselves.

We received 43 applications and are thrilled to introduce you to the five successful projects. 

St Clare Hospice in Essex have partnered with the vibrant arts hub, Parndon Mill, to deliver a series of workshops around death and grief with minoritised communities. 

The Parndon Mill community consists of a range of artists from painters, musicians, stone masons and embroiderers. These artists will use their creative specialisms to produce a set of ‘something-for-everyone’ art workshops, informed by St Clare Hospice, and with hospice staff present during the sessions.

The project will culminate in a public exhibition at Pardon Mill.

Springhill Hospice, in Rochdale, have partnered with Women’s Welfare Association and Kashmiri Youth Project to deliver Arabic calligraphy workshops around death and grief with Muslim communities.

Nadia Khan, Springhill Hospice, commented, “Springhill Hospice is delighted to have been awarded a Dying Matters Community Grant, which will enable us to better engage with Muslim communities in Rochdale. This project will allow us to work in a culturally appropriate manner, informed by two experienced community organisations.”

Strathcarron Hospice have partnered with Cumbernauld Action on Care of the Elderly to produce a board game that will enable people to have better conversations about death, future care planning and legacy. The project will work specifically with groups living in poverty, who would be less likely to have had these conversations.

Lee Deane, Strathcarron Hospice, adds, “This project provides an innovative, creative and fun way to broach the challenging subject of death and dying in a way that has been co-designed with the people we hope will use it.”

Exploring attitudes towards death, dying and loss for people experiencing homelessness 

Royal Trinity Hospice, in London, have partnered with St George’s Hostel. Together, they will deliver a project for people experiencing homelessness in Westminster, in co-production with an artist who themselves have lived experience of homelessness.

The project has been designed to be flexible, allowing for the participation of individuals who may otherwise be excluded from projects and activities. It aims to increase levels of trust between the hostel's users and the hospice, which will help Royal Trinity to improve the palliative care outcomes for residents. 

Marie Curie Bradford have partnered with WomenZone to create more equitable support for disadvantaged ethnic minority women facing dying, death and grief in Bradford.

In 2022, WomenZone were awarded a community grant to support Pakistani women living with poverty to openly discuss dying and grief. This resulted in the community organisation establishing their first internal bereavement group. 

However, a major finding from the project was that these women faced multiple social and structural barriers to accessing support, that needed discussion, listening and action beyond WomenZone.

This project builds on the findings from WomenZone’s grant. For the first time it will bring diverse organisations across Bradford’s ‘death system’ to the women, to allow direct discussions around their experiences and network/relationship building. A grassroots artist will help aid the discussions with the use of culturally relevant activities, to make sure everyone involved can get their voice heard. 

Supported by end-of-life services provider, Dignity, the Dying Matters Community Grants Programme funds innovative and creative projects with the aim of starting conversations about death, dying and grief, with communities that we know are least likely to have received such support.

At Dying Matters we believe that by starting the conversation, and breaking down taboos, we can work towards a society that is better equipped to support people through these life changing, but inevitable, experiences. The arts, in all its forms, can play a vital role in creating spaces where these conversations can flourish.