Almost a year ago, I attended the launch of a project called MELD. Organised by UCLAN in Preston and Sheffield-based Just.b, it called upon journalists and designers to pitch creative ideas with a view to developing them further at workshops.

This year, Just.b returns with its Mapping Creativity project and another invitation to pitch, this time with four awards of £1,000 and one of £25,000 up for grabs:

Manchester Beacon aims to commission an interactive project that drives Manchester’s collective creativity. The commissioned project will use disruptive, open source or social technologies to aggregate and maximise Manchester’s resources. It will catalyse, facilitate and forge links between disconnected communities through a series of physical and virtual activities. It will facilitate better communication between two or more social groups and provide tools to visualise this interaction.

The project will be co-designed with its users and have the potential to live on after the commissioned project is over. The winning project will be supported, not driven, by technology.

The deadline for submissions was last Friday and the b.TWEEN website has now been updated with around 40 ’seed ideas’. It’s worth taking some time to browse the entries and see what some of Manchester’s creative minds are coming up with. These four are of particular interest to me:

• People’s Voice Media - a collaboration between local artists and community reporters
• Arc Space - a cluster of reconditioned computers based in Hulme
• Beyond the Wall - a democratic music scene system, presented by Band on the Wall
• Manchester Underground - a ‘participatory mobile phone film game’

Visitors are invited to vote for their favourite ideas in order to see them developed further.