Peiwen Legacy Fund

What is the Peiwen Legacy Fund?

The Peiwen Legacy Fund is a low-barrier, flexible financial resource to honour our friend and fellow organiser, Peiwen.

Our wonderful friend and besea.n core team member, Peiwen Tian, left an incredible legacy when she passed away in 2024. She lived by the powerful motto: “Don’t let your dreams be dreams.”

In Peiwen’s spirit of care, joy and grassroots solidarity, the fund is designed to be simple and accessible — with minimal paperwork and no complex requirements.

We hope to be able to offer the fund as a permanent feature for every ESEA Heritage Month, as a means of distributing unrestricted cash to grassroots organisations and individuals planning community-building events during the month of September. Whether you're putting on a small gathering, a creative workshop, or a local celebration — we want to support you.

Planning an event?

If you’re planning an event, you can apply with the form opposite for a grant to support your event costs between £50-£500 - whether it’s refreshments, venue hire, staff wage, or accessiblity measures anything else that makes your dream a reality. All we ask is that you apply for what you truly need, so we can support as many events as possible.

Events criteria

Events must be part of the official ESEA Heritage Month programme,

The event needs to be submitted via the official registration form by 1 August 2025. Please note that there is a separate deadline for the funding application (see below).

Organisers must take reasonable measures to make events accessible wherever possible.

Accessibility guide
Here is a guide on getting started with accessibility for event planning.

Organisers must adhere to our Community Agreement outlined at the bottom of this page.

Do I need to share a report with you of our event?

Organisers will not need to complete a detailed report after the event with a breakdown of how funds were spent, but they will be required to complete a simple form after the event with information on the number of attendees and demographics served, to inform how successful our grant programme is!

Who can apply?

This application can be made by:

Incorporated or unincorporated organisation, collective or individual.
Your event is line with at least one of our core pillars; educate, embrace and empower.
You have an annual turnover of less than £100,000 in the previous financial year.
Each organisation/individual may only apply for one grant per year.
All successful applicants must have a UK bank account for funds to be deposited into.

When?

Application deadline: 11.59pm on Monday 30 June 2025

Application announcements: w/c Monday 21 July 2025

Grants administered from: w/c 4 August 2025

How?

To apply for one of our grants please complete our short form included on this page.

Please submit any queries to hello@besean.co.uk and ensure that you include ‘Peiwen Legacy Fund’ in the subject line. Note that we will not accept any applications via email.

Application Form

Your name

First Name

Last Name

Organiser's name

This can be your name or an organisation name.

Event description

Please let us know more about your event and what attendees can expect, and which core pillar(s) your event relates to.

How will you spend the funds?

This list doesn't need to be exhaustive, but please let us know how you intend to spend the grant if you are successful.

Event location

We don't need a specific venue, we just want to know the region it will be held in (or if it is online!)

Community agreement

All events that are not listed as besea.n events are arranged and managed by the organisation or individual listed as ‘organiser’. besea.n holds no responsibility for the event and the responsibility remains with the organiser. Please ensure all events have appropriate risk assessments, insurance and the content is suitable.

All events must be carried out in line with our Safer Spaces Policy and our Safeguarding Adults Policy. If your event is designed to include children and minors, you must ensure there is a safeguarding policy in place for under 18s.

Any breach of our Community Agreement or grant requirements may result in funds being withheld or requiring repayment to besea.n.

A dedication to Peiwen
11 February 1995 - 10 July 2024

Peiwen, we will always remember you as someone who exuded loving care and positivity towards all those you met. Your sense of humour and sharp observations about the UK, after moving here at the age of 16, made us laugh. You’re right, Peiwen, how does the country that pioneered the industrial revolution still use a separate hot and cold tap system?!

In early 2022, you began volunteering for us, doing the critical work of project managing our website, making sure articles about ESEA experiences were checked, uploaded and shared for all to read. By spring of the same year, we were grateful to welcome you as a fully-fledged core team member. You wrote grant applications and helped us to gain funding for ESEAHM23. Without this, we would not have had the resources to create our flagship events that brought together so many people.

You co-organised our Storytelling evening in 2023, creating a space that embodied who we are as besea.n. Through your thoughtfulness, perseverance and love of good food, you enabled us to share a night feeling uplifted and eating copious amounts of pandan cake.

As an advocate for social and climate justice, you continually gave your time and knowledge to make this world a better place. More than this, you were our friend, a light that never failed us. Your calm and understanding nature always helped us to see the bigger picture when we sometimes felt hopeless. A Jay Chou superfan with an adventurous spirit, you took every opportunity to live life fully. Thank you for every memory you gave us, thank you for who you were.

We love you and we miss you ❤️