Arts & Culture

Browse our list of funders that specialise in arts and culture

As with any charitable project, it’s worth considering the funders that will fund a wide variety of projects.

This page is updated annually. Spotted an error? Please let us know.

 

Arts Council England

The Arts Council distributes funds from the National Lottery and administers a range of funds, including:

  • Developing your Creative Practice £2,000 to £10,000 for research and development opportunities, building new networks and creating new work (individuals only)
  • Project Grants £1,000 to £100,000 for arts, museums and libraries projects (individuals and organisations)
  • Small Capital Grants £100,000 to £500,000 for buildings and infrastructure (constituted arts and cultural organisations)

Other Arts Council funds come and go; visit www.artscouncil.org.uk for the latest funds.

Foyle Foundation

Foyle Foundation runs various grant schemes for UK registered charities in support of performing and visual arts, including:

  • Main Grants Scheme – Arts Typically in the range of £10,000 to £50,000 for arts projects that “help sustain the arts and support projects that help to deliver your artistic vision”.
  • Small Grants Scheme £1,000 to £10,000 for charities with an annual turnover of less than £150,000.

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation

The arts is one of five themes for this fund, which has awarded grants ranging from £2,000 to £1.5m for charitable projects (but not capital costs) in the UK. Organisations must have a regular turnover of at least £50,000.

Paul Hamlyn Foundation

Grants of up to £400,000 for charities, community organisations, social enterprises and not-for-profit companies active in the arts. Its UK work includes three arts-based themes:

Explore and Test grants of up to £60,000 for up to two years is designed to help explore and test both new approaches. More and Better grants of up to £400,000 for up to four years is intended to help organisations to deliver more effective arts-based learning.

The Foundation also has an Ideas and Pioneers Fund, which offers grants of £10,000 to support individuals and organisations that have unusual or radical ideas to improve the life chances and opportunities of people in the UK.

Garfield Weston Foundation

Themes for this foundation include Arts (for revenue and capital projects) and Heritage. A range of charitable organisations can apply, but not individuals, CICs or local authorities. There is no deadline or maximum award; the average is £40,000.

Trusthouse Charitable Foundation

Grants from £2,000 to £60,000 are available to UK charitable organisations with a total annual income under £500,000, under a range of themes including Arts, Education and Heritage. See the Grants Gallery for examples of successful applications. Core costs, salaries and capital expenditure are all acceptable.

Projects must be based in a rural area (towns, villages and areas with 10,000 or fewer inhabitants) which are classified by the government as being in the most deprived 50%, or in urban areas (more than 10,000 inhabitants) which are classified as being in the most deprived 20%. Click here to check whether your area is eligible.

PRS Foundation – Open Fund for Organisations

Grants of up to £10,000 for new music projects led by promoters, talent development organisations, venues, festivals, curators and large performance groups. Projects must involve the creation, performance and promotion of new music and enable songwriters, composers, or solo artists, bands, producers and performers of all backgrounds to develop creatively and professionally.

Ragdoll Foundation

Grants of up to £50,000 (with most between £5,000 and £20,000) to support the cultural sector’s work with children and young people. Short- and long-term projects are considered. Match funding is required; the Foundation expects to fund between 30% to 80% of total project costs.

UK Theatres Small Grants

Grants up to £5,000 are available to UK theatres run by charities and not-for-profit groups that can clearly demonstrate the value that capital improvements to their theatres would make to their work in local communities. The next deadline is 2 September 2019.

Arts Impact Fund

Unsecured loans of £150,000 to £600,000, repayable over a 3-5 year period, are available to UK arts and cultural organisations with a clear social benefit, to deliver a range of objectives focused around long-term financial sustainability and maximising their impact.

Youth Music

Grants of up to £200,000 are available to non-profit organisations, including schools, which help to deliver Youth Music’s vision, that “Life-changing music-making is available to all children and young people”. Its three funds have varying amounts and requirements – click here for more information.

Music for All – Music in the Community

Grants of around £2,500 are available to community groups and schools that aim to bring musical projects to their local communities. Eligible costs include musical instrument costs, workshops/training and using music to break down barriers. The next deadline is 1 November 2019.

Awards for Young Musicians

Grants of up to £2,000 are available for gifted young musicians aged five to 17 from low-income families, helping them to overcome financial and social barriers in their musical journeys.

Elephant Trust

Grants up to £2,000 for artists and small organisations and galleries, to help them complete projects when frustrated by a lack of funds. The next deadline is 14 October 2019.

Split Infinitive

Grants of £250 to £750 for individuals and organisations for projects that support live and performance arts, and arts education.

Hinrichsen Foundation

Grants are available to individuals, organisations and charities in the UK undertaking projects to promote music, particularly contemporary music, such as commissioning of new work, non-commercial recording or publication.

The Lady Neville Charity

Grants of £1,000 for grassroots charitable organisations working in areas including local heritage, performing arts and visual arts. Registered charities and not-for-profit organisations with an annual income less than £100,000 are eligible to apply.

The Rayne Foundation

One of the themes of this Foundation is arts as a tool to achieve social change. It awards grants of up to £20,000 per year for up to three years, with match funding required.

Sylvia Waddilove Foundation

The visual and performing arts is one of six themes for this foundation, which offers grants of £2,000 to £5,000 to charities, CICs and registered societies with an annual income under £500,000. The grant will cover capital expenditure and bursaries for accredited training.

Steel Charitable Trust

Grants of £2,500 to £25,000 for UK registered charities for projects under five themes including Arts and Heritage. Revenue, core and capital costs are supported, and applications are reviewed quarterly.

Said Foundation – Amal Grants Programme

Grants up to £50,000 over three years to support a variety of high-quality arts and cultural activities that aim to further the objectives of increasing understanding of Britain’s Muslim communities among people of other faiths and none and fostering a stronger sense of belonging in the UK among its Muslim communities.

Henry Moore Foundation

Grants up to £20,000 for galleries, museums and institutions concerned with art and art history, including UK universities, to support sculpture through commissions, acquisitions, research and development, conferences, lectures and publications.

Fidelio Charitable Trust

Grants up to £5,000 to provide support for individuals (over school age) or groups of exceptional artistic ability, to enable them to receive tuition, participate in competitions and performances and complete compositions and works of art. The trust is particularly interested in Opera, Lieder, Composition and Dance.

John Coates Charitable Trust

The Arts and Heritage are two of the five themes for this trust, which offers grants from £5,000 to £10,000 to UK registered charities. The next deadline is 6 December 2019.

Golsoncott Foundation

Grants from £250 to £3,000 are available to UK voluntary sector organisations (not individuals or schools) for projects that promote, maintain, improve and advance the education of the public in the arts generally and, in particular, the fine arts and music. Most grants are between £500 and £1,000. Trustees meet quarterly; the next deadline is 31 October.

Chapman Charitable Trust

Increasing accessibility of the arts, especially for young people, is one of the key themes of this trust, which awards grants of £1,000 to £2,000 to UK registered charities operating in certain parts of the UK including Cambridgeshire. The next deadline is 31 August.

Idlewild Trust

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to registered charities under two themes:

  • Arts: Nurturing Young Professionals – to improve opportunities for young professionals working creatively in the arts at an early stage in their careers.
  • Conservation: Objects and Works of Art – to support the conservation of important works of art and objects that are being lost through the lack of funds to look after these works.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation

Funding is available to not-for-profit organisations for arts, culture and heritage projects that make a real and ongoing difference to people’s lives in the UK.

Michael Tippett Musical Foundation

Grants of £500 to £4,000 are available for the development of group music-making in the UK, especially involving young people in projects incorporating composition and creative ideas, particularly at postgraduate level. Grants awarded will be made towards creative musical activity, not instruments or equipment. The trustees meet annually; the next deadline is 30 September 2019

D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

UK registered charities can apply for £500 to £5,000 for projects or core costs on various themes including advancement of the arts.

John Ellerman Foundation

Grants of at least £10,000 for small to medium-sized charities in the UK working in three themes including the Arts. This encompasses regional museums and galleries plus the performing arts – mainly theatre, music and dance, along with other performing art forms if the organisation and its work are exceptional.

Jerwood Arts

Jerwood Arts is an independent funder dedicated to supporting UK artists, curators and producers to develop and thrive. The New Work Fund offers grants between £5,000 and £25,000, while the Development Programme Fund offers grants over £10,000. Applicants must be within the first 10 years of professional practice, based in the UK, not in formal education and be willing to take risks.

OFCOM Community Radio Fund

Grants are available to community radio licensees in the UK to fund the core costs of running a community radio station. The average award is £14,000. The next round is expected to open later in 2019.

This page is updated annually. Spotted an error? Please let us know.