The Foyle Foundation

The Foyle Foundation is a major funder of arts charities across the U.K. The foundation will consider applications towards core project costs, projects, environmental efficiency, equipment and capital through both their grant schemes:

Main Grants Scheme: they consider applications from charities with a core remit of the Arts to both sustain the Arts and widen audiences. They look for clear artistic mission, value for money, long term benefit and sustainability in projects they support.

Small Grants Scheme: aimed at supporting small charities with a turnover of less than £150k per annum.

Grant amounts:

• Small grants: between £2,000 and £10,000
• Main grants: £75,000 and over

Deadline: open until 31 January 2025

Find out more:

Amazon Literary Partnership 2025

Now in its sixth year, the Amazon Literary Partnership (ALP) provides one-off grants to not-for-profit literary organisations that support and champion writers of all ages and stages on their creative journey.

With the goal of helping all communities in the UK and Republic of Ireland tell their stories through writing, the Amazon Literary Partnership supports not-for-profit literary organisations that empower writers to create, publish, learn, teach, experiment, and thrive.  

The grant funding is intended for innovative groups that amplify diverse voices and strive for a lasting impact on writers' lives, the literary and publishing communities and broader society.

Amazon has provided neither the total amount of funding available or the level of individual grants.

Grant amounts: not specified

Deadline: 31 January 2025

Find out more:

Radcliffe Trust

Radcliffe Trust is offering grants for charities, not-for-profit groups, and exempt organisations across the UK to support projects in the areas of music or heritage and crafts.

For music projects, the Trust will consider projects in the following categories:

• Composition and contemporary music (in the case of commission applications the lead composer must be named)
• Bursaries for courses and summer schools (limited to UK-based students)
• Music therapy and special needs
• Academic research
• Youth orchestras
• Performance projects
• Educational projects (excluding applications from individual mainstream primary and secondary schools)
• Miscellaneous.

For heritage and crafts projects, the Trust will support the development of the skills, knowledge and experience that underpin the UK’s traditional cultural heritage and crafts sectors. This includes support for:

• Emerging craftspeople.
• Craft and conservation projects and training.
• Projects demonstrating creative outcomes by designer-makers.
• Projects with potential for capacity building within the sector.
• Special needs projects focusing on the therapeutic benefits of skills development.

Grant amount: £2,500 to £7,500

Deadline: 31 January 2025

Find out more:

PPL Momentum Music Fund

Funding is available to support the development of talented UK musicians and bands, helping them to enhance and sustain their careers.

The PPL Momentum Music Fund, run by the PRS Foundation, is a financial resource designed to support artists working in a broad range of contemporary popular genres.

Grants can be used to assist with any activity that significantly contributes to the development of an artist or band. Applicants should consider why and how this activity will contribute to their career development and/or business plan. This may include, but is not limited to, the following activities:

• Recording - new album, EP, single, producer, engineer, mixer fees, studio hire, session musician fees, etc.
• Touring (UK only) - travel, accommodation, musician fees, set/production design, tour management, equipment hire, etc.
• Marketing and promotions - PR, radio plugger, digital marketing, music videos, merchandise production, etc.

The fund is open to applications from artists and bands in the UK that are at a crucial point in their development, with the potential to significantly further their career within the next two years.

Applications can be submitted by the artists themselves or those who are working on their behalf (e.g. a manager, an independent label or publisher).

Grant amount: between £5,000 and £15,000

Deadline: 3 February 2025

Find out more:

D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust

The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust funds United Kingdom Registered Charities operating in the UK in the fields of the advancement of the arts, health and medical welfare and environmental protection or improvement .

The Trustees will consider applications for core costs or projects and are very conscious of the work involved in applying for a grant and encourage charities to consider whether their work aligns with the Trust’s priorities for the next three years before submitting an application.

The Arts priorities:

• Access and participation in the arts for those who have least access to them with emphasis on choirs and singing to build community and bring people together
• Support for charities seeking to engage with and inspire young people on the fringes of society through music and drama projects to improve their employability and diminish the risk of social exclusion
• Performance development opportunities in the performing arts for those in the early stages of their careers

Grant amount: between £500 to £6,000

Deadline: 4 February 2025

Find out more:

Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund

The Esmée Fairbairn Communities and Collections Fund is now open for applications. It is the evolution of the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, with a new name that better represents their dual focus on collections and inclusion. The Museums Association award the fund on behalf of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and have awarded over £14m in nearly 200 grants since 2011.

The overall purpose of the Communities and Collections Fund remains the same as in 2023-24. However, they now offer core grants to single museum organisations for the strategic development of their inclusive collections work and partnership project grants for museums and community organisations working equitably with collections to achieve shared aims for inclusion.

Grant amount: £40,000 to £100,000 over a period of up to three years

Deadline: expressions of interest due 5 February

Find out more:

Youth Music's NextGen Fund 

The Youth Music NextGen Fund offers young creatives grants of up to £3,000 to make their ideas happen.

The Youth Music NextGen Fund is for early-stage musicians and wider music adjacent creatives to invest up to £3,000 in their own projects and make their ideas happen. The fund is especially aimed at those whose lack of finance holds them back from pursuing their goals.

It's open to 18–25-year-olds (and up to 30-year-olds who identify as d/Deaf, neurodivergent or Disabled) who live in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Applicants may include singers, rappers, songwriters, producers, DJs, A&Rs, managers and agents, right through to roles that have yet to be defined.

Priority will be given to:

• People who do not have the financial means to invest in themselves to get their ideas started.
• People that are too early-stage to be funded by larger grant programmes such as Arts Council England and PRS Foundation.
• Those who might be discriminated against, for reasons that could include gender, race, disability, location or other characteristics.
• People who are creative, entrepreneurial and are multi-disciplinary - even if they do not recognise themselves as such.

Grant amount: up to £3,000

Deadline: Friday 7 February 5pm

Continuo Foundation

Continuo Foundation is offering grants for professional ensembles playing period music and instruments to mobilise projects of outstanding artistic merit and create meaningful work for freelance period musicians, whilst engaging a wide range of audiences with historically informed live performances, particularly in areas lacking access to high-quality live classical music.

Round Nine will continue the previous round's focus to support emerging ensembles seeking to establish themselves and gain the visibility and performing experience needed to build their careers.

Grants can be used by a period-instrument ensemble to:

• enable a concert with a larger number of musicians at risk of being downsized
• fund a new project where there is uncertainty about audience take-up
• support a tour of a new or existing programme to new UK locations
• fund the recording of repertoire not previously recorded
• fund a chamber recital series
• create filmed video content to be used to generate further touring opportunities

Grants are available for UK-based professional groups of at least three musicians playing period instruments, or faithful replicas, with a consistent membership of instrumentalists, year-round activity, and an identity as a period-instrument ensemble.

Funding is for projects taking place between May and October 2025.

Grant amount: between £2,000 and £8,000

Deadline: 10 February 2025

Find out more:

Idlewild Trust Arts and Conservation funds

Idlewild Trust support two grant programmes: 

• Arts: Nurturing Early-Stage Professionals - grants to support training opportunities for emerging professionals, working creatively and backstage, within the performing and visual arts, post-training, and at an early stage in their career.
• Conservation: Objects and Works of Art - grants to support the conservation of cultural heritage of recognized national and international importance in museums, libraries, galleries, historic buildings, or landscapes accessible to the public. Priority will be given to applications that include a knowledge sharing element as an outcome of the project. Applications must include a treatment proposal from an accredited conservator.

Grant amount: maximum of £7,000

Deadline: 14 February 2025

Find out more:

Grow Wild Youth Grants

Grow Wild have announced another round of £500 grants for young people (aged 16 to 25 years) across the UK to deliver a creative project that celebrates why UK native plants and/or fungi are so special.

The project should be original and exciting and focus on UK native plants and/or fungi. Projects need to engage at least 100 other people (either in person or online). The grant can be used to pay for anything to support the project, such as equipment, materials, training, resources, or expert help. Projects can start in May but must be completed by the end of October 2025.

Applications will be accepted from young people aged 16 to 25 years old who live in the UK and who can find a supporting organisation, such as a school, university, youth club or a local community group, to help them deliver the project.

Supporting organisations must be:

• An established and relevant organisation that is charitable in purpose or not-for-profit. In particular:
  • Voluntary, youth or community group.
  • Education body
  • Arts or environmental charity
  • Local Authority or other council body
  • Health Authority
• Able to provide a member of staff or volunteer to:
  • Liaise with Grow Wild
  • Support the young person as required (eg, providing access to facilities and equipment, publicity of activities, advice and guidance.)
• Financially responsible for the project with a bank account in the organisation's name or in the name of the local authority or other public sector body where relevant.

Grant amount: £500

Deadline: 19 March 2025

Find out more:

Youth Music Trailblazer Fund

The Youth Music Trailblazer fund offers grants of £2,000 to £30,000 to organisations in England to run projects for children and young people (25 or under) to make, learn and earn in music. The project should trial work or test a new way of working, sustain a grassroots programme or disrupt the status quo (or all three!).

Your work must meet one of our themes: 

• Early years
• Disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent young people
• Youth justice system
• Young people facing barriers
• Young adults
• Organisations and the workforce.

Grant amount: £2,000 to £30,000

Deadline: 11 April 2025

Find out more:

Aesthetica Creative Writing Award

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award celebrates outstanding writers. 

The Award was launched after the publication of Aesthetica Magazine, as a way to support the next generation of literary talent. These were first published in the Creative Works Annual, a collection celebrating innovative poetry and short fiction from both established and emerging practitioners. Originally, it was an anthology of new writing and new artwork. However, as the Aesthetica Creative Writing Award and the Art Prize started to reach more audiences, the decision was made in 2013 to separate them into two Awards with their own prizes and publications.

The Creative Writing Award is open to Poetry and Short Fiction submissions on any theme, however, they are particularly interested in works that reflect upon our ever changing world. Poetry entries must not exceed 40 lines, while short fiction submissions are capped at 2,000 words.

Award: With a total prize fund of £5,000, winners in each category will receive a cash prize of £2,500. Additionally, selected entries will be published in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual.

Deadline: 31 August 2025

Find out more:

Heritage Crafts' Maker Relief Fund

The Maker Relief Fund is offering grants to UK-based professional craftspeople facing financial hardship.

Grants of £1,000 will be awarded to 50 eligible applicants over the course of a year, starting in November 2024 and running through to the end of October 2025.

These grants are intended to provide flexible financial support, allowing recipients to use the funds without restrictions.

Practising professional craftspeople are eligible to apply if they identify with one or more of the following groups:

• Individuals on low incomes.
• Working-class people.
• Black and ethnically diverse people (including Gypsy, Roma, and Travellers).
• People with disabilities, neurodiversity or those managing chronic physical or mental health issues.
• LGBTQIA+ individuals.
• People with caring responsibilities.

Grant amount: up to £1,000

Deadline: End of October 2025

Find out more:

Charles Hayward Foundation: Older People Small Grants

Charles Hayward Foundation is a grant-making charitable trust making awards to charities that are registered in the U.K.

Their Small Grant Scheme for Older People programmes will consider funding projects in the following sub-categories:

• Programmes aiming to alleviate isolation and depression in older people, including informal day care or social, physical and recreational activities.
• Programmes which give practical help, assistance and support for older people living in their own homes.

• Programmes addressing the emotional and practical needs of older carers.

• Programmes designed to meet the specific needs of people with dementia.

They wish to fund preventative and early intervention programmes being delivered at the community level which allow older people to stay in their own homes and remain independent. They are interested in programmes which can demonstrate their effectiveness in improving the quality of life of older people. They favour projects that offer a consistent and sustained benefit rather than one-off events or short-lived activities.

Grant amount: up to £7,000

Deadline: currently open

Find out more:

Historic Houses Foundation

The Historic Houses Foundation gives grants for the repair and conservation of rural historic buildings and structures in England and Wales, including their gardens, grounds and outbuildings. They also give grants for the restoration and conservation of works of art in historic house collections open to the public.

Grants are made to owners (charities, institutions, local authorities and individuals) who demonstrate a sustainable and long-term commitment to the care, management and public access of the historic country houses in their care.

They aim to make grants for projects which either do not qualify for funding from any of the mainstream sources or have been awarded only partial funding. They will also consider making grants to kick start a project but will expect further funding to be in place within 1 to 2 years.

Grant amounts: The minimum grant amount is £1,000, the maximum is £250,000 though awards of this size are only made in exceptional circumstances. Most grants are less than £50,000.

Deadline: rolling

Find out more:

Millichope Fund for Community Buildings

The Millichope Fund, administered by Community Resource, provides small grants of up to £500 to enable village halls and community centres to purchase items of equipment to help meet the needs of their local community.

Examples of things that have been funded previously include:

• Hearing loops or equipment to assist disabled users
• Tables, chairs and other furniture
• Kitchen equipment (eg white goods or crockery)
• Replacement water heaters or radiators
• Curtains, draught excluders and other insulation
• Audio and visual equipment (eg a PA system) and portable staging

The fund cannot contribute to general running costs, staff salaries, volunteers expenses, large capital projects or resurfacing of car parks.

Grant amount: up to £500

Deadline: currently open

Find out more:

National Lottery Heritage Grants

National Lottery Heritage Grants form part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund's new 10-year strategy, Heritage 2033, that aims to invest £3.6 billion across the UK with grants ranging from £10,000 up to £10 million.

The strategy is centred around a simplified framework of four investment principles:

• Saving heritage.
• Protecting the environment.
• Inclusion, access and participation.
• Organisational sustainability.

Grants are available to support projects of up to five years that care for and sustain heritage in the UK. This could include nature and habitats, historic buildings and environments, or cultures, traditions and people’s memories. 

Grant amounts: there are two levels of grants available £10,000 to £250,000 or grants from £250,000 to £10 million

Deadline: rolling

Find out more here:

Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Arts-based Learning Fund

The foundation supports arts and cultural organisations to work in partnership with schools and make arts-based learning a core part of education.

The fund envisions a more equitable school system where high-quality arts-based learning is a core part of all children’s education. They believe that arts-based teaching and learning can add value and help schools achieve their aspirations for pupils.

The fund achieves this by:

• supporting arts organisations to work in partnership with formal education settings leading to a mutual exchange and enrichment of expertise;
• focusing on pupils who experience systemic inequity and enabling them to make progress and overcome barriers to learning;
• exploring the role of arts-based learning in addressing issues of inclusion, especially racism, in education;
• creating more opportunities for high quality arts-based teaching and learning in education settings, especially in those which have not had this work in the past;
• enabling arts-based learning to be embedded in curricula and practice for the long-term; and
• building a body of evidence and practice, and understanding how the work improves equity for pupils.

Grant amount: between £30,000 to £100,000

Deadline: rolling

Find out more:

Shropshire Grassroots Fund

The Shropshire Grassroots Fund aims to increase the availability of grant funding for new start-up groups and those who have been operational for less than 12 months and for small voluntary and community organisations who have been in operation for over 12 months to build capacity and sustainability and support (grassroots groups).  Funded schemes must be located and delivered within Shropshire and predominantly serve Shropshire residents

Grants up to £300 are available to new start up grassroots community and voluntary groups and up to £1,000 for groups who have been in operation over 12 months which have an annual turnover of less than £50,000 per annum.

The Fund prioritises applications for requests which can be demonstrated to have a long term benefit for organisations to help them grow and develop. This can include core costs to help organisations extend their reach to more people, and widen their work.

Examples of the type of request we are keen to fund could include training (for staff and volunteers), volunteer expenses, furniture and equipment, promotional materials, and room hire.

What we cannot fund:

• Contribution to general appeals.
• On-going staff salaries
• Large capital build projects,
• Parties or other one off events.

Grant amount: up to £300 for new groups, up to £1,000 for groups that have been in operation for more than 12 months

Deadline: rolling

Find out more:

Telford and Shropshire Support Fund

Many charities, community groups and not-for-profit organisations have seen the demand for their services and provision increase and access to sustainable funding more difficult to achieve. The cost-of-living crisis has impacted groups resilience in meeting those increased costs and demands and maintaining day-to-day operations is challenging.

The fund aims to help groups to remain sustainable and continue to support their communities. Grants of up to £1,000 are currently available to help groups with core costs associated with their provision.

The Support Fund can be spent on your organisation’s running costs. These might include, for example:

• Management and administration
• Staffing and volunteer costs
• General office expenses
• Accountancy and audit
• Communications and outreach
• Monitoring, evaluation, and learning
• Governance, regulatory, and compliance costs

Grant amount: up to £1,000

Deadline: rolling

Find out more:

Twemlows Fund

If your group/organisation is running projects focused on environmental improvements or community participation, Community Resource have a fund which may be able to help with up to £1,000.

Funding is available for voluntary and community groups across the county of Shropshire with a priority given to those groups within 15 miles of Prees, in North Shropshire.

Grant amount: up to £1,000

Deadline: rolling

Find out more: