Currently 14 active visual and media arts grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in the UK. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
Subscribe: RSS feed · Calendar (.ics)
Festivals is one of the new National Lottery programmes Arts Council of Wales launched on 13 April 2026, and it is the clearest organisation-facing route for funding a public festival in Wales. It supports focused, time-limited festivals delivering high-quality arts programmes to broad audiences, in a single artform or mixed artforms, with preference given to festivals that commission, create and present new artistic work. Grants run GBP 500 to 100,000 across four tiers, with the tier ceiling tied to how long the festival has been established. Match funding is mandatory: the Council covers at most 75 percent of eligible costs and in-kind support is capped at 10 percent. There are two deadlines in 2026, both at 1pm: Wednesday 29 July 2026 and Wednesday 16 December 2026. TIMING RULE: a minimum of twelve working weeks must fall between the deadline and the project start date, so activity applied for in the July round cannot begin before roughly late October 2026. Retrospective costs are ineligible. Individual artists cannot apply.
Create and Engage is Arts Council of Wales's general-purpose National Lottery programme for making and presenting arts work, launched alongside Festivals in April 2026, and is the natural fit for exhibitions, public programmes, touring and participatory events that are not structured as a festival. It funds creation, presentation, programming, touring, community participation and, for organisations only, professional development. Small awards go up to GBP 10,000 and large awards run GBP 10,001 to 60,000, with up to GBP 100,000 possible in exceptional cases with advance manager approval. At least 10 percent of project costs must come from non-Council, non-Lottery sources, a notably lighter co-financing burden than the Festivals fund's 25 percent. TIMING RULES: Small Create and Engage is rolling with no set deadlines but requires a minimum of 10 working weeks between submission and project start; Large Create and Engage has fixed 1pm deadlines on 29 July 2026, 30 September 2026 and 16 December 2026, with a minimum of 12 working weeks between deadline and project start. Non-UK organisations can participate as partners but cannot lead. Applicants cannot have an application in to more than one Arts Council fund at the same time.
The Artists' International Development Fund (Organisations) is Arts Council of Northern Ireland's route for NI-based arts organisations to take a first substantive step into international working. It is the organisations counterpart to the individual-artist AIDF under the Support for the Individual Artist Programme, which is a separate scheme with its own amount band. Grants run GBP 1,000 to 7,000 and cover art materials, residency costs, travel including airfare and mileage, artistic and technical fees for production or post-production, venue hire, and equipment capped at 50 percent of the request value. The deadline is Thursday 30 July 2026 at 12:00 noon, and the online system closes precisely at noon. Applicants must be NI-based, must have received recognition for their work there, and must not already have extensive international experience. The application must evidence genuine interest from an overseas partner or host, so a confirmed international invitation, residency offer or presentation opportunity is effectively a precondition.
Project grants from the Hugo Burge Foundation, a major UK arts funder that distributed GBP 400,000 in its first full year (2025) across three funds: Creative Education (0-29 year olds), Creative Communities (organisations, festivals, community groups), and Creative Individuals. The Creative Individuals Fund (GBP 50,000 available in 2026) is open to individuals seeking support for the development of artistic projects or practice; it awards up to GBP 5,000 and can fund the entire project. Practitioners in all creative disciplines across the UK may apply. The Foundation also runs a GBP 7,000 access support fund (first-come, first-served) that pays access support workers up to GBP 300 for a day's services for applicants facing barriers to applying, including those who are Deaf, disabled, or neurodivergent (no proof required). ELIGIBILITY: practitioners in all creative disciplines based across the UK. Applications are submitted via Submittable and close 31 July 2026.
The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge marks its 25th anniversary with an open-call exhibition on the theme Knowledge in a Fractured World: how knowledge is produced, contested, and shared in a fragmented age. Accepts 2D, 3D, video, film, and sound work; a strong thematic fit for critical data and research-based practices. Open worldwide, free to enter, no commission on sales. Deadline 31 July 2026.
The Sarabande Foundation, founded by Lee Alexander McQueen, offers subsidised London studio residencies for creatives across disciplines (fine art, fashion, design, digital), with structured mentoring and pro bono expert support. ELIGIBILITY: applicants must have a UK address and the right to work in the UK; the foundation cannot sponsor visas. Deadline 1 August 2026.
The Learning Through Making fund supports UK-based visual art organisations to bring opportunities for making and material exploration into their art education work. Freelands Foundation is looking for exploratory projects that embrace openness, collaboration, and iteration -- enabling organisations to work with materials in an expansive way, unpicking preconceptions about making and material literacy without predefined outcomes. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES: providing materials, transport, or access to expertise and facilities; action-research trials such as a new series of workshops or events developing material literacy; adding a making-focused element to existing activity. Projects may range from a few days to several months, but must take place between 1 January and 31 December 2027. AMOUNT: up to £25,000; funding provided no earlier than December 2026. ELIGIBILITY: UK-based visual art organisations run with a charitable purpose and for public benefit; eligible types include charities registered in England and Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland; exempt charities; galleries, museums, or organisations within a Local Authority or larger charitable body (e.g. universities); and Community Interest Companies or Community Benefit Societies meeting specific criteria (charitable purposes, asset lock, no dividend distribution, ability to segregate restricted funds). Organisations with a prior Freelands Foundation grant relationship are eligible; you may not apply for activity already funded by Freelands Foundation. Individuals are not eligible. HOW TO APPLY: download the Application Form, Application Guidance, and optional Access Form from freelandsfoundation.co.uk; email completed form to grants@freelandsfoundation.co.uk with subject line 'LTM Fund - Application'; one additional page of images or diagrams may be included. APPLICATION SUPPORT SESSIONS (online): 9 July 2026, 10:30am-12pm; 12 August 2026, 10:30am-12pm. KEY DATES: applications open 17 June 2026; close 11 September 2026 at 12pm; outcomes shared 23 November 2026.
The National Lottery Rural Engagement Arts Programme funds organisations to deliver arts activity in rural Northern Ireland, addressing isolation and social inclusion. It supports either a single one-off project or a multi-event public programme, making it usable for exhibitions, workshops, touring events and community-facing digital or media arts work. Grants range from GBP 500 to 10,000, covering artist fees, transport, materials, venue hire, accessibility support, volunteer expenses, evaluation, and equipment up to 50 percent of the request value. The deadline is Thursday 24 September 2026 at 12:00 noon, and the online system closes precisely at noon with no late or incomplete submissions accepted. TIMING RULE: funded activity must fall between 1 December 2026 and 30 November 2027, setting an effective earliest start date of roughly ten weeks after the deadline. Registered charities, formally constituted non-profit groups, local authorities and arts organisations are eligible, including bodies based outside Northern Ireland where the benefit accrues to rural NI residents. Consortium applications demonstrating partnership working are explicitly prioritised. The rural and community framing means creative-technology work qualifies only where framed for that audience.
The Jerwood Foundation makes grants to UK organisations for public-facing arts activity across theatre, music, dance, visual arts and literature, including artist development programmes, commissions, residencies and projects involving the Jerwood Collection. Awards have historically gone as high as GBP 200,000, though the Foundation states most grants are much smaller. Applications are single-stage: a written proposal of no more than 10 sides of A4 excluding financial statements, sent by email to info@jerwood.org or by post, and it must include a summary sheet giving location, amount requested, timeline and audience figures. Applications missing that summary sheet are rejected automatically. The March 2026 deadline has passed; the next round opens 3 February 2027 at 9am and closes 17 March 2027 at 2pm, with decisions on 28 April 2027 and all applicants notified by 11 May 2027. TIMING RULE: activity funded in that round must start or open to the public between 1 July 2027 and 30 June 2028, so there is a long lead time and retrospective funding is impossible. Grants to individuals are not made, so artists must be supported through a host organisation. Core costs and capital work are explicitly out of scope, which makes this a good fit for discrete festivals, exhibitions and public programmes.
The National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations is Creative Scotland's main open-access grant for constituted arts, creative and cultural organisations, and it is genuinely rolling with no deadlines. It supports a specific one-off project or production, creative research and development, or a longer-term programme of work, and can also fund business sustainability and organisational development costs. Eligible organisations can apply for GBP 1,000 to 100,000 for projects lasting up to 18 months. TIMING RULES: decision lag is banded by request size, with GBP 1,000 to 20,000 decided within 10 weeks and GBP 20,000 to 100,000 within 14 weeks. The start date must be after the decision date, and the guidance recommends allowing a further 2 to 4 weeks for funding agreements and first payment. Critically for festivals, applicants are barred from starting activity, including advertising events or issuing calls for collaborators, before funding is confirmed, so a public programme should be planned to start roughly 12 to 18 weeks after submission. Only one application may be in assessment at any time. Non-UK organisations can be involved but cannot lead. Current Regularly Funded and Multi-Year Funded Organisations are excluded.
Community-led Art and Creativity sits within Esmee Fairbairn's Creative, Confident Communities aim and is one of the Foundation's two arts-related priorities. It funds work where local people and local artists lead the creative and cultural activity in a place, emphasising cross-sector collaboration that delivers social, environmental and economic benefit alongside artistic outcomes. Cited examples include the Migration Museum's People's Panel, B Arts in Stoke and WeCanMake's Festival of Making Together, which confirms festivals and public programmes are in scope where genuinely community-directed. Applications are rolling with no deadlines, starting with an eligibility quiz and an expression of interest. The minimum grant is GBP 30,000 with no upper limit, and most awards run three to five years covering core or project costs including salaries and overheads. Applicants need at least GBP 100,000 annual turnover in the latest accounts and a formal constitution, charitable or non-charitable so long as the work is charitable. This is highly competitive: in 2025 only around 5 percent of initial expressions of interest converted into funded grants, so long-term systems-change framing matters more than the individual event. Esmee's other arts priority, Arts and Creativity Making Change, is currently closed.
The Arts-based Learning Fund supports sustained partnerships between arts and cultural organisations and state-funded educational settings so that arts-based approaches become embedded in how young people learn. Grants run GBP 30,000 to 300,000 over one to four years, with a ceiling of GBP 100,000 in any single year, and can cover both project delivery and a fair share of the applicant's core costs. Applicants must be arts and cultural organisations (charities, community organisations, social enterprises, not-for-profits) applying in partnership with at least one state-funded educational setting. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis with no deadlines; an optional enquiry call with a grants manager is encouraged before applying. The process is two-stage: an initial online application, then, if shortlisted, further information plus a phone or video conversation, with a final decision by a grants panel. TIMING RULE: applicants should expect a response within about four months, and successful applicants should allow roughly six months from application to receiving funds, so projects should not be planned to start sooner than that. The Foundation explicitly encourages applications from organisations led by people most impacted by racism, ableism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia. IMPORTANT: this is the only Paul Hamlyn arts route open to new applicants in 2026, since the main Arts Fund is suspended to new applications until at least April 2027.
The BFI Doc Society Features Production Fund (delivered via BFI with Doc Society as delegate partner) supports UK filmmakers producing non-fiction feature films intended for theatrical release. Two strands: Directions (first- or second-time directors) and Momentum (established talent). AMOUNT: up to £150,000 non-recoupable grant (the total Doc Society contribution per project cannot exceed £150,000). ELIGIBILITY: UK-based filmmakers, both emerging and established directors; experienced and debut producers eligible; projects must meet at least three of six stated priorities: equity/diversity, audience impact, talent development, creative risk, UK-wide access, and environmental sustainability. PROCESS: two-stage — submit an Expression of Interest, then a Full Application if invited. Rolling intake year-round. Opened May 2026. APPLY via BFI Doc Society website. Contact: hellobfi@docsociety.org.
Hypha Studios matches artists with free meanwhile-use spaces across London and the UK. Speculative exhibition proposals are accepted on a rolling basis and kept on file until a suitable space opens. No geographic restriction is stated, but applicants practically need to be able to install and attend in the UK.