The Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts Access and Participation Fund is an unusual grant scheme as, apart from offering significant grants of up to £400,000 over 1-4 years, it also provides pre-application support and a bursary of up to £500 to help groups apply.

The Arts Access and Participation Fund is designed to encourage change in the way the arts are created, presented, accessed and experienced so that a wider and more diverse group of people have access to quality artistic practice, both as audiences and participants, particularly for proposals that align with the Foundation’s 5 strategic priority areas of:

1. Arts access and participation.
2. Education and learning through the arts.
3. Investing in young people.
4. Migration and integration, and
5. Nurturing ideas and people

Grants of between £30,000 and £400,000 are available. Grants can be for a period of 1-4 years. The vast majority of awards in the Arts Access and Participation programme are for between £50,000 and £250,000. Pre-application support, as detailed in the opening paragraph above, is also available.

Priority will be given to:

o Proposals that serve communities outside of London.
o Projects led by people who are most affected by systemic oppression and or discrimination, including:
> Black, Asian and other groups who experience racism.
> Deaf, disabled and neuro-diverse people who experience the effects of ableism.
> People experiencing poverty, and
> Those who identify as sitting at the intersections of several minoritized identities.

Grants can be used for existing work, core costs or new projects that involve any of the following disciplines:

o Crafts.
o Cross-arts practices.
o Dance.
o Design.
o Digital arts and media.
o Film.
o Literature, including creative writing and poetry.
o Music.
o Opera.
o Photography.
o Theatre, and
o Visual Arts.

Funding is not available for:

o Formal research programmes.
o Projects where the key outcome is solely artistic and does not address the Fund’s purpose to widen access to and deepen participation in the arts.
o Work where the primary purpose is to deliver health benefits through participation in arts activities, or
o Work where the primary purpose is to develop access to reading, where such work is not directly related to an arts activity.

Please note that, in addition to the above exclusions, the Foundation is unlikely to support newly registered organisations that have yet to produce independently audited/examined accounts. Organisations that fall into this category are advised to discuss their proposal with the Arts Access and Participation Team in the first instance.

There is a 2-stage application process for this programme, consisting of an outline application followed by a full application. Organisations are invited to contact the Foundation’s Arts Access and Participation Team to discuss their project prior to making a stage 1 application.

Further information, guidance and details about how to apply is available on the Foundation’s website.

Applications may be made at any time and are reviewed on a rolling basis.