How to get started with art grants
Right before Christmas last year I experienced the joy of having my very first grant cheque for an arts project land on my doormat. I did a little dance in celebration I can tell you, especially as it was Christmas eve (quite literally) and I’d written it off as a no-go.
I’d applied for funding in other situations before - with other people or as part of an organisation - but to put a pitch out there as a solo artist and get it accepted felt like a whole different, and very exciting ballgame.
The thing is, I’m still pretty new at this whole calling myself an ‘artist’ thing. I’ve been working in the arts & wellbeing sphere in various ways for quite a few years, but it was only in 2023 that I made the decision to pivot my work away from a more traditional ‘designer’ role and more firmly into the ‘arts’. To someone who hasn’t gone through art school and doesn’t really see themselves as an artist in the traditional sense (I’m more of a social artist and a facilitator than say a painter who then sells their work), the whole world of grants, awards and arts funding was a very baffling mystery at first.
And yet, I’ve explored. I’ve applied. I’ve prevailed. I’ve received a few rejections, but I’ve also now received funding. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to get started with it all, but now I have I thought I’d put a post together to share what I’ve discovered. I’m by no means an expert in the area, but I’ve been guided by others with expertise, and after having several people ask me questions about how to go about getting grant funding, I thought I’d share what I can.
If you’re thinking about getting started with art grants (or indeed any kind of grant for your creative endeavour or otherwise), I hope this post helps you get the ball rolling.
Before you begin
I’ve found that it is shockingly easy for mindset and belief barriers to get in the way when it comes to applying for grant funding. It helps to be aware of what your self-limiting beliefs are when you start looking or applying for grants, so you can check yourself during the process. It can be scary applying for funding and stepping outside your comfort zone, so here’s a few things I’ve found useful for facing the fear and doing it anyway:
See your first rejection as a badge of honour
You will have rejections, and they’re not personal. Rather than seeing a ‘no’ as failure, or a reason why not to bother or keep going, be proud that you tried, and see what you can learn for next time.
Don’t discount yourself before you’ve tried
It’s important to apply for grants that are actually a good fit for you, but equally make sure you’re not discounting yourself from opportunities and not even applying because of underlying beliefs you aren’t ‘enough’ in some way. Things I’ve spotted myself saying include telling myself I’m not ‘in need enough’ to qualify for a low-income support grant, that I don’t have a ‘long-enough’ career in the arts to call myself an artist, and that I’m not a ‘good enough’ artist to even apply. None of these were true of course.
Unless there is specific criteria you don’t meet to qualify for a grant, don’t discount yourself because of not feeling ‘enough’. State your case, and let the grant organisation decide. In some cases, being slightly different from the ‘standard’ applicant is an asset. Funding organisations can have diversity criteria to fulfil, and you might just meet it!
Use applications as development opportunities
Each application I’ve written has been a great exercise in getting super clear about what I actually want to do. What I want to make happen. Sometimes writing up an outline for an application has helped me realise what I don’t want to do - and sometimes it’s helped me realise that actually I’m so fired up by an idea that I want to make it happen with or without the grant. Even if you apply for funding and don’t receive it, you might have the outline of an idea or project you can use for another application. The effort is never wasted, and I find it helps to approach the process with this in mind.
Treat funding as a string to your bow
I’ve watched 2 long-running arts organisations go under in the last year alone because they couldn’t secure the funding to keep going. The reality of what I am seeing in the arts sector at the moment in the UK (and other sectors from what I hear) is that funding is extremely stretched at the moment. There are fewer opportunities available, and so the opportunities that do exist have extremely high volumes of applications, making it a tough market to get funding.
That’s not to say it’s not worth even applying (some people are getting funded, so why not you!), but I wouldn’t recommend relying solely on grant funding to keep you afloat. It’s a dangerous tactic in the current climate. Treat funding as a string to your bow - one of many ways to bring in finances and opportunities to your business.
General tips on writing art grant applications
Although I’m fairly new to funding in the arts, I used to work for a small charity where I inevitably ended up reading over grant applications and supporting fundraising initiatives. A lot of that applies to arts funding too. Here’s some practical tips I’ve picked up along my journey over the years:
Be clear about what you want
First and foremost, be clear about what you want to achieve, and make sure the funding you apply for is actually helping you get there. Grants and funding all come with their own agenda, and you may find yourself adjusting the focus of your application to make you more fund-able. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it helps if you know where your boundaries are on diverting the focus of a project.
It also puts you in very good stead if you approach an application with clarity about exactly what you want to make happen, and why it matters. If you can write an application with focus, realism and passion, it will help you stand out.
Read the guidance
A grant will always give guidance in some form to tell you who it is for, and what they will fund and will not fund. Read it. If you clearly don’t fulfil the criteria for the grant, don’t waste your time by submitting an application. For example:
If a grant is only for disabled artists, and you are not disabled, it’s not for you.
If the grant says they will not fund educational courses, and you want funding to take a degree, it’s not worth your while.
If you feel their criteria is an issue of semantics, then by all means give it a go - there is often wiggle room, particularly around definitions of the different art forms - but make it clear in your application why you think you DO fulfil the grant criteria.
Find the funding agenda
Funding bodies all have their own agenda, and this will affect which projects and artists they decide to fund or not fund. Helpfully, they will usually outright tell you what their agenda is in their description of the grant and any guidance - so look for it.
This might be in an obvious statement where they list the kinds of projects or causes they want to support, or it might be more subtle. Look out for words and phrases that indicate the kinds of causes, themes or people the funding body wants to support - and find ways to talk about how they apply to you in your application.
At times, it might be worth adjusting your project slightly to best suit the funding agenda, but this is at your discretion. For example, it’s very popular at the moment to support artist communities in rural areas. Let’s say you were planning a project in an inner city area but you noticed that the grant guidance talks a lot about rural initiatives, then you might switch your project location to somewhere more rural. Obviously consideration needs to go into this, and whether it best works for your project too.
It’s annoying that you have to do this at all, but the organisation is usually handing out money to try and make the world a better place - by their definition of what that means. They might be wanting to support rural artists, support inner city artists, tackle climate change, grow creative communities… the list goes on. Demonstrate how you can help funders achieve their goal, and you will be far more appealing to them.
Look for niche grants
I’ve seen lots of grants specifically - and ONLY - for artists who fulfil very specific and select criteria. This is often to support artists from under-represented groups, but sometimes intended to support a particular art-form, or to satisfy a certain societal agenda. Think about what niche you as an artist fill, and look for grants that target those. Also if you believe you fulfil a grant’s criteria for an under-represented group, make sure you say so. This can feel a bit check-box-y at times, but if you can turn a disadvantage into an advantage, then it’s absolutely worth it.
There is an ideal grant out there to suit everyone somewhere, you just need to find it.
Devote time to equivalent cost
It’s just common sense that you don’t want to spend the same amount of time writing an application for a £500 grant as you would a £20,000 grant. Luckily, the application process is usually equivalent to the size of the award, but be aware of how much time you are spending writing a grant application.
Make words matter
More than likely, you’ll have a word limit on each question in your grant application, so make the words you use matter. Get to the point, don’t repeat yourself, and make it really clear how a grant would make a difference to you and to society. Show why you’re worth funding.
Go for the maximum
Unless you have a very good reason to do otherwise, apply for the maximum amount a grant offers - or as close to it as possible. You may not be awarded the full amount you apply for anyway (some funding bodies will pay out lower amounts to be able to support more people), so if nothing else this is a way to maximise the amount you might potentially receive. Keep in mind the next point as well though…
Detail what you’ll spend the money on
Be as clear as possible about exactly how you will spend the money. A table is great if you are able, but if that’s not possible within the application form, at the very least give a breakdown of individual costs. Be as transparent as possible, and show that you have given the project serious and realistic consideration. If you are allowed, include payment for your time too.
Finding art grants
It’s so worth taking some time to build up your resources if you’re interested in seeking funding long-term. I put aside an afternoon one day last year and spent several hours doing a deep dive into organisations related to my interests, discovering new networks, newsletters and places where funding opportunities are listed.
Many organisations in the arts & charity sectors signpost to other similar organisations, which is a good place to start discovering new connections and people of interest. I’ve also been told of communities and organisations by other professional artists, so if you know anyone else who does a similar thing to you, ask them if they know of any good organisations you could check out.
I now receive email notifications of funding opportunities several times a week, so can keep half an eye on what’s available pretty easily.
Here’s some resources and organisations you might find useful to get started:
Starving artists
Starving Artists have a huge & regularly updated list of arts grants, awards and opportunities from the UK and around the world (where it’s open to UK applicants). It costs £38 a year to join & get access to the listings, but it pays off. They add about 50 new listings a week, and you get a weekly roundup email with a few of the best.
ArtsAdmin
I particularly love ArtsAdmin for their weekly email newsletter - ArtsAdmin Anchor - which is a very comprehensive roundup of various opportunities for funding, jobs, workshops, studio space and all sorts for artists. They also have a good Resource Directory with info on getting funding and links to funding organisations.
Arts Council
The Arts Council is a bit of an institution in the UK, and the likelihood is you’ve heard of them. They offer out significant grants up to £12,000 for both project work and for individual creative growth. Because they are such a major funder in the UK, there’s a lot of workshops and support available if you want to apply for one of their grants. The Arts Council themselves hold free webinars sometimes, which are worth going to.
England: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
Northern Ireland: https://artscouncil-ni.org/
ArtQuest
A useful website for advice on applying for funding, as well as opportunity listings. They have a free newsletter where they send out a roundup of opportunities they have found.
The Awesome Foundation
A good one for getting started with, The Awesome Foundation offers out $1,000 to help you launch an idea (any idea!) Mostly they fund in the USA, but they do also fund opportunities in countries all around the world, including a few cities in the UK.
The National Lottery
The National Lottery funds a LOT of arts projects in the country - mostly it seems via The Arts Council. I have also come across various other grant providers who are themselves funded by the National Lottery, so if you apply directly to the National Lottery it might disqualify you from being eligible for other grant funding (not necessarily, but be aware of this).
They have a Community Fund: https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/
And a Heritage Fund: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
Arguably you might be better off just going straight to the Arts Council though.
Regional arts hubs
It’s common there to be organisations and hubs focussed on the arts in a specific geographical region (for example, in the South West we have VASW). Try doing a web search for “[your region] arts” - e.g. South West arts / North East arts etc - and see what comes up.
Getting support with writing art grant applications
Look and ye shall find! Once I started actively looking for and at grants in seriousness, I began finding more and more places where support and advice is available for writing applications. Many of the organisations I listed above also offer resources for writing grants, so take a good look there.
If you have accessibility needs, funders will often offer additional support to help with this so it’s always worth looking for or asking about.
Here’s a few particularly useful things I’ve found:
Look for workshops + resources
There’s a lot of free workshops & resources that offer support and advice with funding - especially for the Arts Council grants - and some people have paid-for workshops and support groups too. Here’s a few useful starting points…
Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy - runs free courses on fundraising in the arts.
Artists Network - has a lot of guidance for artists & offers free workshops on funding for its members ocassionally
Claire Venus - has a workshop on Funding for Your Creative Ideas for £100.
Creative Lives - has a lot of resources on getting funding for your creative ideas, particularly for community ventures.
Creative Spark - has a free funding checklist to download & runs a Funding Club along with each round of DYCP.
Local council business support
This might seem like an unexpected one, but I've recently discovered that local councils (in my area at least) have dedicated support organisations for local businesses. I’ve personally received startup support from Cool Ventures in BANES, and get emails often listing grant opportunities available and free workshops on applying for funding. Try searching for ‘[your council] business support’ and see what appears.
Ask your friends & peers
I’ve been incredibly lucky to have 3 good friends who all have experience in grant funding, and they’ve all given me good advice and support. Some of them have given me guidance and suggestions for places to look, and some have even read over my applications and given feedback. Having their support has meant I’ve been able to put together strong applications, which is invaluable. If you know anyone who is good at proof reading, or has experience with funding - ask them if they would give you guidance or read through an application.
And last, but certainly not least… just give it a try!
Like all things, the first time you do something is always the hardest.
Start small, and give it a go. The worst that will happen is you get a ‘no’, you learn from the experience, and you try again - better informed and better equipped.
I had to take a deep breath before pressing the ‘send’ button on the first grant I applied for, but I pushed through, and I am proof that it can work. You can make it happen too.
Good luck! x