Arts Fund not accepting new applications

In April 2024, we refreshed our Arts Fund, moving to a model of funding based on rounds rather than a rolling process. Now the second round of this funding has finished, we are sharing an update on the next phase – up to April 2027. 

In the two rounds to date, we received 816 applications from arts organisations, requesting a total of £166m. By comparison, the Arts Fund’s annual budget is £6.5m. This means that, despite the quality of many applications, only 7% of organisations were successful. The volume of demand means the success rate has more than halved over the past four years.

Given this unprecedented demand, we are thinking carefully about how to maintain a healthy balance between renewing grants to organisations we already fund while also seeking opportunities to support new organisations whose work resonates with our mission.

We believe an open application process should be as effective and worthwhile as possible for those applying, and we don’t think the current model is working as well as it could be. To improve this, we will consider different approaches over the next year, and will share our thinking as it takes shape.

For the next financial year (from now until at least April 2027), we will revisit a small number of applications that were declined in the last two rounds, and we will renew grants with some organisations whose funding from Paul Hamlyn Foundation is coming to an end over the next year. We will make grants to a total value of £6.5m in 2026–27 – the same level of funding as in the previous year.

We will not be open to new applications or expressions of interest for the time being.