Arts Access and Participation Fund

Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Access and Participation Fund awards grants of between £30,000 and £400,000 for activity lasting between 12 months and 4 years with an option to extend for a further period. Typically grants are between £60,000 – £250,000.

The Fund addresses inequalities of opportunity to access and participate in the arts. The Foundation wants to support change in the way the arts are created, presented, accessed and experienced.

To demonstrate your idea supports the Fund’s aims, applications should contribute to all of the following areas:

• Work with communities who are experiencing inequality of opportunity to access and participate in the arts, who face long-term structural and systemic inequalities and are disproportionately affected by Covid-19; -Development of a committed relationship with those communities and a meaningful process of engagement, including working in ways that address power imbalances recognising and valuing the expertise and experience of communities to lead the way that art is created, presented, accessed and experienced;

• Proposals that show a clear understanding of your whole organisation’s role in addressing structural inequalities, that make continuing improvements in the way your organisation works and seek to influence partners and the sector more widely;

• Commitment to developing a diverse and inclusive organisation and practice including leadership, governance, workforce and approaches that reflect the experiences and strengths of communities to increase and enrich the range of stories represented and people delivering the work. Applications should demonstrate they support and champion people with lived experience in the leadership and delivery of this work, particularly people with experience of racism, disabled people and people experiencing poverty.

• Commitment to gathering evidence, reflecting upon it and sharing it to improve future practice.

Priority will be given to organisations that are led by, and work that is developed and delivered with (including as artists and or practitioners), people who are most affected by systemic oppression and or discrimination. This means Black, Asian and other groups who experience racism, Deaf, disabled and neurodiverse people who experience the effects of ableism, those who identify as sitting at the intersections of several minoritized identities, and people experiencing poverty.

Proposals from communities outside London will also be prioritised.

What we will fund To recognise the urgent need to address the historical power imbalance between who leads, creates and makes work, we will prioritise support to organisations that are led by, and work that is developed and delivered with (including as artists and or practitioners), people who are most affected by systemic oppression and or discrimination. This means Black, Asian and other groups who experience racism[1], Deaf, disabled and neurodiverse people who experience the effects of ableism, people who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community [2], those who identify as sitting at the intersections of several minoritised identities, and people from economically marginalised communities or experiencing poverty.

We will also prioritise proposals from communities outside London.

At a time of challenge and uncertainty, we recognise the importance of offering a flexible funding approach. We wish to support organisations whose approaches align closely to the criteria of the Fund, and we can provide funding in one or more of the following ways:

• support which underpins specific programmes of work
• support for core costs
• support to adapt existing work to new contexts or to test new ways of working. As part of every application we expect proposals to consider the following, and our Funds can support:

The development of evidence and learning as part of your grant. This may include, for example, user-research, monitoring, evaluation, reflective practice and sharing learning within and beyond your organisation. Supporting or embedding accessibility within the proposed work, including core organisational needs, how you make, present or deliver your work. This includes appropriate reimbursement to advisors you are consulting on the basis of their lived experience. Appropriate fees and costs associated with continued professional development for staff, artists and freelancers. Our definition of arts and culture covers:

Work that involves any of the following: crafts, dance, design, digital arts and media, film, literature (including creative writing and poetry), music, opera, photography, theatre, the visual arts, and cross-arts practices.

What we will not fund:

In addition to PHF’s general exclusions, we cannot accept applications for this Fund for:

• Individuals
• 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
• Work where the primary purpose is to deliver health benefits through participation in arts activities
• Work where the primary purpose is to develop access to reading, where such work is not directly related to an arts activity
• Formal research programmes -Arts provision in primary and secondary schools relating to the curriculum Courses relating to arts access and participation in Higher and Further Education

We are unlikely to fund newly registered organisations that have yet to produce independently audited/examined accounts and recommend you speak to a Grants Manager first. For details about our work related to improving people’s education and learning through the arts please see Education and Learning through the Arts.