Deadline: 30-Sep-2025
The Hugo Burge Foundation Grant Programme is pleased to announce the second round of grant funding will support projects, people, and organisations that align with three key areas.
The three key areas that they are funding are creative individuals, creative communities, and creative education.
The fund for creative individuals is open to artists, musicians, performers, and writers who are working alone or with one other creative on a specific project. This can support various stages of a project, from early research and development to delivery, and can cover the artist’s time, materials, and training. For 2025, this fund is limited to those based in Scotland. There is £50,000 available in this fund for 2025, with £25,000 for each grant window. Applicants can apply for up to £5,000.
The Creative Communities fund is for organisations, community groups, festivals, and fairs in the United Kingdom. The goal is to support people to engage and connect as participants in creative activities, helping more people to regularly take part in cultural activities. They prefer to invest in organisations rather than one-off projects. A total of £100,000 is available for this fund in 2025, distributed equally between the two grant windows. Applicants can apply for up to £15,000. Projects requesting £10,000 or less can be fully funded by HBF, while those from £10,001 to £15,000 must have a minimum of 30% of their budget from other sources.
The Creative Education fund supports creative and arts-led programmes for young people aged 0 to 29. The fund can be used for the teaching of visual arts, expressive arts, crafts, and making. The total fund for 2025 is £150,000. Of this, £48,000 is for apprenticeship programmes with Heritage Crafts UK and QEST, with applications handled by them. The remaining £102,000 will be distributed via an open call, with £52,000 available in May and £50,000 in September. Applicants can apply for up to £15,000, with the same co-funding requirements as the Creative Communities fund.
Across the Creative Communities and Creative Education funds, they will accept six multiyear requests for a maximum of three years. Three of these grants will be awarded in the May 2025 window, and three in the September 2025 window.
Applicants must be over 18 and based within the United Kingdom with the legal right to work without visa sponsorship. Ineligible applications include those for capital development costs, retroactively funding completed projects, promoting political ideologies over creative engagement, or for organisations with the advancement of religion as a charitable purpose. In addition, applications from companies limited by shares or those with late annual accounts are ineligible. Organisations involved in regulated work must have a current Child Protection or Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Policy.
The application process is designed to be easy and low effort and is managed through the Submittable platform. Submittable is free to use and accessible to people with various disabilities. They also have a fund to cover up to £300 for access support workers to assist with applications. The evaluation criteria for the panel review will focus on the quality of work, impact, and a proven record of delivering projects. The panellists are given the freedom to interpret these phrases as they choose.
After evaluation, applicants will receive a response of “Accepted” or “Declined” on Submittable. They may also offer funding at a different level, subject to conditions, or offer alternative funding like a development grant. Most grants will be unrestricted, meaning funds can be spent at the applicant’s discretion within their stated objectives. However, restricted grants may also be awarded.
For more information, visit The Hugo Burge Foundation.
