Art Fund: Commission Grants

Overview

Commissioned work often has a singular ability to respond and reveal new aspects to collections or places in direct, timely ways, and commissioning an artist(s) to create a new work of art for a museum collection can help to forge closer relationships with artists and audiences.

Applications for commissions are considered as a part of their acquisitions programme. As such, they would expect any commissions to be of international, national or regional significance.

For your application to be successful you will also need to make a strong case in the following three areas:

• Benefit to the artist
  • It’s important in your application to include information about the ways in which the artist will benefit from being involved in the commission. They are keen to support artists working across a range of media, including those working with performance and ephemeral practices. It’s important to include information about the artist that either demonstrates a strong track record of commissioning or can evidence a commitment to (or ambition for) working with institutions and agencies in this way, and to explain how the commission will support the development of the artist’s practice.
  • They believe artists should be paid fairly for their time involved in a commission and they ask applicants to refer to specific guidance from sector organisations, such as a-n The Artists Information Company, when calculating artist fees. They want applicants to clearly define the fee for the artist(s) that is separate from the production budget. You can also refer to their guidance on accessibly and inclusive practice when it comes to thinking about how to use our grant
• Benefit to the organisation
  • They are interested to know more about how the commission will benefit your organisation and the reasons why you are choosing to commission new work from a specific artist (instead of acquiring existing work). What will the commission enable you to achieve that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do? You can also use this section to include any relevant experience of commissioning that you or your organisation might have
• Benefit to audiences
  • They are keen to know how audiences will benefit from the commission, in the short, medium and long term. This part of the application might also detail the ways in which the legacy of the commission might extend to audiences. Through their support for commissions they hope you will be able to connect with audiences and be supported to engage with them in new ways

Applications for support for commissions need to demonstrate the impact of the work of art within the context of all three areas above.

What they can fund

Their funding ranges from a few thousand pounds to tens of thousands of pounds.

• They normally fund only part of the cost of a commission
• There is no fixed percentage for which you can apply
• They can advise you on the appropriate level of grant request before you submit your application

Who can apply

They will consider applications from public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives based in the UK or Channel Islands that are:

• open for at least half the week for at least six months of the year
• at least provisionally accredited through the Arts Council Accreditation Scheme or other national equivalents

They also encourage partnerships between commissioning agencies and museums, or other institutions who want to commission work that will have a permanent legacy for artists, cultural organisations and audiences.

For full eligibility details please see the Guidance for applicants.

Funding Streams

Main grant

• Grant requests of above £7,500 and/or where the total cost of the work is more than £15,000
• Next application deadline: These applications are decided at each of their five trustees' meetings per year. Please get in touch with us for further information.
• Decision by: A decision will be made within one week after the trustees' meeting.
• Application rounds: February, May, July, October and December

Small grants

• Grant requests of £7,500 or less where the total cost of the work is £15,000 or less
• Next application deadline: They consider these applications on a rolling basis. There is no strict deadline.
• Decision by: Approximately 6-8 weeks from date of submission.