Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: Arts
Archived
Archives and artefacts
Arts, culture and heritage
Built heritage
COVID-19/Coronavirus
Craft and design
Cultural heritage
Cultural, events and festivals
Performing arts
Verbal arts
Visual arts and media
Antrim & Newtownabbey
Ards & North Down
Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon
Belfast City
Causeway Coast and Glens
Derry City and Strabane
England
Fermanagh and Omagh
Great Britain
Lisburn and Castlereagh
Mid and East Antrim
Mid Ulster
Newry, Mourne and Down
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
Large (over £60,000)
Medium (up to £60,000)
Small (up to £10,000)
Overview
Grants support organisations’ core or project costs, including staff salaries and overheads. They have 3 main funding priorites for arts grants:
1) Art with a social impact
They support work that:
- Uses a creative approach to address difficult social or environmental issues, or
- Builds engagement with culture in areas where there is low provision.
Applicants must:
- Offer both artistic excellence and long-term social impact, and
- Put people at the centre of the creative process, and have a defined pathway of support or progression for them after the work ends.
They want their funding to:
- Support learning between organisations and enable the broadest possible participation in the arts.
Case Study: Arts at the Old Fire Station
Case Study: Tara Arts
2) Supporting emerging talent
They support work that:
- Opens up access to a career in the arts, or supports development within a career in the arts, for those who are currently missing out, or
- Equips the next generation of professional artists to manage sustainable careers.
Applicants must:
- Build their talent support programmes around an accessible recruitment process that works to tackle potential barriers for applicants, and
- Offer strong signposting to further opportunities, and progression routes for participants.
They want their funding to:
- Enable the arts sector to support a more diverse range of arts professionals towards sustainable careers.
Case Study: Graeae
3) Organisations at a pivotal point
They support
- Strong organisations to make a transition to, or test out, a new business model or new artistic programme, with a clear and realistic plan to exit from their funding.
- Collaborations and partnerships, or local and regional networks, which establish new ways of working, develop diverse audiences, or nurture emerging companies or new artistic practice.
Applicants must:
- Show that their new models or collaborations will result in a better experience for artists, audiences and participants.
They want their funding to:
- Encourage the broader sector to adopt new models or improved ways of working which are informed by the learning from this work.
Case Study: Pentabus Theatre
For more details please see the guidance for applicants available to download here
For information on grants previously awarded click here