GrantRadar

Art Fund

Commission grants

Art Fund grants towards commissioning new visual art that ends up in a public collection, a publicly accessible site for at least three years, or a permanent archive for temporary or performance work. Commissions are treated as part of Art Fund's acquisitions programme, so they must be of international, national or regional significance and show benefit to the artist, the organisation and audiences. Open to accredited public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives in the UK or Channel Islands (and partnerships with commissioning agencies). Small grants (£20,000 or less) are decided on a rolling basis; bigger ones go to one of five trustee meetings a year.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
Up to £20,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries and archives based in the UK or Channel Islands
  • Lead applicants with collections must be open for at least half the week for at least six months of the year and be fully or provisionally Accredited through the Arts Council Accreditation Scheme or a national equivalent
  • Lead applicants without a collection must be committed to increasing public access to the visual arts, operate to best-practice standards or have a strong track record of high-quality public activity (e.g. accreditation, partner endorsement, past projects, awards), and have a public presence or public outcome (e.g. a building open to the public, a festival or public art programme)
  • Partnerships between commissioning agencies and museums are encouraged; joint applications name a lead applicant
  • Profit-making businesses, partnerships (LLPs etc.), individuals and unincorporated bodies applying directly, performing-arts-focused organisations, hospitals, places of worship, schools and universities cannot apply

What it funds

Part of the cost of commissioning and acquiring new work:

  • Commissions that result in an acquisition or gift into a museum's permanent collection
  • Commissions that result in a work situated somewhere accessible to the public for at least three years
  • Temporary or ephemeral commissions that create a permanent, publicly accessible legacy in an archive or collection

Budgets must show artist fees (paid fairly, separate from production), production and display/installation.

Funding ranges from a few thousand pounds to tens of thousands of pounds; Art Fund normally funds only part of the cost and there is no fixed percentage.

Small grants are for awards of £20,000 or less where the total cost of the work is £1,000,000 or less; main grants are for awards above £20,000 and/or works costing £1,000,000 or more.

What it will not fund

  • Commissions that do not result in the permanent acquisition of a work, or of an archive or collection of material relating to a temporary or ephemeral work, or in work situated in a place accessible to the public for at least 3 years
  • Organisations that exist to make profit (private or public limited companies, unlimited companies, sole traders)
  • General partnerships, limited partnerships or limited liability partnerships
  • Organisations focused on music, drama, dance and art forms outside the visual arts
  • Individuals or unincorporated bodies directly (unless applying with the formal written agreement of an eligible organisation)
  • Hospitals and places of worship
  • Schools or higher education institutions

How to apply

  1. Read the Commission grants guidance for applicants
  2. Contact Ying Tan, Senior Programme Manager (ytan@artfund.org, 020 7225 4866) to discuss your proposal, eligibility, deadlines and grant level - required for all applicants
  3. Register for a My Art Fund professional account (or ask programmes@artfund.org to upgrade an existing account)
  4. If Art Fund agrees to progress the application, complete the online form in your My Art Fund account and upload supporting documents and viewable material, then submit
  5. A caseworker is assigned and may return the form for edits; a programme manager assesses first, then trustees decide with independent expert advice
  6. If successful, you receive an offer letter, commission agreement, and claim and evaluation forms; claim once fundraising is complete by signing the agreement and claim form and invoicing Art Fund

Small grants (£20,000 or less, total cost £1m or less) are rolling; main grants go to one of five trustee meetings a year (application rounds February, May, July, October and December) - ask Art Fund for the deadlines.

Grants are reserved for six months from the offer letter; if you have not heard within 14 days of submitting, check it arrived.

Grant conditions include free admission to permanent collections and free or half-price entry to temporary exhibitions for National Art Pass holders, and permanent acknowledgement of Art Fund.

Have ready

  • Project brief/artist brief and commission plan
  • Artist proposals and any illustrative material
  • Images of similar works realised by the artist
  • Budget with a full cost breakdown under 'Artist fees', 'Production' and 'Display/Installation'
  • Evidence that the project is realistically costed (e.g. independent valuation, tender evidence, recent prices for the artist's work, comparable production budgets)
  • Timeline for the commission
  • Viewable material illustrating the commissioned work (e.g. drawings, sketches, images, maquettes, samples)

If the artist has commercial representation, define the gallery's role in the commission; if documents are not ready by a deadline, contact Art Fund.

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