British Film Institute (BFI)

BFI National Lottery Screen Heritage Fund

National Lottery funding for the UK's public screen heritage sector - organisations that collect, preserve and give the public free access to moving-image collections. The page covers three strands but only two are open: Project funding for organisations (£10,000 to £140,000, rolling) and Individual Skills bursaries for people working in or entering the sector (rolling, for individuals not organisations). The third strand, Resilience funding for 2026-29, CLOSED to applications on 31 March 2026 and its guidelines remain online for reference only. All Project and Resilience funded activity must be completed by 31 March 2029.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £10,000 – £140,000; no fixed round
Deadline: Rolling; apply any time
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

Project funding is for legally constituted organisations centrally managed in the UK that operate a screen archive, collection network or similar and have the remit to collect and preserve screen (moving-image) collections and make them accessible to the general public on a not-for-profit basis - this can be the sole or only a partial activity of the organisation
Eligible legal forms are: a charity or trust registered with the Charity Commission (including UK universities and colleges); a limited company registered at Companies House that is not a 'large' company under the Companies Act 2006 and not more than 50% owned by non-UK-resident individuals, a company owned by non-UK residents, or a stock-exchange-listed company; a community interest company registered at Companies House; or a combined or local authority or statutory body
You cannot apply if your collection is distributed or exhibited for profit, if your collection is only sound, music, paper or other static form, if you can access devolved or other funding for similar activity, or if you are an individual or a partnership
Individual Skills funding is separate and is for individuals only: you must currently work in the UK screen heritage sector or be able to demonstrate an intention to work in it, be a UK national or UK resident, be aged 18 or over, and have a UK bank account; colleagues from the same organisation wanting shared training must apply for Project funding instead
Resilience funding, which was also for screen archive organisations, is closed - applications for 2026-29 closed on 31 March 2026

What it funds

Project funding supports:

Expanding audience access to UK screen heritage collections with a focus on underserved and underrepresented communities
Addressing gaps in collections so they better represent the diversity of UK communities
Community-led collecting, cataloguing, curation and interpretation
Safe preservation and access
Collecting contemporary screen works, digital preservation workflows and solutions for digital material
Knowledge sharing across the sector
Work with formal and informal learning partners
Professional development, entry-level training, sabbaticals in other screen heritage organisations, conferences and networking
Limited digitisation where it supports project delivery, access or diversifying collections

Access created must be free to the public.

Individual Skills bursaries cover short training courses of no more than three months, travel and subsistence for training or short-term work, accommodation, care support costs, disability access support beyond an employer's reasonable adjustments, professional association membership fees where required to access training, coaching, mentoring and bespoke training.

Bursary cost caps: accommodation £180 a night in London or overseas, £150 a night elsewhere in the UK, subsistence £60 a day, economy travel only with no flights within mainland UK.

What it will not fund

Resilience funding - applications for 2026-29 closed on 31 March 2026 and the guidelines are published for reference only
Organisations whose screen heritage collection is distributed or exhibited for profit
Collections that are only sound, music, paper or other static form
Organisations that can access devolved or other funding supporting similar activities
Applications from individuals or partnerships (for Project funding)
Costs relating to an extension of ongoing work
Capital (building project) expenditure
Equipment expenditure exceeding 8% of the amount requested from the BFI
Activity already specifically supported by another external funder or by other BFI funding
Costs incurred before an offer of funding from the BFI
Promotional items such as printed brochures, tote bags and merchandise that do not support environmental sustainability
Open fees or flat financial allowances for volunteers - only receipted expenses are eligible
For Individual Skills bursaries: training already subsidised in full by your employer, undergraduate or postgraduate degree courses, general living expenses such as rent, bills or debts, retrospective costs, and tickets to events with no clear training element

How to apply

Read the relevant guidelines in full - Project funding or Individual Skills funding - before starting; the application link sits inside the guidelines
For Project funding, optionally send an expression of interest first and the BFI will give feedback on your eligibility
Contact the team at ScreenHeritageFund@bfi.org.uk to discuss your project in advance, or to register for one of the online Q&A sessions
Create an account on the BFI online application portal
Complete and submit the full application with all required templates and documents

Project funding applications must be submitted at least 16 weeks before the planned start of the funded activity, or they are ineligible and will be declined

Individual Skills bursary applications must be submitted at least 8 weeks before the training or development activity starts; payments can take up to two weeks to clear after contracts are signed

Resilience funding is closed - applications for 2026-29 closed on 31 March 2026

incomplete applications are automatically ineligible

Have ready

Project budget, on the BFI template
KPI targets for the duration of the project, on the BFI template
Job descriptions for any new staff posts you want the BFI to fund

for a multi-year project, also your last set of independently examined or audited accounts, organisational budget and forecast through to 2029, and your organisational risk register

for an Individual Skills bursary instead - a CV showing your screen heritage experience, a personal statement, a completed budget template, and evidence of each cost such as course details, accommodation links and travel quotes

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