GrantRadar

Youth Music

Trailblazer Fund

Grants of £2,000 to £30,000, supported by Arts Council England, for organisations running projects in England that help children and young people aged 25 or under make, learn and earn in music. A project should trial work or test a new way of working, sustain a grassroots programme, or disrupt the status quo, and must meet at least one of six themes. Schools, colleges, academies and academy trusts cannot apply, which is deliberate: the fund exists to prioritise grassroots music organisations.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£2,000 – £30,000
Deadline
28 days left
20 November
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Constituted UK-based organisations running a project in England
  • Sole traders and individuals cannot apply, and nor can schools, colleges, academies, pupil referral units, special schools or multi- and single-academy trusts
  • A voluntary group not registered with Companies House or the Charity Commission must have a constitution and a management committee, and every applicant must be legally constituted before submitting
  • Organisations set up less than a year before the deadline can apply for a maximum of £15,000 rather than £30,000
  • You need a bank account in the organisation's name, and accounts showing income and expenditure for the last financial year plus a summary of assets and liabilities, less than 18 months old
  • The applicant organisation must be actively involved in managing or delivering the project; partnership working is fine, but handing the majority of the grant to a third party who plans, manages and delivers it makes the application ineligible
  • You must hold a safeguarding policy meeting Youth Music's minimum standards, be committed to improving inclusion, diversity, equity and access, and provide fair working conditions and pay
  • You must also commit to raising at least 10% match funding, at least 5% of it in cash, which cannot come from Arts Council England or National Lottery sources — though it need not be secured at the point of application

What it funds

Projects for children and young people aged 25 or under to make, learn and earn in music, lasting between 6 and 24 months including planning, set-up and evaluation time. The project must trial work or test a new way of working, sustain a grassroots programme, or disrupt the status quo — or all three — and must meet at least one of six themes:

  • Early years
  • Disabled, d/Deaf and neurodivergent young people
  • The youth justice system
  • Young people facing barriers
  • Young adults
  • Organisations and the workforce

The grant can fund a mix of delivery costs and core costs, with a proportion of the budget spent on delivery and no more than 20% on capital items.

All staff on the project must be paid at the real Living Wage or above.

Youth Music will also fund targeted work taking place in schools, mainly special schools and pupil referral units.

What it will not fund

  • Profit-making programmes
  • Costs incurred before Youth Music made you a grant offer
  • The purchase of land or buildings
  • Reclaimable VAT
  • Reserves, loans, or interest payments
  • Activity that promotes party political or religious beliefs
  • Activities that are a statutory responsibility
  • Costs incurred in making your application — Disabled applicants can apply to the Application Access Fund instead
  • Whole class tuition on the same instrument or group of instruments in schools
  • Individual tuition fees for young people to learn an instrument in school
  • GCSE or A Level Music
  • School-based music curriculum activity, unless in a special school, pupil referral unit or alternative provision setting
  • Applications from schools, colleges, academies, pupil referral units, special schools and multi- or single-academy trusts
  • Applications from sole traders and individuals
  • Applications where the majority of the grant is handed to a third party who will plan, manage and deliver the project

How to apply

  1. Wait for the round to open — Round 14 opens on 23 October 2026
  2. Download the applicant guidance and the application questions (both available in PDF and Word) and check you can answer yes to every eligibility statement
  3. Prepare your budget against the rules: delivery and core costs, no more than 20% capital, real Living Wage for all staff, and at least 10% match funding with 5% in cash
  4. Complete and submit the application through Youth Music's portal at https://youthmusic.my.site.com/ by 5pm on 20 November 2026

if you identify as Disabled you can apply to the Application Access Fund for up to £900 towards the cost of making the application — do this before you start writing

Youth Music accepts that organisations use AI to help draft applications but asks that answers honestly reflect your work; it finds AI answers often say too little about actual practice, which counts against you in assessment

Have ready

  • A set of accounts less than 18 months old, showing income and expenditure for the last financial year and a summary of assets and liabilities
  • Your safeguarding policy, and any other safeguarding documents evidencing your approach

if you are offered a grant you will later upload a signed funding agreement, evidence of bank details, an authorised signatories' mandate and responses to any assessment panel advice; first payment takes up to 30 days from submitting those.

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