Revenue grants of up to £25,000 are available to UK-based visual art organisations to bring opportunities for learning through making into their work in art education in the UK.
The Freelands Foundation believes that working with materials - testing, shaping, experimenting and playing - changes how we think and learn.
Only visual arts organisations which are run with a charitable purpose and for public benefit are eligible for funding. This can include University and Local Authority Galleries/Museums/Organisations.
The Foundation is particularly interested in approaches that challenge assumptions about making, and do not set out predefined outcomes (ie "what becomes possible when we let materials lead?").
The Foundation is looking to support exploratory projects that embrace openness, collaboration and iteration. It wants to enable organisations to work in an expansive way with materials, unpicking and challenging preconceptions about making and material literacy, interrogating practice and working in an open and collaborative way. This could mean, for example (please note that this is not an exclusive list):
- Trying out a new idea
- Developing workshops or events
- Adding a making-focused strand to existing work, or
- Improving access to materials, facilities, transport or specialist expertise.
The Learning Through Making fund will support projects of any length, taking place between Friday 1 January 2027 and Friday 31 December 2027 with revenue grants of up to £25,000. Funding will be provided no earlier than December 2026. No matched funding is required.
The Fund opened to applications on Wednesday 17 June 2026 with a deadline of midday (12 noon) on Friday 11 September 2026. Successful applicants are expected to be notified in late November 2026 with funding starting in December 2026.
The Foundation has scheduled a couple of online Application Support Sessions on the following dates:
- Thursday 9 July 2026 at 10:30am, and
- Wednesday 12 August 2026 at 10:30am.
Potential applicants to register to attend either Application Support Session via this link to Eventbrite.
Further information, guidance, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the application form can be found on the Foundation’s website.
There is a long list of exclusions so check the guidance carefully.