The Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Investment Programme 2028–33 is a multi-year funding initiative that provides regular revenue payments to eligible arts organisations, museums, and statutory public libraries across England. The investment period runs for 5 years from Saturday 1 April 2028 until Thursday 31 March 2033.
Applicants can request a minimum of £50,000 per year, with the same amount requested for each of the five years (no maximum amount is specified). The aim of the funding is to provide greater stability for arts organisation, enabling them to plan ahead, strengthen their resilience and deliver lasting benefits for people and places across England.
Funding is designed to support:
Activities that help organisations meet Arts Council England's objectives of supporting excellence, delivering for everybody, and reaching communities across England.
Activities that support and strengthen the wider cultural sector, such as sector development, networking, leadership, workforce development and specialist support services.
Organisational costs required to sustain and develop cultural organisations, including staffing, management, governance, business development and strategic growth.
Programmes that increase access to culture and creativity, particularly for children and young people and communities in areas with historically lower levels of cultural investment and engagement, and
The delivery of cultural and creative activities for the public across a range of disciplines, including combined arts, dance, digital arts, libraries, literature, museums, music, theatre and visual arts.
Further information, guidance and details about how to apply can be found on the Arts Council England website.
The Arts Council is running a series of information webinars for different groups of prospective applicants covering important information applicants should know, such as:
- Key dates
- How to prepare your application
- How to apply, and
- The stages you will navigate through as part of the application process.
Details about the information webinars is available on the Arts Council website.
The programme opened to applications on Tuesday 20 October 2026 with a deadline of midday (12 noon) on Tuesday 15 December 2026. Applicants are expected to be notified in July 2027.