Arts Council of Wales opens five new funds to support arts projects

The Arts Council of Wales (ACW) has opened five new funds to support arts projects as part of a change in the way it distributes arts funding from the National Lottery.

These changes are rooted in recent feedback and data gathered from the arts sector in Wales, giving a clearer and refreshed understanding of where targeted support can make the most difference, and shaping the structure of the funds to better meet the sector’s needs.

The five new funding schemes opening are:

Create & Engage
This is a streamlined update to ACW’s former Create programme, where the main beneficiaries are the people and audiences engaging with the arts activity.

Festivals 
ACW’s new dedicated festivals programme, supporting focused, time-limited festivals that deliver vibrant, high-quality arts programmes and reach the widest possible audience. 

Research & Development 
This scheme supports the development and creation of high-quality and ambitious work to reach audiences in the future.

Creative Practice
A funding scheme dedicated to supporting artists and creative professionals in their development, enabling time for creative experimentation, professional growth and working in new ways.

Creative Steps for Individuals or Organisations
Creative Steps is open to artists, creatives or organisations that are led by individuals who identify as ethnically and culturally diverse, D/deaf, disabled or neurodivergent.

All the details and deadlines can be found on the ACW Funding pages here.

A sixth Lottery-funded scheme Major Productions went live last November and has recently made its first awards. The next deadline will be confirmed soon.

These funds all form part of a wider shift in how Arts Council of Wales invests money raised by National Lottery players for good causes — part of the more than £53 billion players have raised for good causes across the UK since 1994.

Arts Council of Wales also has specific Lottery-funded schemes for arts, health and wellbeing and the Welsh Language.

Catryn Ramasut, Director of Arts at Arts Council of Wales, said: “We know demand for arts funding is high, and these new funds are a direct response to what we heard from the sector and what the evidence showed us.

“They’re designed around how artists and organisations actually work — and the different kinds of support they need at different stages. We want a funding landscape that’s easier to navigate, more equitable in who it reaches, and genuinely useful to everyone making and sharing great work in Wales.”