Learning Through Making Fund

A new fund supporting making and material exploration in visual art organisations across the UK.

The Learning Through Making fund supports UK-based visual art organisations to bring opportunities for making into their work in art education. We believe making matters. Working with materials – testing, shaping, experimenting and playing – changes how we think and learn.

We are looking to support exploratory projects that embrace openness, collaboration and iteration. We want 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 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.

We are particularly interested in approaches that challenge assumptions about making, and do not set out predefined outcomes.

What becomes possible when we let materials lead?

The Learning Through Making fund will support projects of any length, taking place between 1 January and 31 December 2027 with funding of up to £25,000. Funding will be provided no earlier than December 2026. This fund is an invitation to reclaim space for experimentation, curiosity and material exploration. We want to learn what happens when organisations begin with materials, processes and play, rather than fixed outcomes, and what a small grant can unlock for artists, participants and communities. 

The Learning Through Making fund will provide small grants of up to £25,000 for visual art education projects that engage audiences with the process of making and exploration of materials.

What do we mean when we say making…?
We mean the hands-on experience of working with materials of any type.

What do we mean when we say materials...?
We mean anything you might use to make art! Anything and anywhere your work takes you: recycling, sheets of metal, found objects, paint, paper, clay, mycelium, cloth…

This fund is intended to provide an opportunity for activity to take place that might not otherwise be possible, i.e.

• Providing materials, transport, or access to expertise and facilities.
• To provide a making-focused element to existing activity.

We also welcome action-research projects that trial something new and do not have fully defined outcomes, i.e.

• Projects that seek to enable learning through exploration and testing.
• Projects that develop material literacy through a new series of workshops or events.

Proposed projects can be of any length, from a few days to activity that takes place over a number of months, but they must be take place between 1 January and 31 December 2027.

The Learning Through Making fund consists of a one-stage application process.

To apply, please download the application documents below and email your completed form to grants@freelandsfoundation.co.uk with the subject line ‘LTM Fund – Application’

You may also submit one additional page with any images, diagrams, or visual aids to support your responses in the application.

The deadline for applications is 12pm, Friday 11 September 2026.

The Learning Through Making fund is open to organisations that meet the below eligibility criteria. You can also use our quick online eligibility checker here. 

1.  UK based 
Freelands Foundation can only fund organisations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, with activity occurring within the United Kingdom.

2. Charitable Purpose
Only visual arts organisations which are run with a charitable purpose and for public benefit are eligible for funding.

We use Charity Commission of England and Wales definitions, and you can find more information on charitable purpose here and on public benefit here.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Organisations registered with The Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Scottish Charity Regulator, or The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland.
• Exempt charities.
• Galleries, museums, or organisations which are part of a Local Authority.
• Galleries, museums, or organisations part of a larger charitable organisation, such as a university.
• Community Interest Companies, Community Benefit Societies, and other organisations with charitable purposes run for public benefit. (For these types of organisations, please see below for additional eligibility requirements).

3. Community Interest Companies and other organisation types 
In order to be eligible for the Learning Through Making fund, organisations such as Community Interest Companies must demonstrate:

• Their activities fall within charitable purposes determined by Charity Commission for England and Wales.
• Have asset lock provisions in the organisation’s governing document.
• Prohibit payment of dividends or other disbursement of surplus funds or profits.
• Be able to physically segregate restricted funds, usually through a separate bank account.

Please note: Organisations who have a prior or existing grant relationship with Freelands Foundation are eligible to apply to the Learning Through Making fund. You may not apply for funding for activity that is already funded by Freelands Foundation.

Find out more about the eligibility of your organisation through our Application Guidance doc. If you have any further queries, please contact us at grants@freelandsfoundation.co.uk.

Freelands Foundation is committed to making the application process for our grants as accessible as possible.

If anyone in your organisation requires additional assistance or information in accessible formats or an alternative submission format, please email grants@freelandsfoundation.co.uk with the subject line ‘LTM Fund – Access’ or call 0203 598 7081 and we will arrange for a Grants Manager to call you back.

You can also submit an Access Form with your application to let us know about any barriers you or members of your team may experience when applying for the Learning Through Making fund. Freelands Foundation will use this form to understand your needs and make reasonable adjustments.

Online Application Support sessions 

To support organisations with the application process, we are running two online application support sessions to provide an opportunity for you to find out more about the Learning Through Making fund and ask questions to our team. Recordings and transcripts will be made available one week after each session.

Our next Application Support Session will take place 10.30am – 12pm, Wednesday 12 August. You can register to attend here.

Missed our previous session? Watch the recording and download the transcript here.