Youth Arts Fund

Overview

In August 2020, the Scottish Government announced that the culture and heritage sectors in Scotland were to benefit from a £59 million funding package to protect jobs and help the industry weather the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

As part of this announcement £3m was allocated to support youth arts and ensure creative opportunities for children and young people continue to exist across Scotland despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Youth Arts Fund is being distributed by the following routes:

• A Targeted fund of £1.05m supporting the key infrastructure for youth arts and youth music, by inviting 20 established regional and national organisations to apply for awards of between £30k and £70k to help plan the recovery of youth arts activity across Scotland from October 2020. This fund is now closed to applications.
• An open Access fund of at least £1.2m offering grants of between £5k and £30k to individuals and organisations who run youth arts programmes to support activity from March 2021 onwards. This fund is now closed to applications.
• A Small Grants scheme of £700k to devolve funds of between £10k and £50k locally for artist led projects in early learning, schools, and other family support and community settings from January 2021. This fund is now closed to applications.
• A £50k boost to the Nurturing Talent Fund to provide opportunities to young, emerging artists who are entering a challenging funding environment. This fund is now closed to applications.
• A new £300K Youth Arts Fund: Bursary Programme supporting early career artists and creative practitioners aged 18-24 across Scotland in the wake of Covid-19. This fund is now closed to applications.

Details of the recipients of the Youth Arts Access Fund and Nurturing Talent Fund: New Routes were announced on Thursday 18 February.