Funding for partnerships of arts/cultural organisations and up to ten schools to support delivery of effective arts-based teaching and learning opportunities in the primary classroom.
The purpose of this award is to support teachers to develop arts-based approaches which create equitable classrooms where all children learn and thrive. It is focused on:
- Pupils who experience systemic inequity and enabling them to access and make progress in their learning.
- Supporting arts organisations and schools working in equal partnerships to exchange and enrich their expertise.
- Recognising teachers are critical to pupils’ outcomes.
- Creating high-quality inspiring professional learning for teachers.
- Enabling teachers and artist practitioners to learn and work together in the classroom.
- Building a body of evidence and practice and understanding how the work improves equity for pupils.
- Generating sustainable changes in teaching and learning in schools for the long-term.
A range of applications are welcome, including those working on:
- Equity – all projects should focus on how arts-based approaches can build equity in schools so that pupils who experience systemic inequity can access and make progress in their learning.
- Arts-based approaches – learning experiences which use arts-based content and/or approaches to teach the curriculum. These can involve the following art forms: crafts; creative writing, including poetry and spoken word; dance; design; film; music; opera; photography; digital arts and media; theatre and drama; the visual arts; and cross-arts practices.
- Curriculum – supporting arts-based approaches in all subjects, from literacy, to humanities, to STEM. Some funded work has a broader focus, for example critical thinking; speech language and communication skills; or mental health and wellbeing. PHF does not prioritise, or have a preference for, any curriculum area or artform over another.
- Spreading practice – where teachers, senior leaders and arts partners collaborate to disseminate practice more widely in the schools, beyond participating teachers, to embed the approaches in colleagues’ practice and the curriculum.
ELIGIBILITY
Lead applicants must be one of the following:
- Primary schools operating in the state sector. They can be mainstream, SEND or Alternative Provision settings, working with primary-age children.
- Arts organisations can be charities, community organisations, social enterprises and not-for-profit companies active in the arts and culture sector.
The following criteria also apply:
- All applications must have solid partnerships in place.
- Each partnership must include one or more arts/cultural organisations.
- A minimum of six and a maximum of ten schools should be involved in each project, regardless of whether the lead applicant is either an arts/cultural organisation or a school.
- Each participating school should commit at least two teachers and one senior leader to the project, though flexibility can be offered to small, rural schools.
- Projects may include teachers of Nursery and Reception classes in primary schools.
- All schools must be operating in the state sector.
Applications will not be accepted directly from universities. However, universities may be a project partner – e.g. for evaluation purposes.
VALUE AND DURATION
Grants of up to £165,000 are available per application. They support both activity costs and core organisational costs which relate directly to the project.
Projects should last for two academic years.
KEY DATES
Call opens: end of August 2026 TBC
Outline application deadline: 11 November 2026 (decision within three weeks)
Full application deadline: 20 January 2027
More information including full guidelines and FAQs can be found on the opportunity webpage.
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has two funds focused on arts education. If the Teacher Development Fund isn’t the right fit for your project, it might be more suited to the Arts-based Learning Fund.