Funding and Support Resources

Please find below a collection of resources that you may be eligible for or find useful. Wasps will keep adding to this page when new opportunities become available. For opportunities with deadlines, our tenants can log into the Wasps Tenant Portal by clicking the yellow tab below.

financial support for working artists

• The Hope Scott Trust was set up by the late Mrs Hope Scott to help promote music and the visual arts in Scotland. The Trust allocates a proportion of its resources to help musicians with commissions or grants for musical events and it also helps artists and sculptors (with a particular focus on emerging artists) with grants for exhibitions, catalogues and travel etc. Preference is given to applicants who are Scottish by birth, or live permanently in Scotland. Applications are evaluated on a quarterly basis. Click here for more information. 
• The Henry Moore Foundation funds exhibitions, projects, artworks and ideas that encourage new thinking about sculpture or contribute to public awareness of sculpture. Applications are now open for grants of up to £20,000. Click here for more information. 
• Creative Scotland’s Open Fund is always taking applications from individual artists. This fund is designed to support creative activity such as a specific project, production or a period of research and development. It can support an individual’s time where this is related to specific creative outcomes. You can request £500 up to £100,000. Click here for more information. 
• The Black Artists Grant, funded by Creative Debuts, is a no-strings attached financial support for Black artists. Recipients will be chosen monthly, and every few months this selector will change. There is no deadline as this is a monthly rolling grant, no age limit, and the grant does not expect any outcomes or reporting. Click here for more information. 
• We Are Here Scotland Creators Fund provides micro-funding and mentoring from industry professionals to BPoC artists and creatives to help them progress in their professional development. Funding can be used for: New equipment, Residencies, Individual projects, Collaborative projects, Exhibitions and Showcase. Creators’ Fund — We Are Here Scotland 
• The Elephant Trust provide grants of up to £2000 for artists in the fine arts and small organisations and galleries who should submit well argued, imaginative proposals for making or producing new work or exhibitions. Closing date for current round is 7th April 2024 Guidelines (elephanttrust.org.uk) 
• Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award (VACMA) offers small grants to visual artists and craft makers for their creative development at all stages of their career. These awards are supported by Creative Scotland through funding from the National Lottery in partnership with Live Borders, Dumfries & Galloway Council, DG Unlimited and Upland. The fund is open to Visual Artists / Craft Makers who can demonstrate a commitment to developing their creative practice and who are living or working or maintaining a studio space within the Local Authority area to which they are applying. The scheme is for individual artists and makers living and working in the Scottish Borders or Dumfries and Galloway. Applicants must be able to demonstrate a commitment to their work – whether they are at an early or established stage of their practice – and to advancing their skills and ideas 
• The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation funds young artists who are pursuing their studies or are in the early stages of their career, are working in the representational style of painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking and demonstrate the determination and talent to pursue a lifetime career in their art practice. The fund is open to applications worldwide.
• The William Syson Foundation is open to non-profit arts organisations and individuals who wish to apply for assistance. With a particular focus on individuals resident in Scotland, applications for small grants (up to £5,000) and larger grants (from £5,001) are welcome at any time. There is no deadline for applications. Click here for more information.
• To help keep track of your finances, you can purchase (for £1.49) this easy-to-use worksheet designed for freelancers and self-employed people on Etsy. Full instructions are included, and the spreadsheet picks up spend and income by category and by month, delivering monthly and yearly profit/loss. It also apportions household costs for you, based on the number of days per year that you work from home. Click here for the product page. 

financial support for you and your household

For energy saving costs and energy efficiency:

• You can find out if you’d be entitled to funding and discounts to make energy saving improvements (such as insulation, energy storage and draught-proofing) to your home on Home Energy Scotland’s Funding Finder. You can also check to see if you qualify for support to make travelling for you more energy efficient. Click here for more information.
• You can find out more ways on keeping your home warm and energy efficient this winter by completing a Home Energy Check questionnaire that will tailor advice according to what type of house you live in. Home Energy Scotland will give you information on what you should be expecting to pay for bills and how you can make changes to offset increasing costs. Click here for more information.
• If you want to understand more about energy tariffs and if it’s worthwhile changing, you can read the Energy Saving Trust‘s website for descriptions of different kinds of tariffs and how to switch suppliers if you choose to. Click here for more information.
• If you’d like to speak to a real person and get impartial expert advice on energy efficiency and find out if you’re eligible for financial support, you can call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 for free.

For money advice:

• Money Helper is a free service from the UK government that offers impartial advice on managing money and setting up budgets for your household. It’s a useful resource for planning your finances in a way that’s not overwhelming. Click here for more information.
• Also from the Money Helper, you can create a Budget Planner for yourself that’ll record your incomings and outgoings, categorise payments for you and give advice according to the information that you input. Click here to create a budget.
• The National Debtline offers free independent support for advice on how to deal with your debts, including live online webchat with a National Debtline advisor.
• Citizen’s Advice Scotland has a useful page on their website that can help you identify what benefits or grants you may be entitled to. Click here to check if there’s more you could be claiming.
• From Mental Health and Money Advice‘s website is this dedicated page offering guidance and resources to help you navigate the cost of living crisis that covers meal planning, council tax, fuel bills and more. Click here for that page.
• Money Saving Expert‘s Utilities page covers a range of typical household costs and how you can find more affordable deals. Click here to read more.
• StepChange is the UK’s largest provider of genuinely free independent debt advice and managed solutions, helping almost 600,000 people a year resolve problems, repay debts and rebuild lives.

professional development

• CuratorSpace is a project management toolkit for curators, organisers, galleries, and artists. It is designed to take the hassle out of managing various types of events or opportunities that artists organise. There are lots of useful resources and information about open calls that are shared on this platform.
• If you’re a freelancer taking bookings for events and workshops, check what the standard rates of pay are on the Scottish Artists’ Union website to make sure you’re receiving fair payment for your work. Click here for more information.
• ArtQuest is an online resource that’s created by artists for artists. Although some of the advice is specific to England only, there’s still a wealth of information and advice that’s applicable to artists based anywhere. Their How To page covers guides on just about every aspect of working life as an artist, from networking to invoicing.
• Curatorial/writing duo The White Pube have established a successful funding application library, which allows for artists and practitioners to submit their own successful applications to a database for other artists to use as examples for writing their own. Click here to browse.

support from the uk government

• The government’s Employment and Support Allowance scheme is available to anyone that’s living with a condition that affects their ability to work. You can apply to the scheme if you are self-employed, out of work or currently employed. Click here for more information.
• You can check if you’re entitled to any government support by using their online benefits calculator. To use it, you’ll need a few documents including a Council Tax bill, information about any savings and payslips from current work. Click here for more information.
• You can also check what is currently available to to you on the Check benefits and financial support you can get page that will take you through some questions to determine what assistance you can get with living costs. Click here for more information.