Funding for individuals (Arts Council of Wales)

This is the Arts Council of Wales gateway for individual artists rather than a single scheme, and the differences between the funds behind it matter more than the shared front door. Creative Practice pays £500–£10,000 for time to develop as an artist — mentoring, research visits, residencies, training, testing new approaches — and is the one most working musicians reach for. Research and Development supports making and testing new work with partners. Create and Engage funds work made to reach audiences and communities. Creative Steps is aimed at artists who have faced barriers to a career in the arts. The International Opportunities Fund covers work built with partners abroad.

Eligibility is shared and strict: over 18, living in Wales as your main residence, not in full-time education, with evidence of a track record of work presented to audiences. Musicians, composers and music creators are explicitly welcome, but commercial music-making is not supported, and neither is film or literature, which sit with Ffilm Cymru and Literature Wales.

Creative Practice runs to fixed deadlines — the next is 1pm on 9 September 2026 — and requires ten working weeks between the deadline and your project's start date, plus a budget on the Council's template and an artistic CV of no more than two sides. Assessors weigh your track record, the progression the work represents, the strength of the proposal and whether the costs fit it. Other schemes set their own dates.