Wakefield Council — Culture Grants Programme 2026

A local authority grant programme for arts, heritage and creative projects across the Wakefield district, split into four strands so different kinds of applicant are not competing directly against each other.

Culture Grants Small is for constituted community groups, charities and CICs running arts and heritage projects. Medium and Large are both open to individuals as well as charities, CICs and other organisations, separated by the scale of the project rather than by who you are — which is what makes this worth a look for individual musicians, who are often shut out of council funding. Connecting Communities is aimed at large-scale arts organisations and focuses on community engagement in arts and culture.

The council does not publish grant amounts or the detailed eligibility and assessment criteria on its web pages. Both sit inside a downloadable application guidance document, alongside a separate toolkits document covering project access, evaluation, budgeting, management, promotion and environmental sustainability, plus guides to delivering and marketing events. Download the guidance before deciding which strand fits your project.

Wakefield also runs introductory sessions, both in person around the district and online, and publishes details of the projects it funded in 2025 and between 2022 and 2024. Reading those is the quickest way to gauge what actually gets supported here.