Youth Music — NextGen Fund (rolling rounds)

Grants of up to 3,000 pounds for emerging creatives to make their own ideas happen, and the eligibility is unusually deliberate about who it is trying to reach. You need to be 18 to 25, or 18 to 30 if you identify as d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodivergent. Crucially you must never have received funding before, be at an early career stage, and face significant barriers to furthering your career. If you have been funded already, this is not your fund.

It covers early-stage musicians and music-adjacent creatives, so the definition is broader than performers alone — the point is helping young people invest in themselves, build skills and get an idea made. Round 14 runs from 28 August to 25 September 2026, deadline 5pm, with notifications in January 2027.

Youth Music publishes both the application guidance and a copy of the form questions so you can draft offline, though submission is online only. Access support is substantial: up to 350 pounds from an application access fund to help you apply, plus personal access costs on top of any grant to help you deliver the project.

One unusually candid note in the guidance: Youth Music is not against applicants using AI, but warns that AI answers tend to read as generic and alike, which counts against you at assessment.