Essentials Fund - Sound and Music

Applications open for Round 2

Deadline: Thursday 20 March 2025, 23:59 UTC

The Essentials Fund is a new fund open to any composers, music creators or artists working creatively with music and sound, to purchase essentials for their practice.  We will support a minimum of 20 composers each year.

We will run several open calls annually and reflect and evaluate our approach regularly to ensure this offer remains relevant and supports composers where it will make the most impact.

Round One received 230+ applications and we awarded 11 funds
Round Two of the Essentials Fund is now open, see below for details.

The Essentials Fund is made possible thanks to the generous support from Arts Council England and the Francis Chagrin Award. Francis Chagrin was the founder of the Society for the Promotion of New Music (SPNM), one of the new music organisations that merged to form Sound and Music in 2008.

See previous Essential Fund awardees

“Receiving the Sound and Music funding was a transformative experience that significantly shaped and redefined my creative journey. It provided essential financial support and instilled a deep sense of validation, affirming that my music and artistic voice truly matter.”Essentials Fund Awardee

How does it work?

The Essentials Fund offers small grants of £250–£400 to support your artistic development by covering costs for self-learning projects, equipment, mentoring, or other expenses directly related to your work. Multiple funding rounds will be available each year.

This fund can support a range of activities, including but not limited to:

Enrolling in an online course
Engaging in a structured coaching or mentoring sessions
Purchasing and learning new software or hardware packages
Acquiring technical equipment integral to the creation of a specified new work or livestreaming opportunity (e.g., LED lighting panels or camera)
Developing a self-directed composition project that would benefit from a period of rehearsal, workshopping or collaboration with a musician(s), ensemble or other artistic collaborator (e.g., visual artist, other performing artist)
Undertaking a recording of existing work with one or more musicians

The costs must be associated with a composing or music-making practice. We are looking for applicants who have a clear idea of the activity or support they would like to access and what difference this will make. There is no requirement to complete a new work or have a performance date secured.

Who can apply?

The Essentials Fund is open to any composer, music creator or artist working creatively with music and sound.

To be eligible you must:

Be based in the UK
Be aged 18 or over by the application deadline
Not be in full or part-time education (in any subject) at the point of applying
Not be on one of our artist-development programmes (New Voices, Seed Award, In Motion, In the Making, or an active commission) at the time of applying
Not have received one of our funds, grants, commissions, awards, or participated on an artist development programme by Sound and Music in the last six months

We strongly encourage applicants from under-represented backgrounds, whether because of a protected or other characteristic, to apply to the Essentials Fund. We want to ensure that our work goes to support artists where the funding will have most impact. We know that despite many positive changes in recent years, there are many barriers in the sector that limit access to opportunities, and we actively want to address these imbalances. You can read more about our Fair Access Principles and our commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity.

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Grace Bailey (Grace.Bailey@SoundandMusic.org).

How do I apply?

Applications are now open for Round Two of funding. In this round of the Essentials Fund we will award a minimum of 11 grants of up to £400, with a minimum of six places awarded to composers in Levelling Up for Culture places.

Applications are open and the deadline to submit application is Thursday 20 March 2025, at midnight.

Open application form

In your application, we will ask you to explain what you want to spend the grant on and the total amount you are applying for.

The application form is on Airtable and we also accept video or audio applications. If you require the application form or information on this page in a different format in order to apply, please email Grace Bailey (Grace.Bailey@SoundandMusic.org).

In the application form, we will ask you the following:

to submit a short biography (up to 100 words)  
to answer questions on our online form (or submit a video or audio application of no more than two minutes) in which you describe the proposed activity or purchase you want the Fund to contribute to and the impact it will have on your practice
to complete our Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form

Please note that, if you have applied to In Motion 2025 and you are selected for the programme, you won't be eligible to receive an Essentials Fund in this round.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact us to help you select the right opportunity for you.

What happens next?

Applications will be scored by a panel consisting of our team and an external panellist. For Round Two, the external panellist is our Composer Advisory Group member Anthony R. Green, composer, performer and social justice artist.

High-scoring applications are shortlisted and the panel meet to make the final selection for each round of the Essentials Fund.

We will inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by Monday 31 March 2025.