Culture

Apply for funding

Application Guidelines

The Swiss Cultural Fund UK supports emerging and established Swiss artistic talents in the United Kingdom. Applicants must meet the following conditions in order to be considered:

Your Profile:

• Applicants must be Swiss nationals or must have been living in Switzerland continuously for at least five years and have a proven track record.
• Venues / institutions may apply on behalf of the Swiss artist(s) they are presenting.
  When applying on behalf of Swiss artists, venues / institutions must specify how they intend to allocate the funding they apply for.
• Artists who are students will not be supported by means of a bursary or similar grant.

Your Project:

• The Project must fall within the mission of the Swiss Cultural Fund: to support Swiss cultural interventions to UK audiences and contribute to an intercultural dialogue between Switzerland and the UK. Learn more
• The productions of a project that is in a Research & Development phase when applying can be supported. The R&D phase itself is not eligible for funding. The applicant must specify how they intend to allocate the funding they apply for.
• Artists can only apply once they have a project planned with a well-established and recognized not-for-profit cultural organization or venue in the UK.
• The same project cannot be supported twice.
  Example: the Fund supported the presentation of a new work, with which you now wish to tour. This second application does not qualify for support.

Your Application:

• The submission deadlines are stated below. The application must be submitted at least one month prior to the start date of the project. Applications submitted after the deadline cannot be considered.
• The application needs to be submitted in English and include the following essential documents: 

1. Completed Application Form
2. Budget (expenditure and projected income, including status of income)
3. CV(s) (max. two A4 pages per CV)
4. Additional PDF (max. two A4 pages) : image(s) and / or further relevant details about the project
   Optional content: Media file (max. one file)
   Note: Applications exceeding the stated PDF file sizes or lacking any of the essential contents will be rejected.

• Support for one artist or organization will generally not exceed £3000 over two consecutive financial years.

Selection Criteria

The Project must:

• demonstrate a high standard of artistic quality or specialist skill
• be innovative in subject and professional in implementation
• be accessible to the public
• promote sustainability and social inclusivity
• demonstrate an appropriate cost-benefit ratio. The project is suitably budgeted for.

Special attention is given to projects that:

• forge strong partnerships with renowned institutions throughout the UK to ensure the widest possible exposure and the best qualitative impact
• demonstrate how artistic perspectives can highlight diverse voices and innovative takes in societal topics
• engage with local artists and / or local communities
• stimulate Swiss artists’ career and network

Application deadlines 2024

February - 04.02.24

April - 21.04.24

September - 01.09.24

November - 10.11.24

Apply

Applicants will be contacted within three weeks of the relevant deadline.

Please note that the trustees are unable to enter into any correspondence about decisions taken in board meetings concerning financial support for particular projects. As an independent charity the Swiss Cultural Fund UK’s project budget is limited, therefore grants awarded generally do not exceed a maximum allocation of £3000 per project.

For information on creative visits to the UK go to Arts Infopoint UK.

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The Swiss Cultural Fund UK Limited is registered as a British charity (803628) and as a company limited by guarantee (02474866). It is operated by the Culture Section of the Embassy of Switzerland in the UK.