New £2.25 million fund for disabled young people to help equalise access to arts
Howard Lake | 5 September 2025 | News
Youth Music has announced a new one-off £2.25 million fund, Shift the Scene, to improve access to the arts and creative education for disabled children and young people.
The fund’s launch included calls from public figures about the urgent need to break down barriers to the arts for disabled young people.
Youth Music is the charity that helps marginalised young people make and monetise music. Alongside the fund, it has published a report, Excluded by Design, which exposes the systemic barriers Disabled young people face when accessing the arts.
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The charity already invests £1.5 million per year into music projects for disabled children, young people, and adults. However, the charity recognised that it needed to commit to providing additional support following concerning findings in the report which revealed that disabled young people:
- participate less in the arts than their non-disabled peers
- have shorter-term engagement
- are less likely to be involved in community-based activity outside of the home, and are more likely to think there are not enough clubs and activities in their local area
- are far less likely to be employed in the arts
Youth Music CEO, Matt Griffiths, said:
“We must conclude from this research that the arts sector is failing disabled young people. There are some brilliant people and organisations out there offering disabled people creative opportunities, but the research tells us they’re the exception, not the norm. The proportion of disabled people in the arts workforce is increasing, but remains woefully low.
“The barriers disabled young people and adults face in accessing the creative arts, and building sustainable careers, are not inevitable. We can all bring more equity into the way we work. That means giving extra support to those who need it the most. We’ve ringfenced £2.25 million into our new fund, Shift the Scene, to provide long-term opportunities to Disabled young people and give a real boost to this area of work. We urge others to read the report, and think about the part they can play to help equalise creative outcomes”.
George Webster, Bafta award winning CBeebies presenter and disability advocate, added:
“There aren’t many opportunities in music for young people with disabilities, and this needs to change. Music is a way of having voices heard. Young people with a disability need to be heard, too. Music will give them an amazing opportunity to stand up for themselves and for them to change the world’s old-fashioned views and perspectives on disability.”
How and when to apply
Shift the Scene will fund creative opportunities for disabled young people, pushing for “genuine inclusion, ambition and accessibility”. Through advocacy, creativity, and community, Youth Music is looking for organisations to ‘shift the scene’ and create spaces where disabled voices lead.
Grants will be made to organisations for work that is sustained over a three to four year period.
Opportunities will be funded across all art forms, not just music.
The fund is not for:
- Individuals
- New organisations
- Organisations in Scotland and Wales
- One-off or short-term projects
- Organisations that don’t have a track record of creative work with disabled young people
The fund will open for applications on 31st October 2025, with a deadline of 28th November 2025. Successful applicants will be notified by 27th March 2026.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.