Funding and support
The Arts Service aims to support and promote a wide range of activities and events, provide information about sources of arts funding, and offer advice about other available resources and help in making arts funding applications. We can also help with planning and coordinating arts activities and events for local festivals and galas.
If you would like advice and support to implement your own programme, please contact the Arts Service.
East Lothian Visual Artists and Craft Makers Awards (VACMA)
Run in partnership with Creative Scotland, the Visual Artist and Craft Makers Awards (VACMA) are available for individual artists and makers, based or resident in East Lothian.
The purpose of these bursaries is to support visual artists and craft makers in their creative and professional development.
The VACMA scheme offers two levels of bursaries:
- Bursaries of £1,000 (For applicants that have been practicing for over 5 years, regardless of whether they have gone through formal education or not.)
- Early-career bursaries of £500 (For applicants that have less than 5 years’ experience outside of education/training, graduated in 2019 or later, or that have not studied art formally but have been practising as an artist for up to 5 years.)
In addition, requests for support towards Personal Access Costs will be considered. Personal Access Costs are treated separately to your bursary request, this is to ensure that applicants with access needs are able to use the full bursary for their planned activity.
There will be two funding rounds in 2024/2025, the closing dates are:
- Autumn Deadline Tuesday 22 October 2024 at 5pm
- Winter Deadline Tuesday 4 February 2025 at 5pm
On this page, download the application form, and several other documents that will help you make your application.
Applications should be emailed to artsservice@eastlothian.gov.uk by the deadline given.
Download application form and supporting documents
Call out for art exhibitions at Dunbar Town House & Gallery
Each year East Lothian Council Arts Service supports an array of visual artists or craft makers to present their work to the public at the Council run Dunbar Town House Museum & Gallery, providing a platform on which to present their work, engage with the public and further their reputation within the community. We are now looking for two artists to join us to exhibit their work in the Gallery from April - June 2025.
Interested? Find out more here!
If you are reading this and wondering if it is for you please do read on - and if you have any questions or need some assistance with your application please contact the Arts Service team.
The Arts Award Scheme
The scheme provides support to individual young people who are resident in East Lothian to attend arts courses to develop new skills.
Download application form and guidelines
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland distributes funding for the arts, screen and creative industries from two primary sources, the Scottish Government and the National Lottery.