COVID-19 grants

These grants are now closed to applications. We may open the scheme again if more funding becomes available.

The Heritage Crafts Association (HCA) is offering grants of up to £500 for craftspeople operating as sole traders and small businesses to invest in something that will help make their business more sustainable during the COVID-19 pandemic (and in the months that follow) or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured.

Based on the result of our recent sector survey, crafts businesses are being particularly hard hit by the economic implications of the crisis, so this fund has been set up to help small crafts businesses access new markets, trial new ways of operating, or keep them afloat until they can be more sustainable.

Examples might include (but are not limited to) investing in:

• market research and development of products suited to the emerging economy;
• tools and equipment to make new products;
• targeted advertising to reach out to new markets;
• improved online presence to develop the mail order side of your business;
• training and skills development;
• developing online teaching/workshops as an income stream; or
• paying the bills until a time when applicants have reason to believe that business will improve.

Applications will be considered based on the potential of the idea to develop new ways of working that will improve craftspeople’s sustainability during difficult times or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured. As well as the grants, the HCA has some capacity to provide advice and guidance to help applicants make their idea a reality.

The initial deadline for applications is Friday 15 May 2020 at 5pm. Funds are limited, so unsuccessful applicants from this round may be contacted again in future if more funding is secured later, to ask if they want their applications to be reassessed in future rounds.

Applicants must:

• be heritage craftspeople (practising a craft that requires a high degree of hand skill and has been practised in the UK for two generations or more, including migrant crafts);
• demonstrate how they will use the grant to make their business more sustainable during and after the COVID-19 pandemic or to ‘bridge the gap’ until future income can be secured;
• be HCA members or indicate in their project plan that they will allocate part of their grant to a year’s membership (£20 for members and £40 for small businesses); and
• not have received funding of more than £500 from the HCA in the last 24 months.

These grants are now closed to applications. We may open the scheme again if more funding becomes available.