# Arts and heritage grants in Scotland: what is open now and who funds it

Creative Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, the Heritage Fund and Scottish trusts fund arts and heritage in Scotland. What was open on 26 October 2026, the amounts and the routes in.

- Author: OpenGrant
- Topic: [Funding by place](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/category/funding-by-place)
- Published: 2026-10-26
- Updated: 2026-10-26
- Source sites checked: 2026-10-26
- Canonical URL: https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/arts-and-heritage-grants-in-scotland
- Part of: [How to find grants for a UK charity: the complete guide](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/charity-grants-uk)

## Key facts

- OpenGrant listed 219 open, rolling and forthcoming arts, culture, heritage and science schemes applying in Scotland on 26 October 2026, out of 374 schemes for Scotland overall.
- Creative Scotland's National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations offers £1,000 to £100,000 on a rolling basis; the Open Fund for Individuals £500 to £50,000.
- Historic Environment Scotland's Historic Environment Grants Fund offers £1,000 to £25,000 rolling, and Scotland's Places of Worship Fund up to £1 million with a deadline of 31 March 2027.
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund funds heritage projects from £10,000 to £10 million UK-wide, in two bands split at £250,000.
- Awards for All Scotland funds arts and sports projects at up to £10,000 for 12 months, within its £300 to £20,000 range.

Arts and heritage organisations in Scotland can apply to four public funders with open programmes, Creative Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund, plus Scottish trusts and community benefit funds. On 26 October 2026 OpenGrant listed 219 open, rolling or forthcoming arts, culture, heritage and science schemes applying in Scotland. The Creative Scotland Open Funds and the Historic Environment Grants Fund are rolling, so there is always something open.

## The funding picture

Scotland's [browse page](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/in/scotland) showed 374 open, rolling and forthcoming schemes from 103 funders on 26 October 2026, 87 of them specific to Scotland, with 76 closing in the next 30 days. The [arts, culture, heritage and science theme](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/theme/arts-culture-heritage-science) had 301 schemes UK-wide from 98 funders, with a median stated maximum of £260,000, which reflects the weight of lottery and public programmes in this field. The devolved bodies are the difference from England: Creative Scotland distributes Scottish Government and National Lottery money for the arts, screen and creative industries, and Historic Environment Scotland is the lead public body for the historic environment. The regulator is OSCR, and the national infrastructure body is SCVO, which runs the free [Funding Scotland](https://funding.scot/) search.

## Creative Scotland

[Creative Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/creative-scotland) says its funding is "open to individuals, groups or organisations" and comes from two sources, the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. OpenGrant listed four of its schemes on 26 October 2026:

- [National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/624a592a-c83b-4770-9920-111d36d3b7ef): £1,000 to £100,000, rolling.
- [Open Fund for Individuals](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/c71e1776-6cf4-4a27-b819-f7e6f1cb9b72): £500 to £50,000, rolling.
- [Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/973a689a-9d63-4404-973d-92e289be7d02): deadline 7 December 2026.
- [International Touring and Environmental Responsibility Programme](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/2bd85b98-7400-4666-837a-0919ed426757).

Creative Scotland publishes a single list of funding and development programme deadlines for itself, Screen Scotland and partner organisations, and runs its own funding portal. The Open Funds are the usual route for a project or a touring production; multi-year funding for a portfolio of organisations is a separate, periodic process.

## Historic Environment Scotland

[Historic Environment Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/historic-environment-scotland), a Scottish charity (SC045925) and public body with register income of £145 million, had four schemes listed on 26 October 2026:

- [Historic Environment Grants Fund](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/1e21697f-c6c7-456c-a883-97e60b95b5d3): £1,000 to £25,000, rolling.
- [Scotland's Places of Worship Fund](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/343d6d7e-a237-455c-9016-dedb031ae58c): up to £1 million, deadline 31 March 2027.
- [Heritage and Place Fund](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/48fc79d0-4e57-4ccf-9b0c-7cf6af772f41): £750,000 to £1.5 million, status unconfirmed.
- [Householder Thatching Materials Grant](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/1cca0845-6059-4240-82cd-1519948f9a35): up to £5,000, rolling.

Its published grants show the scale of what it funds: 692 grants on 360Giving with a median of £65,700 across the 100 most recent, 84% of them to registered charities, and a range from £250 to £2.79 million. Its grants priorities are tied to its corporate plan, and it publishes a list of other sources of funding for historic buildings. For capital work, read [capital versus revenue funding](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/capital-vs-revenue-funding-charities) before you plan the budget.

## The National Lottery Heritage Fund

The [National Lottery Heritage Fund](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/national-lottery-heritage-fund) funds "heritage projects from £10,000 up to £10 million" across the UK, through two programmes split at £250,000: National Lottery Heritage Grants £10,000 to £250,000 and £250,000 to £10 million. Its funding page lists heritage types from buildings and monuments to landscapes, parks and nature, and museums, libraries and archives, and it has a Scotland region. On 26 October 2026 OpenGrant's record for its main UK-wide programme was unconfirmed, and the one dated round, [Nature Networks Fund round six](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/f155f2e5-7cdd-4a16-8c2f-4c6b43672edd), was for Wales only. The Fund has published 49,041 grants to 360Giving, with a median recent award of £10,000, which shows how many small community heritage grants it makes.

## Lottery community funding for arts projects

[Awards for All Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/opportunities/c2cd3130-2442-424e-aba2-6bc901ef5171) funds projects that bring people together, with a decision in 12 weeks, and has a specific rule for this field: "For projects that focus on the arts or sports, you can apply for up to £10,000 for work lasting up to 12 months", within its £300 to £20,000 range. The England version is covered in [how to apply to Awards for All England](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-national-lottery-awards-for-all-england); the Scotland page is the authority for Scottish applicants. The Fund also listed Young Start main grants (£20,001 to £150,000 for children and young people in Scotland) and Community Action (£20,001 to £250,000).

## Scottish trusts and community benefit funds

[The Gannochy Trust](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/gannochy-trust) funds arts, culture and heritage among its purposes, but from 1 July 2026 only for Perth and Kinross charities and existing Rest of Scotland grant holders; [our Gannochy guide](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-gannochy-trust) has the deadlines. [Foundation Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/foundation-scotland) administered 46 open or forthcoming schemes on 26 October 2026, most of them community benefit funds tied to wind farms and other developments, such as the Kinross-shire Fund (up to £3,000, deadline 8 January 2027) and the Caithness Futures Fund (up to £20,000, 31 October 2026); arts and heritage activity in those areas is usually eligible. [The Robertson Trust](https://opengrant.co.uk/funders/robertson-trust) had no open scheme in OpenGrant's sources on 18 October 2026. To find the smaller Scottish trusts that fund culture, run the [peers lookup](https://opengrant.co.uk/peers) on a comparable Scottish charity's SC number and read the GrantNav grants it returns.

## Where to search and what to check

Use OpenGrant's [Scotland page](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/in/scotland) and the [arts theme page](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/theme/arts-culture-heritage-science) together, then confirm on [Funding Scotland](https://funding.scot/). Three checks apply to this field in particular: whether the programme funds organisations or individuals (Creative Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland run separate funds for each), whether it is capital or revenue, and whether the funder wants a project enquiry before a full application, as the Heritage Fund does for larger grants. For what closes soon, [UK grants closing this month](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/grants-closing-this-month-uk) explains the deadline pages.

## Frequently asked questions

### What arts and heritage grants are open in Scotland now?

On 26 October 2026 OpenGrant listed 219 open, rolling or forthcoming schemes for arts, culture, heritage and science projects applying in Scotland. Creative Scotland's Open Funds for organisations and individuals were open on a rolling basis, Historic Environment Scotland's Historic Environment Grants Fund and Places of Worship Fund were open, the National Lottery Heritage Fund's two main programmes were open UK-wide, and Awards for All Scotland was open with a 12-week decision.

### How much does Creative Scotland give?

The National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations offers £1,000 to £100,000 and the Open Fund for Individuals £500 to £50,000, both on a rolling basis according to the records OpenGrant holds. Creative Scotland also runs targeted programmes such as the Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance, which had a 7 December 2026 deadline, and publishes a combined deadline list for its own and partner programmes.

### Who funds heritage building repairs in Scotland?

Historic Environment Scotland is the lead public body, with a Historic Environment Grants Fund of £1,000 to £25,000 and Scotland's Places of Worship Fund of up to £1 million open on 26 October 2026, and a Heritage and Place Fund at £750,000 to £1.5 million. The National Lottery Heritage Fund funds buildings and monuments from £10,000 upwards across the UK. Historic Environment Scotland's published grants show a typical recent award of £65,700.

### Can a Scottish arts charity apply to the Gannochy Trust?

Only if it is based or working in Perth and Kinross. From 1 July 2026 the Trust accepts Rest of Scotland applications only from existing or recent grant holders, and its open Rest of Scotland programme ends in July 2027. Its Perth and Kinross grants cover culture, heritage and play for children and young people among other aims.

### Which regulator and registers matter for Scottish applicants?

OSCR, the Scottish Charity Regulator, registers Scottish charities and SCIOs, and funders that ask for a charity number will accept an SC number. The National Lottery Community Fund, Creative Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland all accept constituted non-charities for some programmes, so check each scheme's eligibility section rather than assuming registration is required.

## Find grants

- [Grants in Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/in/scotland) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/in/scotland.md)
- [Arts, culture, heritage and science grants](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/theme/arts-culture-heritage-science) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/theme/arts-culture-heritage-science.md)
- [Grants for charities and community groups in Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities/in/scotland) (Markdown: https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/for/charities/in/scotland.md)
- [Browse arts and heritage grants in Scotland](https://opengrant.co.uk/grants/in/scotland)

## Related guides

- [How to apply to the Gannochy Trust: who it funds, typical awards and deadlines](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-gannochy-trust): The Gannochy Trust funds registered charities in Perth and Kinross with grants of up to £30,000 a year and more. Who qualifies, what it pays, and the 2026 and 2027 deadlines.
- [Capital vs revenue funding: a guide for UK charities](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/capital-vs-revenue-funding-charities): Understand capital and revenue grant costs, split a mixed project budget and check what a funder will pay for before applying.
- [UK grants closing this month: how to find them and apply in time](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/grants-closing-this-month-uk): 138 UK grant schemes had October 2026 deadlines and 121 close in November 2026. How to see what closes when, decide which are worth a late application, and avoid the traps.
- [How to apply to National Lottery Awards for All England: eligibility, amounts and decision time](https://opengrant.co.uk/blog/how-to-apply-to-national-lottery-awards-for-all-england): National Lottery Awards for All England gives £300 to £20,000 for community projects lasting up to two years, with no deadline and a decision in 16 weeks. Who can apply and how.

## Sources and further reading

- [Creative Scotland: Funding](https://www.creativescotland.com/funding)
- [Historic Environment Scotland: Grants and funding](https://www.historicenvironment.scot/grants-and-funding/)
- [The National Lottery Heritage Fund: Funding](https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/funding)
- [The National Lottery Community Fund: National Lottery Awards for All Scotland](https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/funding-programmes/national-lottery-awards-for-all-scotland)
- [Funding Scotland (SCVO)](https://funding.scot/)

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