External funding options
Funding your creative future
Whether you are looking at undergraduate or postgraduate study, you’ll need to budget for tuition fees and living expenses, and think about how to fund your time at Trinity Laban. Fees vary from programme to programme and depend on whether you are a Home or International student.
There are many ways to fund your studies, so we’re here to help you make a start. Here is some information on student loans, alternative funding opportunities and advice on funding applications. Our Student Services Advisors are available to help you plan your budget and find your funding too.
If you’re looking for funding to support your training, there are charitable trusts and foundations that might be able to help.
Trusts and foundations have different approaches and criteria to awarding funding for education and training. They will normally provide clear and concise funding guidelines, both in terms of who is eligible to apply and in terms of what they will fund (i.e. whether this is help towards tuition fees, maintenance (living costs), purchase of a musical instrument, or travel costs).
The amount that each trust awards to individuals will vary; it is likely that you will need to apply to a range of trusts to make up any deficit in your funding.
Please be aware that many trusts have early deadlines, so you will need to allow plenty of time and start your funding search well in advance of the academic year for which you require financial support. You may find it more difficult, therefore, if you are looking for funding towards the current academic year; however, some trusts will accept applications submitted at any time of the year.
Directories
Most of the directories listed below can be found in the Jerwood Library of Performing Arts:
The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding
The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding is all about alternative sources of funding – especially charities – which can make awards (fees, maintenance, research costs) to any student regardless of subject or nationality. It contains a huge database of funding opportunities, comprehensive guidance, and numerous tools to help you prepare a winning grant application. Trinity Laban has purchased a licence to the Guide, and so students and staff can login and use it for free.
If you are a prospective student who has been offered a place at Trinity Laban, please email the Student Services department to get an access PIN. A printed copy of the Guide is held by the Student Services department and is available on a reference basis to current Trinity Laban students.
The Guide to Educational Grants
Published by the Directory of Social Change. This is a very useful and clearly set out resource, setting out details of a huge range of trusts and charities that provide funding to individuals for education and training. Available in the Jerwood Library and the Laban Library.
The Grants Register: The Complete Guide to Postgraduate Funding Worldwide
Published by Palgrave Macmillan. The most comprehensive guide on postgraduate grants and professional funding globally. Available in the Jerwood Library.
The British & International Music Yearbook
Published by Rhinegold. Contains sections on scholarship and grants for study and research in the UK and abroad. Available in the Jerwood Library.
The Grants Register
Published by Palgrave Macmillan. Annual guide to postgraduate funding worldwide. It is possible to search for an award within a specific subject area. A list of awards by subject are further subdivided by nationality. Available in the Jerwood Library.
Charities Digest
Published by Wilmington Business Intelligence. The majority of information is about national charities and charities which cover whole regions of the country. Also includes key local organisations and charities that offer grants to individuals. The publication is also indexed to help you find the charity you need by focusing on the subject area you are looking for (for example, Education and Training). Available in the Jerwood Library.
The Guide to the Major Trusts
Published by the Directory of Social Change in two volumes. A guide for those seeking to raise money for charity from grant-making trusts and foundations. Includes details of the top 400 UK trusts; details of the grant-giving of each trust; descriptions of trusts’ grant-making policies and practices; examples of donations made; the trusts’ own guidelines and advice for applicants (including contact details and deadlines); independent commentary on the trusts’ activities and concerns. Available in the Jerwood Library.
The Guide to Grants for Individuals in Need
Published by the Directory of Social Change. Details of a wide range of funds and other support available for the relief of individual poverty and hardship. This directory is not aimed at funding for education, but there are useful funding bodies within it that may not be listed elsewhere. Available in the Jerwood Library.
Trusts & Foundations
Gilchrist Educational Trust – Study Grants to Individuals
The Greenwich Blue Coat Foundation
Il Circolo – Italian Cultural Association
The Leathersellers’ Company (undergraduate student grants)
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust
Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust
The Sir Richard Stapley Educational Trust (Masters and Doctoral students)
Roger De Haan Charitable Trust (RDHCT) – Creative Arts Bursary
Sir William Boreman’s Foundation
The Black Heart Foundation Scholarship Programme
The Community Foundation for Wiltshire & Swindon
The General Jan Zygmunt Emil Berek and Irena Bogumila Berek Charitable Trust (for Polish students)
The Yorkshire Ladies’ Council of Education (YLCE) Educational Awards Fund
Trusts & Foundations that specifically fund individuals for music education and training:
Help Musicians – Postgraduate Awards
The Countess of Munster Musical Trust
Vaughn Williams Bursaries for postgraduate composition students
Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarships Trust
Muriel Taylor Scholarship for Cellists
The RPS Julius Isserlis Scholarship (for instrumental study abroad)
The Rhona Reid Charitable Trust
Raphael Sommer Music Scholarship Trust (for cellists)
Sussex Young Musician of the Year Bursary Competition (Coro Nuovo Bursary)
The Radford Charitable Trust (Cornwall)
The Eric Thompson Trust (for organists)
The Mario Lanza Educational Foundation
Support For Travel:
Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund
The Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship Fund (LUTSF) supports individuals working in all areas of movement and dance who wish to travel in order to enrich their practice and pursue a personal passion. Applications are welcomed from choreographers, performers, lecturers/teachers, writers, therapists, administrators and related professionals. The average scholarship in the last few years has been around £600. Completed applications will be required by 17 January 2019 for projects taking place between 1 April 2019 and 30 April 2020.
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust awards Travelling Fellowships to British citizens from all walks of life to travel overseas, to bring back fresh ideas and new solutions to today’s issues, for the benefit of others in the UK. Applications are accepted from May until the end of September for travel the following year. For more details and to apply, visit the website.
Other Funding Sources & Useful Information
Funding for Students with Disabilities
The Elizabeth Eagle-Bott Memorial Fund grants awards to blind or partially sighted musicians, for musical study, projects and events for the benefit of local, national and international communities. To qualify, applicants, or people supported by applicants, must be both:
– registrable as sight impaired or seriously sight impaired (partially sighted or blind); and
– a UK citizen.
Priority is given to classical musicians, especially organists.
Applications are to be submitted to RNIB by email to mas@rnib.org.uk by 31 March each year. There is no application fee. Interview and audition expenses will be met by the fund. For further information about these awards and for an application form, please email mas@rnib.org.uk or telephone 020 7391 2273.
Postgrad Solutions
Postgrad Solutions offer 15 bursaries across a number of subject areas. Visit their website for further information and to apply.
Musical Instrument Funding
A number of trusts offer funding to support the purchase or loan of instruments:
The Countess of Munster Musical Trust
Universal Music UK Sound Foundation
Loan Fund for Musical Instruments
The Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust
Libraries
A useful place to try is the local library and/or town hall in your hometown. If it is difficult for you to visit in person, you could call or email them, or ask a relative or friend if they could ask on your behalf. Although local charities tend to give out much smaller pots of money than big charities, many have very specific criteria, meaning that only someone from your village or school is eligible. That way, your chances of success are much higher.
Companies
You may find that a parent, guardian or carer works for a company that operates a bursary scheme for children/relatives of their employees.
Embassies
Embassies usually have a list of bursaries open to their nationals who wish to study abroad.
Fundraising performance/concert
You could consider organising a fundraising concert in your home town, in a community venue or school. If it is inappropriate to ask that all the profits be put towards your education, ask a local charity if they’d like to combine with you on the event. Choose an organisation that you also have an affiliation with, and whose members and supporters are likely to come out in force to support, and donate half of the proceeds to them. If you have any contacts within a Round Table or Lions Club in the area where you grew up, you could find out whether they would support you in raising money towards a nominated charity. You could also make enquiries about whether they can support you directly with funding.
The publicity associated with this kind of event can in itself draw the attention of a generous private benefactor – allow for the possibility that some people might want to give more than simply the price of their tickets, so organise a raffle or simply provide envelopes for additional donations at the door. Make sure you also include your contact details so that someone could get back in touch with you in future, to give you a further donation or invite you to give a concert for them.
In some cases, donations can only be given from one charity directly to another, and not an individual. If a charity shows an interest in you and this is the case, remember that their donation can be made directly to Trinity Laban, as long as it is accompanied by a letter explicitly noting that it is for the benefit of your education.