The Henry Moore Foundation has announced the distribution of £100,000 (approximately $125,000) in unrestricted grants to 50 sculptors across the United Kingdom, responding to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and widespread funding cuts throughout the cultural sector. Each artist will receive £2,000 through the foundation's Artist Award Scheme, with funds that can be used flexibly for purchasing new materials, paying studio rent, or bridging funding gaps.
"Unrestricted funding is rare, but it is often what artists need most," said Godfrey Worsdale, director of the Henry Moore Foundation, in an official statement. "These awards honor Moore's legacy by empowering sculptors to sustain and develop their practice, enabling them to create work that challenges, inspires and contributes meaningfully to public life."
The grant recipients were carefully selected through nominations by a distinguished panel of 25 arts professionals representing each region throughout the UK and Northern Ireland. Notable panelists included Viviana Checchia, director of Void in Derry, and Nicole Yip, director of Spike Island in Bristol. All successful applicants incorporate sculpture as a significant element in their artistic practice.
Several recipients have shared how the funding will impact their work and address immediate challenges. Rebecca Moss, an Essex-based artist who received the grant, explained its timely significance: "It has come at a very timely moment, as I have just made some kinetic sculptures for an art ghost train for a project with Museum Tinguely in Basel, and it has opened up a world of new possibilities for my work, thinking about prop objects, kinetic sculptures, playful exhibition formats and immersive installations."
Greek-born artist Stella Baraklianou emphasized how the unrestricted nature of the funding enables creative experimentation. "By offering funds directly to the artist, this award encourages experimentation," she said. "I intend to use the grant to research and explore new ideas and see how they translate onto materials, clay and epoxy." Her comments highlight the foundation's commitment to supporting artistic innovation and material exploration.
For many artists, the grants address fundamental survival challenges in the current economic climate. Edinburgh-based Andrew Gannon, another grant recipient, spoke candidly about the financial pressures facing artists today: "In a cost-of-living crisis, this award means the difference between being able to make work or not. This money will be put towards studio and materials costs, allowing me to make new work." Gannon noted that the funding comes at a particularly crucial time as he prepares for his upcoming exhibition, "We Contain Multitudes," at Dundee Contemporary Art.
The Artist Award Scheme represents a strategic response to crisis situations, having been initially launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic before continuing in 2023. The program has already demonstrated its impact by supporting artists who have achieved significant recognition. Previous recipients include Jasleen Kaur, who won the 2024 Turner Prize after receiving one of the inaugural grants in 2020, and Manon Awst, who received an award in the second round and has since been chosen to represent Wales at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The foundation's approach to supporting artists reflects the personal experience of its namesake, Henry Moore, who died in 1986. Moore himself benefited from financial assistance early in his career, receiving an ex-serviceman's grant after fighting in World War I that enabled him to study at Leeds College. In 1921, he also received a Royal Exhibition scholarship to study sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London, experiences that shaped his understanding of how crucial funding can be for developing artists.
This latest round of grants underscores the Henry Moore Foundation's ongoing commitment to supporting sculptors during challenging times, providing not just financial assistance but the creative freedom that comes with unrestricted funding. As cultural institutions and individual artists continue to face economic pressures, such targeted support programs represent a vital lifeline for maintaining artistic practice and innovation in the UK's sculpture community.
