If you write music in the UK, whether that's songs, scores, club tracks or orchestral works, PRS Foundation is probably the most important funder to know. It describes itself as the UK's leading charitable funder of new music and talent development, and it backs music creators in every genre at every stage of their career, along with the promoters, orchestras and organisations around them.
The catch is that PRS Foundation doesn't run one fund. It runs a family of them, each with its own amount, its own audience and its own deadline. Some are open to anyone with a strong project. Others are partnerships that work by nomination or competition, and a few pages on its website describe past programmes rather than live funding. Picking the wrong one wastes an application, so this guide sorts them by who they are for.
When we wrote this, we were tracking around twenty PRS Foundation programmes. Roughly a dozen of them are funds you can actually apply to.
For music creators at any stage
The Open Fund for Music Creators: up to £5,000
This is the starting point for most songwriters, composers, artists and bands writing their own music. Grants of up to £5,000 support the creation, performance and promotion of new music in any genre. Past recipients include Young Fathers and Afrodeutsche, so the fund is not just for beginners.
Every project has to meet all three of the Foundation's funding priorities:
- Outstanding new music. The quality of the music matters most.
- Developing the music creators involved. You need to explain why this activity is crucial to your creative or professional development right now.
- Reaching audiences. Say who will hear the music, and how, whether that's locally, nationally or overseas.
The Open Fund has run two rounds a year. In 2026 they closed on 18 March and 7 September, so expect the next round to open in early 2027. Payment usually comes in two parts: for grants above £3,000, half is paid when you accept the offer and half after you send your evaluation.
Women Make Music
Women Make Music supports women, trans and non-binary songwriters and composers who write their own music. In early 2026 the Foundation paused the fund while it acted on the recommendations of its Women Make Music report, and it has said there will be one larger deadline in the second half of 2026. When we checked, the dates were still to be confirmed. Note that the fund no longer supports organisations. A group commissioning a woman or gender-diverse creator should look at the Talent Development Network instead.
For artists and writers ready for the next step
PPL Momentum Music Fund: £5,000 to £15,000
Momentum is for artists at a tipping point: you have a team around you, you're building an audience, and money for touring, recording or marketing would move things on. Recent grants have paid for headline tours, debut EP campaigns, album recording and stage production. It is run with PPL, Creative Wales and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, so it is open across the UK.
It is the most frequent fund in the family, with four deadlines a year. In 2026 they were 2 February, 11 May, 10 August and 26 October. There are also PPL Momentum Accelerator strands for artists and industry professionals in Wales, Liverpool City Region and Tees Valley, which follow a similar calendar.
The Hitmaker Fund: £5,000 to £10,000
The Hitmaker Fund is for songwriters and producers in popular music who work behind the scenes, writing for and with other artists rather than fronting their own project. It runs two rounds a year; in 2026 they closed on 3 March and 28 September.
The Composers' Fund: £8,000 to £15,000
This fund is for composers with a strong track record who are already making a significant contribution to UK music. It supports up to 15 composers a year who can show what would make a step change in their career. Past grants have paid for recordings, international co-commissions, residencies, sabbaticals and even childcare. It runs two rounds a year, one in spring and one in autumn, and the autumn 2026 round has now closed, so the next chance is likely to be spring 2027.
International Showcase Fund
This fund helps UK artists who have been invited to perform at major international showcase festivals and conferences to take up the offer. It works on rolling deadlines tied to each event. For SXSW 2027, the remaining deadlines are 27 November 2026 and 6 January 2027.
For composers starting out
Prelude: up to £3,000 and mentoring
Prelude is a partnership with Amazon MGM Studios for UK-based composers from under-represented backgrounds who are starting out in music for film and television. Selected composers get a development bursary of up to £3,000 plus mentoring.
Other early-career routes are worth knowing about, though most don't take open applications. Adopt a Music Creator, run by Making Music, pairs composers with amateur music groups for a year to write a new piece. Futures, with Universal Production Music, supports production music creators by nomination only. The Glastonbury Festival Emerging Talent Competition is free to enter for one week a year and carries a £5,000 prize from PRS Foundation for the winner and £2,500 for each of two runners-up.
For promoters and organisations
Early Career Promoter Fund: up to £3,500
This fund is for independent promoters in England booking gigs, club nights, showcases and tours. It pays for artist and DJ fees, venue hire, production and crew, and for mentoring, workshops and other ways to build your skills. It is backed by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and it is designed to reach promoters who are under-represented in the industry.
It is unusually regular. The Foundation is running deadlines from October 2026 to February 2027, with the next rounds closing on 10 December 2026 and 4 February 2027, and it aims to decide within six to eight weeks of each deadline.
Talent Development Network: up to £25,000 a year
The Talent Development Network funds organisations that support music creators year-round in their region, nation or genre. Members can get up to £25,000 a year, with multi-year funding where they can show clear outcomes, and they are expected to work actively with PRS Foundation and the other members. The current phase runs from 2024 to 2027.
Beyond Borders: up to £20,000
Beyond Borders funds collaborations between music creators, performers and presenters across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It covers new commissions, recordings and repeat performances of music written in the last five years, and it supports around 8 to 10 projects a year. It has one round a year, which in 2026 opened in late May and ran into the summer.
Resonate: up to £10,000
Resonate is for professional orchestras programming the best British orchestral music of the last 25 years, chosen from a database run with the Association of British Orchestras.
How to give your application its best chance
- Pick one fund, deliberately. The funds are built for different stages of a career. A career-defining Composers' Fund pitch and an Open Fund project are different applications, so don't send the same text to both.
- Answer all three priorities. The music, your development and your audience. Leave one out and the application is unlikely to get through.
- Check the deadlines page before you start. Dates move, and some are extended. All deadlines are 6pm unless the Foundation says otherwise.
- Plan for the evaluation. Part of each grant is held back until you've reported on the project, so budget for that gap. You also have to credit PRS Foundation on publicity.
- Watch the webinars. The Foundation publishes guidance videos for several funds, including the Early Career Promoter Fund.
Is it worth applying?
If you make new music in the UK, yes. Very few funders give money straight to individual songwriters and composers, and fewer still cover every genre. The competition is real, though, so treat each round as a chance to be specific about what this money would change, and keep an eye on the next deadline if this one isn't right.
Finding PRS Foundation funds on Grants Hub
Music funding is spread across PRS Foundation, Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Help Musicians and dozens of smaller trusts. Grants Hub lists PRS Foundation's funds alongside 4,900+ live UK funding opportunities from 2,300+ funders, checked daily, so you can see what else fits your next project. We take 0% commission on anything you win.