Chatsworth Young Ambassadors, a paid opportunity for students supported by Art Fund

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Student opportunities

These grants enable museums to offer paid opportunities for students, benefiting both museums and students in a range of exciting ways.

We will consider applications for grants up to £10,000.

Professional Get funding Student opportunities

The programme enables students to explore an interest in the arts alongside future career options, while providing organisations with extra capacity which is skilled and accountable.

At Art Fund, we support a growing community of 20,000 Student Art Pass members at over 200 universities across the UK. The Student Art Pass breaks down cost and awareness barriers to students engaging with UK art and culture, offering 600+ admission discounts and weekly communications that keep them informed of what to see. A key feature of the membership is our rolling programme of paid arts opportunities. With the average student graduating with £60,000 debt, these opportunities are highly valued as they help students gain relevant experience and explore potential career paths before they graduate.

The aim of this funding is to help museums, galleries and visual arts organisations provide paid opportunities for full-time university students to gain meaningful, developmental work experience that enables them to explore their interest in the arts, and related future career options. In turn, museums, galleries and visual arts organisations gain skilled and accountable resource to help realise projects important to them.

Applications are assessed on quality of opportunity, the scope of professional development and evidence of the impact on your organisation. We will also take into consideration the location of the venue. We encourage applications that benefit as many students as possible.

We encourage applications that focus on facilitating public engagement with art – whether that be online or in real life.

Our student membership represents a diverse academic background, with approximately 75% arts and humanities students and 25% STEM students. To reflect this diversity, we are committed to ensuring that all paid opportunities are accessible to students regardless of their field of study.

We will fund the costs associated with paying students for the time they spend supporting your organisation in delivering projects. This is based on the current national and London living wage rates.

Please note, the grants cannot be used to cover:

Core staff costs
Costs relating to ongoing overheads
Retrospective activity – your project must not have started before you are due to receive a decision from us

Who can apply

We will consider applications from UK public museums, galleries, historic houses, libraries, archives, agencies and other visual arts organisations that:

have a public presence (e.g. a building open to the public) or a public outcome (e.g. a festival or public art programme)
can demonstrate that they operate to standards of best practice within the sector (e.g. through Arts Council England Accreditation)

Please note that all participating students will be contracted to work for you, the partner organisation, via your HR team.

All grant recipients will be asked to sign our conditions for paid opportunities.

Who cannot apply

Organisations that exist to make profit, including Private Limited Companies, Public Limited Companies, Companies Limited by Shares, Unlimited Companies, or Sole Traders
General Partnerships, Limited Partnerships, or Limited Liability Partnerships
Organisations with a focus on music, drama, dance, and art forms outside the visual arts
Commercial organisations
Artists’ groups
Hospitals/healthcare settings
Places of worship
Organisations with a focus on music, drama, dance and art forms outside the visual arts

Key deadlines

The next Student Opportunities grant deadlines are:

Friday 9 May 2025
Friday 19 September 2025

How to apply

Your application

Read the guidance

Download the Guidance for applicants which explains our criteria for funding, helps you apply for a grant and gives you guidance on filling out the application form.

Download PDF

Get in touch

If you haven’t found what you need in the guidance document and frequently asked questions, get in touch with programmes@artfund.org or book a pre-application advice meeting using the link below.

Get in touch

Submit your application

We will be accepting application forms via email. We will not be using the online portal due to changes in our system. Send your completed application form to programmes@artfund.org with the subject ‘Student opportunities application.’ Please ensure the application form remains as a Word file (not a PDF).

You must be registered as a professional user with a My Art Fund account. If you already have a My Art Fund account, but are not registered as a professional user, you can add your professional details when logged in.

After you've applied

Acknowledgement of application

All applications are assessed in the first instance by an Art Fund programme manager. We will let you know your application has been received. We will be in touch to let you know whether your application was successful or unsuccessful within 8 weeks.

Claim your grant

If your application is successful, we will send you our offer paperwork with more details on how to claim your grant.

Frequently asked questions

How long should I factor in between applying for this grant and having students in post at my organisation?

How long should my opportunity last for?

Is there a limit to how many students can be involved in our paid opportunity?

Where multiple students are participating, can we assign them different roles?

How much training do students need to receive?

What kinds of opportunities have you funded in the past?

How are students paid?

Student Art Pass audience demographics

What is the grant evaluation process?