How to Apply for Heritage Crafts Training Bursaries or Awards

Updated

Heritage Crafts runs two separate routes for financial and recognition support: training bursaries (money to help you learn a heritage craft) and the Heritage Crafts Awards (recognition, which you enter by nominating someone). The site confirms both exist and that bursaries are applied for directly, while awards are nomination-based — but the specific eligibility rules, deadlines and forms are not published on the homepage, so you need to go to the dedicated pages linked from it. Use the paths below to find the current criteria before you commit to an application.

Training bursaries: what they are for

According to the site, Heritage Crafts has awarded 131 training bursaries to date, alongside 95 grants distributed through the Endangered Crafts Fund. The bursaries sit within the charity's wider mission to "celebrate, support and safeguard traditional craft skills" and to ensure "everyone has access to craft skills that have developed over generations."

In practice this means a bursary is intended to fund training — learning a craft skill — rather than to buy equipment or fund a finished product. The homepage lists "Training bursaries" as a top-level action with the prompt "Apply for one of our Heritage Crafts training bursaries," which tells you applications are open to individuals rather than organisations.

What the homepage does not state: the bursary amount, the eligible crafts, age or residency requirements, or the application window. Treat any figure you see elsewhere as unverified until you read it on the bursary page itself.

How to apply for a bursary

  1. Go to heritagecrafts.org.uk and find the Training bursaries entry in the main navigation (it appears in the same block as "The Makers," "The Skills" and "Awards").
  2. Open the bursary page and read the current eligibility and deadline information — this is the authoritative source, not the homepage summary.
  3. Check whether the craft you want to learn appears in the charity's list of 285 UK heritage crafts, including those flagged as at-risk. If your craft isn't listed, confirm with Heritage Crafts before applying.
  4. Complete and submit the application as instructed on that page.

Expected result: you submit an application against the published criteria. Common blocker: assuming the homepage text is the full brief — it isn't, so always open the bursary page first.

The Heritage Crafts Awards: nomination, not application

The Awards work differently. The homepage action is "Nominate someone for our Heritage Crafts Awards," so this is a route for recognising other people's work rather than applying for yourself. The charity also references 33 National Honours successes, which is a separate recognition track from the Awards themselves.

To take part:

  • Find the Awards entry in the same navigation block as the bursaries.
  • Read the nomination categories and criteria on the Awards page.
  • Prepare details about the person you're nominating and submit through the stated process.

If you're looking for support for your own training, the Awards are the wrong route — use the bursaries instead.

Where to find application details

What you want Where to go on the site Action
Funding to learn a craft Training bursaries Apply
Recognition for a craftsperson Awards Nominate
Check if a craft counts as heritage The Skills (285 UK heritage crafts) Browse
Find a maker or teacher The Makers Directory Search
General support for the charity's work Donate / Become a Member / Become a Benefactor Give or join

The site also notes you can subscribe and follow Heritage Crafts on Instagram, where it has been profiling bursary recipients across more than 35 posts — useful if you want to see what successful applicants actually did before you write your own application.

Before you apply: what to verify

Because the homepage gives the what but not the who qualifies, confirm these on the relevant page before investing time:

  • Eligibility — who can apply for a bursary, and who can be nominated for an award.
  • Deadlines — the homepage shows no dates; the bursary and awards pages should carry the current cycle.
  • Scope — whether your craft is on the 285-craft list or the at-risk Red List.
  • Cost — membership, benefactor and donation options exist, but the homepage does not state that applying for a bursary or award is free, so check rather than assume.

Start at the Training bursaries or Awards link, read the full criteria there, and only then begin your application or nomination.