The Supporting Act Foundation opens its 2026 Grants

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DATE

14 Sep 2026

AUTHOR

Umbigo

The Supporting Act Foundation opens its 2026 Grants

AUTHOR

Umbigo

The Supporting Act Foundation has launched the fifth edition of its annual open call for grants, making €600,000 in unrestricted funding available to emerging artists from underrepresented groups and arts-focused nonprofits across Europe. Applications are open from 1 September to 1 October 2026.

The Foundation’s approach is rooted in the belief that when artists thrive, society benefits as a whole. Its grant programmes seek to address some of the structural challenges that contribute to precarity, vulnerability and discrimination within the arts, supporting both individual artists and organisations working to create more equitable and inclusive cultural ecosystems. Unlike many funding schemes, the grants come with minimal reporting and oversight, allowing recipients to decide how best to use the funding according to their own creative or organisational priorities.

This year’s programme includes two funding opportunities. The Artist Grant will award ten grants of €10,000 to emerging artists from underrepresented groups whose practices involve collaborative, collective or creative processes that incorporate or benefit their communities. The grants are intended to improve recipients’ living conditions and enable them to dedicate more time to developing their artistic practices. Applicants must have between two and ten years of professional experience and be living in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain or the UK.

Applications for the Artist Grant will be evaluated by a jury composed of Beth Davies, strategist for artists & creative organisations; Emiko Ogawa, head of Prix Arts Electronica; Imed Alibi, percussionist, composer and artistic director at Tilal Utique; Irini Papadimitriou, curator and exhibitions director; Lorena Pires, opera singer – 2025 Artist Grant recipient; Rawz, multimedia artist – 2025 Artist Grant recipient; and Salim Bayri, visual artist. More information about the Artist Grant is available here.

The Impact Grant will provide ten grants of €50,000 to arts-focused nonprofits already working to support emerging artists from marginalised communities. Awarded over a two-year period, these grants are designed to support organisations whose aims are aligned with The Supporting Act Foundation: improving living conditions for artists, enabling them to dedicate more time to developing their practices, and increasing the visibility of their work. To be eligible, nonprofits must have been registered between 2016 and 2024 and be based in Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, or the UK; or have a fiscal host in one of those countries.

Applications for the Impact Grant will, in turn, be evaluated by Adwoa Amoah, artist, curator and co-director of the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Ghana; Federico Bomba, artistic director of Sineglossa; Maka Chkhaidze, founder of InForm – 2025 Impact Grant recipient; Marie McPartlin, director of Somerset House Studios; Nicolas Derné, co-founder of Association Zofi – 2025 Impact Grant recipient; Rocío Mateo-Sagasta, head of music & film at La Casa Encendida; and Tamar Guttmann, founder of Cue Collective – 2025 Impact Grant recipient. More information about this grant programme can be found here.

Alongside financial support, all recipients become part of The Supporting Act Foundation’s Grantee Network Programme, a year-round initiative offering online gatherings, workshops and networking opportunities. The programme is designed to foster connections between grantees and create a community in which artists and organisations can exchange knowledge, experiences and opportunities.

Applications are open until October 1. For more information, check the initiative´s website.

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