What Freelands Foundation does

Freelands Foundation is a UK registered charity (number 1162648) founded in 2015 by Elisabeth Murdoch, headquartered at 12 Errol Street, London EC1Y 8LX. The foundation's stated purpose is to champion art education across the United Kingdom, supporting the belief that "making is fundamental" to learning. It operates a portfolio of charitable programmes including the Learning Through Making Fund (open grants), Freelands Awards, Freelands Painting Prize, Studio Fellows fellowships, the Freelands Artist Programme, and Artist-Teacher Residencies. It serves four primary beneficiary groups: artists working in UK art schools and galleries, art educators and teachers in primary and secondary schools, the broader UK art education sector, and educational institutions (universities and schools) that host fellowships and research partnerships.

The foundation's technology layer is modest and centred on its website, freelandsfoundation.co.uk, which integrates an application portal for grants and fellowships, a library catalogue, and a growing digital resource repository. The library features a semantic search function with adjustable weighting between semantic and keyword matching, and organises content into Watch (films including the SHIFT series), Read (essays and reports), and Listen (podcasts and audio) categories. A small in-house team (18 full-time staff as of 2025) supports digital infrastructure, including a Head of Digital and Digital Content & Communications Coordinator. The June 2025 activation of the Errol Street headquarters added a physical venue housing an art education library and a base for the foundation's programme of discussions, workshops, and events.

Freelands Foundation generates no commercial revenue. As a non-profit, it is funded through charitable giving and the founder's endowment, with programmes offered free of charge to eligible applicants selected through open grants rounds and defined application deadlines. Distribution occurs via direct application through the website, in-person engagement at the London headquarters, and a globally accessible online resource library. The foundation supplements its funding activities with commissioned action research (e.g., the University of Nottingham primary-schools research, the UCL 'Resist' collaboration) and a public programme of events, reading groups, and webinars (Make Online).

Name

Freelands Foundation

Legal name

Freelands Foundation

Website

https://freelandsfoundation.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Freelands Foundation is a UK registered charity established in 2015 by Elisabeth Murdoch that funds and supports art education through grants, fellowships, awards, residencies, and a digital and physical resource library, serving UK artists, art educators, schools, and universities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts Education Philanthropy

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Other Grantmaking and Giving Services (813219), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Humanities Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

Scholarship & Fellowship Foundations and Trusts (EDADAHAC)

Keywords

• Art education grants
• Artist fellowships
• Creative education funding
• Art residency programmes
• Education research commissions

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Charitable Foundations and Donations: Freelands Foundation is a registered charity (number 1162648) founded in 2015 by Elisabeth Murdoch. The foundation funds its operations and charitable programmes through charitable giving and potentially endowment income from its founder.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Freelands Foundation is a UK registered charity that supports art education through a portfolio of grants, awards, fellowships, and residencies for artists and art educators. It complements its funding programmes with commissioned action research, a curated art education resource library, and a public programme of talks, workshops, reading groups, and online events delivered from its London headquarters and online.

Product overview

Freelands Foundation operates as a unified charitable programme rather than a product platform. Its core offerings centre on funding and supporting art education through grants (Learning Through Making Fund), awards (Freelands Awards), and fellowship programmes (Studio Fellows, Freelands Artist Programme). The foundation complements its funding activities with a comprehensive library of art education resources and a rich content programme spanning video series (SHIFT, Painters Talking Painting), reading groups, and webinars (Make Online). Together, these offerings provide vital financial support and professional development resources for artists and educators across the UK's formal and informal art education sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Learning Through Making Fund Open grants funding round for art education projects exploring the value of material exploration. Applications are submitted through the Foundation's website with a defined deadline of 12pm on Friday 11 September 2026. Targeted at artists, educators, and projects in the UK art education sector.
• Freelands Studio Fellows Fellowship programme placing artists in UK art schools and universities to develop their practice and engage with students. Recent fellows have been hosted at institutions including University of Brighton, Birmingham City University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Falmouth University, Ulster University, and others.
• Freelands Artist Programme Action-research partnership programme supporting artists across the UK through fellowships and institutional partnerships with universities and art schools.
• Freelands Awards Annual award celebrating the importance of art education within the UK's cultural life, with associated editorial content and a programme-managed portfolio.
• Freelands Painting Prize Prize championing making practices in UK art schools, with reflections from five years of thinking, teaching, and practicing painting in UK higher education.
• Art Education Library and Resources Curated digital library of art education resources across Watch, Read, and Listen formats, including books, publications, films, audio recordings, transcripts, and downloadable materials. Accessible online via the Foundation's website at freelandsfoundation.co.uk, with a semantic search function.
• Artist-Teacher Residency Artist-Teacher Residency programme placing artists in schools, including a partnership with Autograph's Visible Practice Residency at Thomas Tallis School, with associated film documentation.
• Teaching Sculpture in Schools Project Project exploring how sculpture can be taught in school contexts and reflecting on pedagogical approaches, delivered through partnership with Yorkshire Sculpture International.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10 years of championing art education in the UK
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• ROOM (One-day gathering)minorOthers · 7 June 2025One-day gathering on 7 June 2025 marking the tenth anniversary of Freelands Foundation and the first activation of its new home on 12 Errol Street, dedicated to gathering and sharing artist-teaching practices.
• Yorkshire Sculpture InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership between Yorkshire Sculpture International and Freelands Foundation for Teaching Sculpture in Schools project, exploring how sculpture can be taught in school contexts and reflecting on pedagogical approaches.
• AutographcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAutograph's Visible Practice Residency programme featuring Artist-Teacher Residency at Thomas Tallis School. Autograph is a photography charity working at the intersection of photography, identity, race, and human rights.
• Cement FieldsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on ARTISTEACHER Toolkit with Hannah Rennie and Shepherd Manyika, producing a set of playing cards and imaginative prompts for facilitating experimentation and creative risk-taking within the classroom.
• University of NottinghamminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch commission by University of Nottingham examining the teaching of creativity in primary schools, resulting in a report on mapping provision of arts subjects at 40 Primary Schools.
• Institute of Education (UCL)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative project 'Resist – Things Artists Do While Learning To Teach' between Institute of Education (University College London) and Freelands Foundation, following a year in the partnership.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Paul Hamlyn Foundation: UK grantmaking foundation with a major Arts programme supporting artists and arts education, very comparable in mission and grantmaking-plus-research model to Freelands Foundation.
• Henry Moore Foundation: UK foundation supporting sculpture and arts education through fellowships, grants, exhibitions, and a research library, directly comparable to Freelands' fellowship and resource library offerings.
• Art Fund: UK charity supporting museums and galleries through grants, acquisitions, and an annual prize, comparable as a UK arts-focused grantmaking charity with membership and award programmes.
• Outset Contemporary Art Fund: UK-based contemporary art fundraising charity supporting museums, galleries, and artist commissions, comparable as a private arts grantmaking charity working in the UK contemporary art sector.
• Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK Branch): International grantmaking foundation with a UK branch funding arts and culture, comparable to Freelands in combining grant programmes with research and convening activities.
• Esmée Fairbairn Foundation: UK grantmaking foundation supporting the arts, education, and social change through long-term multi-year funding, comparable to Freelands' arts-and-education grantmaking focus.

Emerging players

• A-N (Artists' Network): UK membership organisation for visual artists providing resources, advocacy, and professional development, comparable in offering professional development support to artists but with a different operating model.
• Acme Studios: London-based charity providing affordable studio space and artist residencies, comparable in supporting artists in education and early-career contexts through studio programmes.

Broad incumbents

• Getty Foundation: US-based foundation supporting art education research, teacher training, and institutional grants, comparable in grantmaking-plus-research orientation.
• Arts Council England: Statutory arms-length body distributing public lottery and government funds across the arts sector in England, a much larger but comparable grantmaking body for arts and creative education.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/freelandsfoundation
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/freelands-foundation

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Freelands Foundation