Through its Arts and Mental Health Programme, the Baring Foundation is making available grants of between £20,000 and £50,000 for work seeking to achieve improved or equal representation of men joining mixed-gender creative activities, or for men-only creative projects.

The Baring Foundation has recently published a new report, Creatively Minded Men, which has helped inform their current funding round.

The purpose of the 2024 call is to fund activity to redress the under-representation of male participants in participatory creative activities in the UK for people with mental health problems and to learn what works in this regard.

There is particular interest in intersectionality, meaning that men are not a homogenous group but differ in a large variety of ways including through age, racial background, sexual orientation, disability status, and class and the way in which multiple discrimination and disadvantage impacts participation. Some men will define as Trans. Priority will be given to work that encourages men who are least likely otherwise to attend.

A total of £1 million is available for this round with grants of between £20,000 and £50,000. Projects should take place over at least one year, and preferably two or more years.

To be eligible, applicants must:

Be an established arts organisation of any kind (including museums) operating in the UK. This could be a charity or a regulated social enterprise, such as a Community Interest Company.
Have delivered creative opportunities to people with mental health problems for at least two years.
Have had an annual income of over £75,000 for the last two years.

There will be two Zoom meetings to answer any questions about this funding round: