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Julia Rausing Trust partners with Sky Foundation to fund dance bursaries
Howard Lake | 6 August 2026 | News
The Julia Rausing Trust is partnering with the Sky Foundation to fund the Julia Rausing Sky Arts Bursaries, the Foundation’s inaugural programme and the first initiative under its new charitable arm.
The 2027 programme focuses on dance. The bursaries will support 20 dance-makers across the UK who are “at a pivotal point in their careers”, helping them to develop their practice and bring new work to life, regardless of background or location. Championed by dancer and choreographer Ashley Banjo MBE, the programme combines funding with mentoring, professional development and industry support.
Each of the 20 artists will receive a personal grant of £30,000 to cover living costs and ease financial pressure during the year, alongside a project grant of up to £40,000 to develop and deliver a new creative project.
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Recipients will also receive a tailored package of mentoring, masterclasses with leading artists and industry professionals, and a national showcase at the end of the year, with their work featured on Sky Arts.
Dancer and choreographer numbers down by nearly a third since 2019
The partnership responds to mounting pressures on the sector. New research commissioned for the Sky Foundation found that six in ten Britons believe the next generation of dance talent will find the industry prohibitively expensive, while the number of people working as dancers and choreographers has fallen by almost a third since 2019. The bursaries aim to ensure that creative potential, rather than financial circumstance, determines who can develop new work.
Sir Hans Rausing, Co-Founder of The Julia Rausing Trust, said his late wife Julia was “a passionate advocate for helping young people realise their potential, as well as a lifelong champion of the arts,” adding that the programme brings together “two causes that meant a great deal to her.”
Phil Edgar-Jones, Trustee of the Sky Foundation and Executive Director of Original Unscripted at Sky, said dance is “one of Britain’s great creative strengths” but that many artists increasingly rely on charities and funders as public funding comes under pressure. He said the bursaries would help ensure “talent, rather than financial circumstance, determines who gets the chance to succeed.”
Applications are open to professional dance-makers, choreographers and movement artists aged 18 and over, across all styles, backgrounds and UK regions.
Applications close on 9 September 2026.
- Rausing trusts to combine into Julia Rausing Trust (9 October 2024)
- £5 million from new Julia Rausing Trust completes National Gallery’s NG200 campaign (19 July 2024)
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.