Applicants can be awarded up to £30,000 for existing creative programmes that support helping people break into creative careers.

Amazon has reopened applications for the 2026 round of its Regional Creatives Fund, a grant programme designed to widen access to careers in the UK’s creative industries. Charities, Community Interest Companies (CICs) and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) can now apply for grants of up to £30,000 as single organisations, or up to £100,000 as regional consortiums. Applications close on Sunday, 2 August 2026.

What the fund is for

First launched in 2025, the Regional Creatives Fund supports organisations that run skills programmes for people trying to break into creative careers – spanning music, publishing, gaming, film and TV, fashion, advertising, journalism, comedy, and photography, among other fields.

Rather than funding new ventures from scratch, the scheme is aimed at organisations with an established track record, offering money to expand, sustain, or reshape work that is already showing results.

Beyond the cash grants, Amazon is also offering support from its own creative divisions – including Amazon Music, Prime Video, and Amazon Games – in the form of mentoring, work placements and digital training.

The programme is explicitly tied to widening participation and is aligned with the government’s Creative Places Growth Fund.

• Music – performance, production, artist development, sound engineering, music business.
• Performing Arts and Live Events – theatre, live performance, events production, stage management, technical production.
• Screen and Audio – film, TV, animation, podcasting, radio, audio production.
• Digital and Interactive – gaming, XR, AI-enabled creative tools, digital design, social media production.
• Publishing and Communications – books, journalism, copywriting, PR, advertising, podcasting.
• Fashion, Craft and Visual Arts – fashion, textiles, fine art, illustration, photography, graphic design.
• Comedy – stand-up, sketch, sitcom, comedy writing, character comedy.
• Cross-disciplinary – projects that genuinely span two or more of the above.
• Other – creative industries where a strong fit is demonstrated.

Helping drive creative-sector growth beyond London

The rationale draws on research showing persistent gaps in who gets to work in the UK’s creative industries. The Sutton Trust found that young adults from working-class backgrounds are four times less likely to enter creative careers than their middle-class counterparts, while Arts Council England data shows disabled people make up just 9% of the creative workforce, against 22% of the working-age population generally.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who launched the 2026 round at the National Theatre, framed the fund as part of a wider government push to spread creative-sector jobs beyond London and the South East to every nation and region – including Devon.

How grants are awarded

Decisions are made by an independent panel drawn from Amazon, the National Theatre, BAFTA, Arts Council England, Northern Ireland Screen, Creative Wales, Help Musicians, Audible, and the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

Applications are judged on five criteria: clarity of creative purpose, evidence of impact on skills and industry access, a credible delivery plan, the extent to which the project amplifies underrepresented voices, and whether it builds on an existing, proven programme rather than just starting.

What last year’s awardees did with their grants

Nearly 40 organisations across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland received funding in 2025, including one in Exeter. Examples give a sense of the range:

• Beat Routes (Slough) received £10,000 to sustain a year-round creative employment pathway that has reached more than 300 young people, supporting music-industry skills alongside mentoring and wellbeing.
• Into Games, leading a consortium with Helm and Hot Chocolate Trust in Dundee, received £86,000 – the largest award publicised – to build the UK’s first regional games-industry “Waypoint,” including a careers festival, school activities, and paid internships.
• Nerve Centre (Derry) received £26,800 to launch an Unreal Engine Academy training 20 young people a year in virtual production and games technology.
• Pathfinders Cymru (South Wales) received £14,400 to grow a digital storytelling programme for young people with learning disabilities and neurodivergence.

The full 2025 list includes organisations working in theatre, radio, music production, journalism and youth mentoring, from Glasgow to Exeter to Belfast – showing how the fund is spread across UK regions rather than just concentrated in major cities.

For eligible Devon charities, CICs and CIOs with an existing creative-skills programme, it presents a great opportunity: applications for up to £30,000 (or £100,000 for consortiums) are open now, with a deadline of 2 August 2026.

Head to Amazon’s Regional Creative Fund here to apply.

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