There are two routes available for support: the main fund, open to all by application, and the Joanna Drew Travel Bursary, which is by invitation only.

Application process

Guidelines

The Trustees’ main objective is to support new work. Given The Elephant Trust’s modest resources grants are usually between £2,000 and £5,000.

In some cases awards may also be leveraged to receive subsequent funding from organisations such as the Arts Council. We encourage successful applicants to look into how they can use their award to unlock other funding.

Priority is given to artists in the fine arts and small organisations and galleries who should submit imaginative proposals for making or producing new work or exhibitions.  Successful applicants should leave a minimum of two years before reapplying for help with a new project.

Projects with a total budget exceeding £30,000 will not be supported.

The Joanna Drew Travel Bursary

The Travel Bursary was set up in memory of Joanna Drew, who died in 2003. Joanna was a champion of modern and contemporary art throughout her long and distinguished career. At the Arts Council and as Director of the Hayward Gallery she organised many remarkable exhibitions and was a great supporter of artists, curators and writers. She believed that travel abroad was a crucial aspect of training and preparation for those intending to work in museums and galleries.

The Joanna Drew Travel Bursary is administered by The Elephant Trust, of which Joanna was a founder member. Application is by invitation only.

We cannot fund:

Arts Festivals
Group Exhibitions
Charities organising community projects
Students
Educational or other studies
Residencies or research
Symposia or conferences
Theatres
Catalogues
Projects taking place outside the UK

Next deadline in

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The next round opens on 18 December 2025, with a deadline of 18 January 2026.

Applications must be submitted by midnight on the deadline date.

After you apply

If you have not heard by 6 weeks after the application deadline then your application has not been successful.

We are not able to contact unsuccessful applicants.

Due to the volume of applications received, the trustees reserve the right to discard any application which does not adhere to this application format.

Contact us

For enquiries about applications only, please e-mail us.

Make an application

Applicants are asked to consider these guidelines carefully, as well as the categories not supported, before applying, to be sure that their project falls within the remit of The Elephant Trust. Email applications are not accepted.

Click on the button to apply through Submittable.

Apply now

Past recipients since 2021

Akingbade, Ayo
Argianas, Athanasios
Asante, Barby
Barham, Anna
Burden, Steve
Catling, Jack
Crosse, Rob
Crowther, Racheal
Dobai, Sarah
Fekri, Nia
Fowler, Luke
Gamsu, Esther
Green, Anthony D
Gregory, Joy
Guzman, Antonio Jose
Hamid, Majd Abdel
Heinemann, Caspar
Hogarth, Jenny
Jankovic, Iva
Jaouda, Nour
Kazan, Helene
Khalili, Bouchra
Lewis, James
Lijadu, Olukemi
Lord, Jordan
Mou, Ruoru
Ndiritu, Grace
Nguyen, Duong Thuy
O’Connor, Grace
Osterberg, Catherine
Price, Elizabeth
Rahal, Harmeet
Reynolds, Abigail
Rogers, Jacques
Rose, William
Serkebaeva, Sana
Sutcliffe, Stephen
Telling, Francesca
van de Lande, Nicolaas
Williams, Matthew Arthur

Joanna Drew Travel Bursary: Paul Johnson

Araeen, Rashed
Barokka, Khairani
Bellantoni, Rebecca
Bradley, Henry
Brennan, Maeve
Bull, Tom
Choy, Bo
Cradduck, Lisa
Ericksen, Dustin
Holden, Andy
Ifekoya, Evan
Keegan, Rita
Lloyd, Hilary
Macdonald, Bea
McCormack, Terence
McGilvary, Owain Train
Marquiss, Duncan
Milroy, Bella
Pham, Will
Pickering, Gail
Round, Giles
Ruggaber, Karin
Saghari, Niyaz
Smith, Marlene
Stead, Bethany
Syed, Alia
Tafakory, Maryam
Tanna, Jonny
Upton, Ann
Wong, Kaler
Zhang, Dino

Joanna Drew Travel Bursary: Rehana Zaman

Amani, Valerie Asiimwe
Anderson, Kat
Carey, Richy
Chodzko, Adam
Clark, George
Claydon, Steven
Copestake, Anne-Marie
Cos, Teresa
Dean, Aria
Donszelmann, Bernice
Ellard, Graham
Essi, Ejiro
Gbewonyo, Enam
Gill, Tom
Hawser, Eloise
Hetherington, Alex
Holmes, Ashley
Khoshgozaran, Gelare
Kingo, Christian
Lees, Hannah
Lyon, Becky
MacKillop, Sara
Madejska, Agata
Malik, Samia
Massoumi, Nariman
Michael, Alan
Mitchell, Alexis
Munro, Dana
Murray, Maz
O’Connor, Grace
Omoding, Andrew
Parris, Janette
Peers, Matthew
Sahib, Prem
Salmon, Margaret
Smith, Liberty
Suleman, Babar
Thomasson, Edward
Tomlinson, Elisabeth
Tullet, Barrie
Vonna-Michell, Ed
Vonna-Michell, Tris
Wang, Dahong Hongxuan
Wermers, Nicole
Williams, Sam
Zhan, Chen

Joanna Drew Travel Bursary: Dan Guthrie

Aburawa, Arwa
Bond, Christopher
Buckeridge, Mark
Campbell, Duncan
Cheung, Clara
Entwistle, Redmond
Freije, Kira
Giles, Ian
Grotova, Olga
Hastrup, Clara
Hendrickse and Jeffries and Roberts, Aidan and Elliot and Inigo
Hlywa, Bianca
Joo, Woo Jin
Lemmey, Huw
Mathison, Trevor
McCrorie, Helen
Mellors, Nathaniel
Mey, Adeena
Millar, John Douglas
Perkins, Russell
Price, Elizabeth
Ruddock, Shamica
Strickland, Hope
Syed, Alia
Tàpies, Antoni
Taylor, Camara
Wilson, Laura
Woolner and Thomas, Tom and Seb
Yass, Catherine
Zaman, Rehana

Joanna Drew Travel Bursary: Adeena Mey

Arnfield, Graeme
Black, Siri
Black, Karla
Brenchat-Aguilar, Albert
Butler, Maeve
de Agustin, Charles
Geraets, Gretchen
Jelfs, Jack
Khaled, Mahmoud
Parrott, Aimée
Schmidtke, Niamh
Unger, Sofia Albina Novikoff

Joanna Drew Travel Bursary: Onyeka Igwe

‘To bear in mind at all times an original, inquisitive, open-minded, generous and unshockable approach to art in all its forms with a bias towards the visual arts.’

This injunction, laid down by the original Trustees of The Elephant Trust, embodies the spirit of its founders, Roland Penrose and Lee Miller, and remains the cornerstone of the Trust’s policy today.

The Trust was set up in 1975 to make it possible for artists and those presenting their work to undertake and complete projects when frustrated by lack of funds. It is committed to helping artists and art institutions / galleries that depart from the routine and signal new, distinct and imaginative sets of possibilities.

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