Lucy Phillips Arts Fund

Lucy died unexpectedly in spring 2024 and the fund was launched on her 55th birthday in a tribute to her life and legacy, to support people to develop their creative talent. Lucy Phillips was known for her creativity, intelligence, compassion, community spirit, and openness. She was a hugely popular leader of arts and culture in Leicester and across the East Midlands. She was an enthusiastic advocate for new and diverse artists and arts organisations. Lucy had been the Director of Leicester Print Workshop, the centre of excellence for fine art printing in the East Midlands. Lucy had worked as an international fundraiser for Home Start, chaired the Aakash Odedra Dance Company, ran a ceramics festival and put her creative talent behind numerous arts initiatives. Her role at Nottingham Trent University introduced her to more cultural organisations and artists–and earned her much love and respect. Lucy was also a key member of Leicester’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2017. Lucy had become a musician, part of the Unglamorous female punk movement, and developed a new fan base with her band, Boilers.

The Fund is run by a small voluntary panel of friends and family, and the finances are administered by Leicestershire & Rutland Community Foundation, a registered charity (Charity No. 1135322).

The majority of the funds have been received via a crowdfunding campaign and donations have been received from friends, family, colleagues and people who loved Lucy as well as people who want to support the arts locally.

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Donating to the fund

The Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland Community Foundation manage our funds and will accept gifts directly.

We also manage a gofundme for donations to be made.

Applying for support

The fund isn’t intended to fund existing day-to-day artist or artistic activities. We fund specific projects which develop or celebrate what you do in some way. Most grants will be in the region of £500-£700; we will not add VAT to the amount you apply for so make sure you apply for the gross amount. Please apply for the exact amount you need to be able to undertake your project. In exceptional situations, we might fund projects or activities for as much as £1000.The Lucy Phillips Arts Fund will never make an award of over £1500.  

Applicants may be individuals or organisations, but individuals must be over 18 years old on 31st December 2025.

The activity you apply for support for must meet at least one of the Fund objectives which are to:

The fund will only support activities or projects which take place in or benefit residents of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.  This can include the development of artists resident in the area which takes place elsewhere – for example if you want to attend a course or work in collaboration with someone or something based outside the area.

All applicants MUST attend a short Pre-Application Briefing via Zoom before submitting their application. The dates for these, and registration deadlines, are shown in the FAQs on the webpage.

Applicants must hold a UK bank account and be willing to provide ID or, for organisations, details of their governance structure, if they are successful in being awarded a grant. 

The Lucy Phillips Arts Fund does not support work for or with children and young people under the age of 18.

We do not fund projects retrospectively – your project must not begin before 28 February 2026.

Dates and Deadlines

The next deadline for applications is: 31 December 2025.

Decisions will be made: in February 2026.

Instructions for submission

Please refer to the FAQs on the webpage, which provide valuable information, before attending a briefing or submitting your application.

Please send us all the requested information in one single file which is saved in your name or that of your organisation.

You may submit a maximum of one additional side of A4 (pictures, images or other non-textual information) to support your application.  You are encouraged to include emails of support from any organisations or other people that you intend to work with on your project tor activity.

We cannot accept applications that send additional files over and above the form, the support document and Equality and Diversity form. Your entire application should be sent as separate attachments to your email. Any information within the email itself will not be considered. Take care to check you have sent us all the information we have requested.