When Freelands Foundation was founded in 2015, we set out to support visual art, art education and research, encouraging innovative approaches and responding to the cultural landscape of the United Kingdom. Over the past decade that landscape has continued to evolve, with new challenges appearing. The Foundation has evolved in response too, increasing its focus on art education and concentrating its energies and resources on supporting this increasingly fragile area.
Freelands Awards – Celebrating Art Education
Written by Dr Henry Ward
Reflecting on the role of the Freelands Awards in championing the importance of art education within the UK’s cultural life.
4-min read
Freelands Awards – Celebrating Art Education
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4-min read
About the author
About the programme
There is little doubt that art education is in crisis... Galleries and museums have seen significant reductions in education programmes, with learning teams often among the first to be cut.
There is little doubt that art education is in crisis. Over the last fifteen years, schools have steadily moved away from art subjects in favour of a narrower, more academic curriculum. Galleries and museums have seen significant reductions in education programmes, with learning teams often among the first to be cut. At the same time, art courses at universities have been eroded, accompanied by damaging rhetoric that questions their value. While recent developments and policy shifts – including the government curriculum review and announcement of boosted funding for museums – offer reasons for cautious optimism, prolonged under-investment has left the art education infrastructure in a vulnerable state.
At the Foundation’s inception, we commissioned research to identify where funding and support were most urgently needed. This revealed stark regional inequalities, with 80% of arts funding awarded to London and just 20% shared across the rest of the UK, including three other capital cities. The research also highlighted a significant lack of representation for mid-career women artists compared with their male peers. In response, we established the Freelands Award: an annual £100,000 prize enabling a gallery or art organisation outside London to stage a major, career-defining solo exhibition by a mid-career woman artist.
The inaugural award was presented in 2016 to The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, working with Jacqueline Donachie. Over the following seven years, awards were made to Nottingham Contemporary with Lis Rhodes (2017); Spike Island, Bristol, with Veronica Ryan (2018); The Hepworth Wakefield with Hannah Starkey (2019); MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, with Ingrid Pollard (2020); MIMA, Middlesbrough, with Jacqueline Poncelet (2021); the National Galleries of Scotland with Everlyn Nicodemus (2022); and Whitechapel Gallery, London, with Joy Gregory (2023).
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Lis Rhodes, Dissonance and Disturbance, 2012 (film still).
Courtesy the artist and LUX
Veronica Ryan, Exclusion Zone I, 2021
Detail / Installation view, Along A Spectrum, 2021 at Spike Island, Bristol.
Courtesy Spike Island, Paula Cooper and the artist. Photo: Max McClure
Jacqueline Poncelet: In the Making exhibition view. Courtesy of MIMA. Photo: Rachel Deakin.
Everlyn Nicodemus, with works from her exhibition at National Galleries of Scotland, 2024. Courtesy of the artist and NGS. Photo: Neil Hanna
Joy Gregory, Catching Flies with Honey, installation view, Whitechapel Gallery, 2025. Courtesy the artist. Photo © Above Ground Studio (Matt Greenwood).
Freelands Award announcement dinner, 2023. Courtesy of Freelands Foundation. Photo: Dan Weill.
...it became clear that this flagship initiative needed to respond more directly to the challenges now facing the sector...
In 2024, we made the decision to pause the Freelands Award and reconsider its focus. As the Foundation clarified its mission and deepened its commitment to championing art education, it became clear that this flagship initiative needed to respond more directly to the challenges now facing the sector. Our ongoing research into opportunities for women artists had shown that, while inequality persists, the landscape had shifted significantly over eight years, with solo exhibitions by women now far more commonplace. Recognising that progress, and in light of the growing crisis in art education, we resolved to relaunch the award with a new ambition.
Galleries and museums were founded with education at their core: to make art accessible, to foster understanding, and to serve the public through learning and engagement. From national collections to local art organisations rooted in community education, this principle has long underpinned the sector. It is with this history in mind that we now seek to celebrate and showcase outstanding art education work.
At Freelands Foundation we see the infinite possibilities and range of what art education encompasses, and the impact it has.
Art education takes many forms, and the new Freelands Awards are designed to reflect its incredible breadth and diversity. We aim to recognise work developed in partnership with schools and universities, alongside community engagement programmes, collaborations with partner institutions, and projects involving artists at all stages of their careers. At Freelands Foundation we see the infinite possibilities and range of what art education encompasses, and the impact it has.
In 2026, we are launching the Freelands Awards and committing £1.5 million over five years to champion progressive visual art education in galleries, museums and art organisations across the UK. Each year, three organisations will be recognised for recent or ongoing education programmes or projects. Each will receive a£100,000 award, to spend as they wish. Together their work will be shared across the sector, the subject of films commissioned to highlight and learn from these innovative approaches and ideas and celebrated at an Awards ceremony hosted at our new home in Errol Street, London. Our aim is to raise the status of art education, acknowledge its vital role within art organisations for the widest possible public benefit, and encourage learning and exchange through sharing best practice. Over the next five years, 15 exceptional programmes and projects will be recognised.
Galleries, museums and art organisations remain central to our cultural life and – despite the challenges faced - continue to offer meaningful educational opportunities for all and find inventive ways to serve their communities.
Galleries, museums and art organisations remain central to our cultural life and – despite the challenges faced - continue to offer meaningful educational opportunities for all and find inventive ways to serve their communities. The Freelands Awards will seek out these shining examples, celebrate their achievements, and champion the essential role of art education within the UK’s cultural life. I encourage visual art organisations who are committed to art education to consider applying, so we can recognise and celebrate your vital and innovative work.
Find out more about the Freelands Awards 2026 and apply by 24 March 2026.
About the author
Henry Ward is the Director of Freelands Foundation. A painter, writer and educator he has worked as a teacher in schools, art schools and universities and alternative programmes. He was the Head of Education at Southbank Centre and deputy head teacher at Welling School, a specialist visual art secondary school in south-east London. At Welling School he established The alTURNERtive Prize, an annual exhibition of outstanding work made by 15–18-year-olds, and founded Æ, a periodical exploring art and education ideas produced in partnership with students.
He has been an advisor for the Crafts Council and Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin. As an artist he exhibits internationally, has been shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize on four occasions and was selected for the inaugural Football Art Prize, in 2022.
He undertook his PhD in Teaching as an Artistic Practice in 2013, with Middlesex University. He is widely published and lectures on approaches to art education internationally.
About the programme
The Freelands Awards recognise and celebrate visual arts organisations’ commitment to art education.
Each year, from 2026, three Award-winning organisations will each receive £100,000 to direct as they wish. This is part of Freelands Foundation’s five-year commitment of £1.5 million to celebrating exceptional art education approaches with demonstrable impact by UK-based visual arts organisations, museums and galleries.
The previous iteration of the Freelands Award was established in 2016 to enable a UK arts organisation to present an exhibition by a mid-career woman artist who may not yet have received the acclaim or public recognition her work deserves. The annual award grew in prominence as it fulfilled a vital role in motivating and financially supporting arts organisations to offer a career-defining opportunity to a woman artist, while contributing to a growing legacy of increased representation of women artists in the visual arts.