Our Work
Strategy for 2026–2029
The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust is a UK-based charitable trust that provides grants to other UK-registered charities. We fund work in three areas: participation in the performing arts, creative health interventions, and heritage crafts and skills. Our focus is on projects that increase access for communities that face barriers to opportunity.
OUR FUNDING THEMES
Performing Arts
Supporting community music-making, performing arts engagement and early-stage career development.
We fund:
- Amateur community music-making and singing.
- Performing arts engagement for underserved communities, particularly young people.
- Charities that provide early-stage career development to improve social mobility in the performing arts.
Creative Health
Funding non-clinical interventions that improve physical, emotional and mental health.
We fund:
- Arts-based interventions accessed through referral
- Short breaks for young carers
- Animal-assisted therapy and horticulture
Heritage Crafts
Protecting rare craft skills and linking traditional skills to training and employment.
We fund:
- Protection of rare or endangered heritage craft skills.
- Projects linking heritage skills to employment and training, particularly for young people.
CASE STUDIES
Performing Arts
We fund:
- Amateur community music-making and singing.
- Performing arts engagement for underserved communities, particularly young people.
- Charities that provide early-stage career development to improve social mobility in the performing arts.
Naz Project London: Joyful Noise Choir for people living with HIV.
“I love singing and performing, so this is a great opportunity to engage in a meaningful project. I also like the fact that it’s for people living with HIV and I feel accepted and loved, and I can be myself fully without feeling stigmatised!”
Nucleo Project: Free weekly classes and loan of musical instruments for children aged 7+ in London.
“Without Nucleo, I would never have gotten the chance to play the violin.”
Hay Festival Foundation: Six creative artists aged 21-28 showcased their work in front of a live festival audience.
“The Platform has probably been the highlight of my career so far. It was so amazing to be with creative, brilliant artists who have all really inspired my own practice and also getting to see Bradley Taylor and where he is now. It has been career-changing for me getting a credit with such a renowned festival and I’m so excited to see what doors it can open for me. I would absolutely recommend people to apply!”
New Perspectives Theatre: The 2024–25 New Associates cohort attracted 76 applications, with 18 artists selected from across the East Midlands. Each artist developed a career plan, supported through a mix of individual, online and in-person sessions, increasing skills and gaining valuable insights throughout the year to help shape their future journeys.
“Being a New Associate has opened many doors to collaborations, inspirations and confidence.”
Creative Health
We fund non-clinical activity improving physical, emotional and mental health, including:
- Arts-based interventions accessed through referral
- Short breaks for young carers
- Animal-assisted therapy and horticulture
MacRobert Art Centre: Weekly dance sessions in Stirling for people with Parkinson’s and their carer or family members with live music in a safe and non-judgemental environment.
“All of the muscles don’t work as well, even things like facial muscles – one thing about people with Parkinson’s is that they develop a mask-like face because you’ve got all these muscles in your face, and because the class is so much fun, that you’re constantly smiling, that makes a huge difference.”
CPotential: Thirteen children with movement disorders participated across 70 music therapy sessions in London.
“We are extremely grateful to have been awarded funded music therapy sessions. Our son absolutely adores his therapist and we have watched him grow in confidence with his speech and singing. Watching him so happy and free to express himself through music therapy is an absolute joy.”
Towell Building Trust Ltd: Twelve weeks of music and art therapy for elderly residents.
“The residents absolutely loved having Tom ( Music therapist) and are sad it’s over; he did build a beautiful rapport with them…”
Garvald Edinburgh: Therapeutic gardening to improve skills, creativity, confidence and mental wellbeing for adults with disabilities in Edinburgh and Midlothian.
Martineau Gardens: A safe and welcoming space for adults, children and vulnerable people to connect with nature and improve their wellbeing, near to Birmingham city centre.
“Very grounding… it is peaceful and we hear the sounds of nature completing its cycles.” “… gives me the chance to relax and reconnect.”
Youth Adventure Trust: Individual support for 12 young carers from the South West of England on camps and activity days designed to build resilience, confidence and essential life skills.
“I have made many new friends and have become more sociable. My confidence to do new things has increased, which I am very proud of.”
Heritage Crafts
We fund:
- Protection of rare or endangered heritage craft skills.
- Projects linking heritage skills to employment and training, particularly for young people.
Friends of the Cromford Canal: The funding turned a 230-year-old damaged four-arch stone bridge in Derbyshire into an outdoor classroom for a team of volunteers learning lime mortaring and how to handle stones by a stonemason.
Global Generation: Twenty-three workshops culminating in the creation of weaving looms and a willow-woven edge bridge. Two hundred 10- to 18-year-olds were taught about the history and use of weaving as well as interacting with an antique spinning wheel, looms and small handlooms.
Bishopsland Educational Trust is dedicated to preserving and advancing vocational skills training in the heritage craft of silversmithing. Thanks to this funding, the charity has been able to purchase and install a silver spinning lathe (highlighted on Heritage Crafts Red List as an Endangered Craft), expanding the opportunities available to Emerging Makers and supporting the development of vital skills for the future.
FUNDING USE
Grants may support defined projects or contribute to organisational costs.
Charities with an annual income under £250,000 may apply for unrestricted funding.
Project budgets may include proportionate core costs.
TERM GRANTS
In special circumstances, Trustees may offer multi-year support (Term Grants). These are identified proactively and are not open for direct application.
Current Term Grant Recipients:
- City and Guilds: UK Student bursary support
- D’Oyly Carte Opera Trust: Education and outreach work in the UK
- Genetic Alliance UK: Practical advice and support to their membership
- Guildhall School Trust: UK Student bursary support
- Hospice UK: Education and training programmes in Hospices throughout the UK
- Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST): UK Student scholarships
- Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA): UK Student bursary support
- Royal Academy of Music: UK Student bursary support
- Royal Ballet School: UK Student hardship fund
- Royal Conservatoire Scotland: UK Student bursary support
- Royal Horticultural Society (RHS): Apprenticeship Scheme
- Royal Northern College of Music: UK Student bursary support