Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
Ar hyn of bryd mae'r cynnwys hwn ar gael yn Saesneg yn unig.
hyrwyddo a dathlu cerddoriaeth Cymru
promoting and celebrating the music of Wales
+44 (0)29 2063 5640
Grantiau Loteri
TÅ· Cerdd
Lottery Grants
Cronfa Tradd Fund
Supporting Traditional Music in Wales 
Cronfa Tradd Fund is a new fund designed to support musicians, organisations, and groups working in and with musical traditions, of any cultural background, to develop their work through meaningful engagement with communities. 
The focus is on participatory and community-based activity, rather than performances or creation of work purely for presentation. Projects should explore ways for people to take part, share, and connect through traditional music in a collaborative way.
 
The fund is delivered by Tŷ Cerdd, with resources from the Arts Council of Wales, as a direct response to the recent Traditional Music Review​​.
Cronfa Tradd Fund aims:
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To support artists and communities to design and deliver projects that matter to them.
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To encourage creativity, innovation and collaboration across diverse traditions.
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To embed learning and sharing into the heart of projects ensuring sector-wide benefit.
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To strengthen the traditional music ecosystem from grassroots to professional.
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The priorities of Cronfa Tradd Fund are:
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Connecting grassroots participation with professional development.
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Connecting young people with traditional music.
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Encouraging intergenerational and cross-cultural projects.
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Supporting artists to develop sustainable careers beyond performance, with portfolio opportunities that connect them directly to grassroots music-making.
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Supporting community-led activity that strengthens identity and belonging.
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Embedding Cymraeg and other minority languages within traditional music contexts.
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Championing the diversity of Wales’s communities and supporting all traditional music practices present in Wales, so that activity remains welcoming, representative and connected to a wide range of lived experiences.
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(We appreciate that most projects will not hit every one of these priorities.)
Grants of up to £25,000 will support a wide range of traditional music activity across Wales: 
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Smaller grants (up to £10,000) will support artists leading grassroots community projects. 
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Larger awards (£2,000–£25,000) will support partnerships between organisations and musicians working together to develop traditional music within communities.  ​
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Recipients will also be supported to share their learning and best practice throughout the programme to inform future ways of working. Through this sharing approach we aim to track the impact and legacy of the fund, as well as supporting those we fund to become part of a wider network of traditional music activity across Wales.
Why are we launching Cronfa Tradd Fund? 
Cronfa Tradd Fund is designed to support the development of the traditional music ecosystem, starting from the grass roots. It will provide flexible, accessible support that strengthens the whole sector and responds directly to the needs identified in Arts Council of Wales’s recent Traditional Music Review.
Creative practitioners are central to this mission. They are tradition-bearers, teachers, mentors, and visible champions of culture in Wales. When artists are supported to create, perform, and grow their careers, they inspire others to participate and help to build strong, vibrant communities. At the same time, thriving grassroots activity and accessible learning opportunities generate the next generation of artists and audiences.
Organisations play an important role in the support and provision of traditional music in Wales. We encourage applications that are centred around organisations and individual creative practitioners working in partnership.
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The fund is designed to support on-the-ground activity led by creative practitioners, often in partnership with organisations and groups close to communities, to increase opportunities to take part in traditional music. We are particularly interested in activity at a local level and that involves young people and/or intergenerational exchange.
Sharing with Peers
Collaboration and knowledge-sharing are central to this fund. Everyone who receives support will take part in at least one online sharing session, providing a chance to exchange ideas, reflect on practice and contribute to the wider development of traditional music in Wales.
Sharing will be shaped by the needs of the project leaders. Our Traditional Music Development Manager will coordinate this element to ensure it is useful, supportive and relevant to the work being delivered.
This grant is also about supporting the people behind the projects. By bringing practitioners together, we hope to strengthen connections across Wales and help build a community that can support one another in their traditional music work.
We will start with an online sharing event immediately following the successful funding announcement and a final, online sharing event will be scheduled for September 2027.
What activity will Cronfa Tradd Fund support? 
We want to offer flexibility around the kinds of projects individuals and organisations may ask us to support. 
However this fund targets grassroots and community activity as well as opportunities to experience, participate in and enjoy traditional music. We will prioritise projects that are community-led, participatory, and designed to create lasting benefit for communities and the wider traditional music sector. 
We invite you to be as imaginative as possible in your project applications, and to think ambitiously about what your work could achieve. We welcome ideas that explore new approaches and respond meaningfully to artists, participants and communities. We are particularly interested in projects that show a clear sense of purpose while remaining open, curious and forward looking.
Application-builder toolkit
For further inspiration around building your proposed activity and application, you can read our toolkit (LINK), which outlines some of the challenges highlighted by the Traditional Music Review, along with some ideas to tackle them.
Work in Schools
As part of this pilot approach, projects working within schools are eligible. Schools activity must
be practitioner-led and focused on creative engagement rather than exclusively on curriculum delivery. 
Publications
Cronfa Tradd Fund can support publication of resources where they form a clearly defined but smaller part of a wider community-focused and participatory project. In this context any publications should be designed to extend access, share knowledge or amplify participant voices rather than stand alone. We are interested in supporting publications which are proportionate in scale, thoughtfully produced and clearly connected to meaningful engagement and community benefit.
What do we mean by ‘traditional music’?
For this fund we define traditional music to be based in a living body of shared repertoire and practice that is rooted in oral transmission, where tunes, songs and a common style are primarily learned by listening, imitation and shared participation rather than solely through organised learning, based on written sources.
It is shaped over time by communities, place and social use, evolving as it is passed from person to person and between generations. While it often relies on written sources and contemporary influences, its core identity remains grounded in collective memory, embodied knowledge and communal exchange.
Eligibility notes 
 
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Cronfa Tradd Fund cannot support activity that has already taken place or is already underway, although we can support changes or additions to planned activity where this strengthens impact or accessibility (for example, moving a project to a more accessible venue to future-proof the work).
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Projects focused solely on performance or artist development are not eligible. This includes projects centred only on the creation or presentation of performance work, or artist development that sits outside of meaningful community engagement. For other opportunities within Tŷ Cerdd please see our Lottery funding streams and CoDI programmes or consider Arts Council of Wales for performance, touring or individual artistic development.
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Safeguarding requirements must be met. Individuals wishing to work with minors or vulnerable adults must partner with an organisation that can provide appropriate safeguarding policies and support in line with Arts Council of Wales regulations.
Projects that do not meet safeguarding requirements cannot be supported.
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Certain costs and activity types are ineligible, including competitions and core organisational costs that are already supported through regular funding. Capital requests beyond £2000 cannot be supported; however, we can fund up to £2000 of capital expenses as part of your project.
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For more detailed information about what can’t be supported please see the Arts Council of Wales budget notes.
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We welcome applications which include volunteer time. Volunteers’ time can be included in-kind income, however neither an organisation nor a lead applicant can offer their own time as in-kind support. Applicants should be mindful that we want to support fair pay for creatives, rather than replacing paid professional work with volunteers.
Who can apply?
Individuals 
Eligible applicants can apply for up to £10,000 
Applicants may include: 
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Creative practitioners based in Wales and working in Welsh traditional music or any traditional music-based practice.
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Grassroots organisers or promoters providing spaces for traditional music 
Applicants must clearly demonstrate how their project will benefit the wider community and contribute to a legacy for traditional music in Wales. We will assess how the activity goes beyond your current activity and offers meaningful additional impact. Although this is an individual application route, we expect applicants to show that suitable partnerships are in place.
Please see Arts Council of Wales’s eligibility criteria for more information.
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Organisations  
Can apply for between £2,000 and £25,000 
All organisations applying must be working in partnership with at least one creative practitioner and a clearly defined target community. We want to see respectful, collaborative approaches where communities and practitioners are treated as equal partners and meaningfully included in decision-making processes.
All constituted groups can apply.  Please see Arts Council of Wales’s eligibility criteria for more information.
Applications from organisations should demonstrate how the project will
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Deliver clear and lasting benefits for both the chosen community and the wider traditional music sector. 
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Lead to tangible outcomes such as new resources, strengthened partnerships or opportunities for future activity. 
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Contribute to a meaningful and sustainable legacy for traditional music in Wales. 
Who can’t apply 
We cannot accept applications from: 
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Individuals based outside Wales. 
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Organisations based outside Wales that are not delivering activity within Wales.
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Individuals applying to work with minors or vulnerable adults without the support of an organisation.
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Non-constituted groups or informal collectives without a lead applicant able to take legal and financial responsibility for the project.
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Commercial businesses whose primary purpose is profit-making.
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Anyone with outstanding monitoring, reporting, or repayment issues from previous Arts Council of Wales
or TÅ· Cerdd funding.
What your project must include
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Your project must involve working with others. The best projects happen when partners are involved. We’ll expect to see you working with at least one other individual or organisation who’ll support you to develop and deliver your project.
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Your project must be time-limited. This means it has a definite start and end date. It’s a good idea to allow yourself some extra time in case you need to send us more information following an award being made.
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You must have other funding to contribute to the overall costs of your project. We can’t support the full costs of a project. We expect at least 10% of your project income to come from a non-National Lottery source. This can be in-kind support (NB contributions of staff time / space from applicants is not eligible as in-kind support). Please be aware that 10% of grant awards will be withheld until a completion report is submitted and approved at the end of your project.
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You must allow adequate lead-in time. We’ll expect to see sufficient time built into your project to deliver the work effectively. This is particularly important when it comes to any promotional, audience development or outreach work. You’ll need to consider the time you’ll need to develop your application as well as the time it takes us to process and make a decision.
How to apply
Applications will be made through the TÅ· Cerdd PORTAL.
The application form asks for a few basics about who you are, your main contacts and an eligibility check. From there, you’ll be asked to describe your project: what you want to do, who it’s for, the tradition you’re working with and the artists involved, as well as partners you’re working with. You’ll need to include a short statement from your collaborating artist(s) and tell us what you’d like to get out of the sharing process.
How your application will be assessed
Applications will be assessed, by a panel, against the following criteria:
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The quality and innovation of the idea
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How feasible your plans are, including the relevant partnerships and teams in place
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Potential impact of your activity
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Consideration of Welsh language
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Consideration of who this is by and for and how you ensure access and inclusivity
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Your project’s alignment with Cronfa Tradd Fund priorities
As part of the assessment process we’ll also look at awarding a balance of types of activity and geographical spread.
Timeline
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The application deadline is 17:00 on Wednesday 1 April 2026.
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We will inform applicants of panel decisions within 6 weeks of the application deadline (by 13 May).
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Your project can start from 1 June, and must begin no later than 1 August. Project duration can be a maximum of 13 months.