For the first time in more than 20 years, the public is being asked to help shape how National Lottery funding for good causes is spent.
This could be one of the most important funding consultations our sector responds to this year.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a UK-wide call for evidence on the future of National Lottery good cause funding. It is asking individuals, organisations and communities what should be funded, how the money should be divided, who should influence decisions and how funding could become easier to access.
For theatre freelancers, independent artists, small organisations and the wider theatre community, the outcome really matters.
National Lottery funding supports work at every level of the cultural sector. It has helped create major cultural buildings and institutions, but it also supports the less visible work on which our sector depends: artist development, research and development, new writing, fringe theatre, touring, community projects, festivals and work led by individual freelancers.
The government is now asking the public whether the way that funding is divided and distributed should change.
What is being reviewed?
In 2025, the National Lottery raised £1.7 billion for good causes.
Under the current distribution model, the funding is divided as follows:
- Arts and culture: 20%
- Sport: 20%
- Heritage: 20%
- Charitable activities, including health, education and the environment: 40%
These proportions are established in law. However, the consultation asks respondents to decide what percentage they think each area should receive in future. The figures entered must add up to 100%.
The government has not announced that funding for arts and culture will be reduced.
But it is explicitly asking whether the current percentages remain right.
That means the arts sector cannot assume that its existing share will automatically be protected. We need to provide clear evidence of what this funding makes possible and why it continues to matter.
Why National Lottery funding matters to theatre
Public conversations about National Lottery arts funding often focus on large buildings, institutions and high-profile projects. Those investments are important, but they are only part of the story.
Across the UK, Lottery funding reaches individual artists, small companies, independent producers, local festivals, community organisations and experimental work. It provides opportunities to test an idea, develop a new practice, create work with communities or take the first steps towards a production.
In England, Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants is an open-access programme supporting both individuals and organisations. It can fund creative activity, research and development, skills, organisational development and projects with a longer-term cultural impact.
Recent funding routes for individuals have also included Developing Your Creative Practice and the time-limited Research and Development for Individuals priority. These programmes provide something that freelance careers rarely offer: paid time to develop.
For a freelancer, this funding can mean being able to explore an idea before it has commercial backing. It can provide the time to experiment, research, write, design, compose, direct, train or develop a new way of working.
It can also make it possible to pay collaborators properly.
For fringe and small-scale theatre, National Lottery funding can be the difference between a project happening and disappearing.
Lottery funding must add to public investment, not replace it
A central principle behind National Lottery good cause funding is known as additionality.
This means Lottery funding should support work that would be unlikely to receive core government funding. It is supposed to provide something additional, rather than paying for responsibilities that should already be supported through public spending. The government states that it remains committed to this principle.
This distinction matters enormously for arts and culture.
National Lottery funding should add to proper public investment in arts and culture, not be used as a substitute for it.
Lottery funding can support experimentation, new ideas, artistic development, community-led projects and work that would otherwise struggle to find a home. But it should not allow government to step away from its wider responsibility to maintain a healthy cultural infrastructure.
When core public investment is reduced and Lottery funding is expected to fill the gaps, the purpose of the Lottery becomes blurred. Funding intended to create additional opportunities instead becomes essential to keeping existing activity alive.
The answer cannot be to remove Lottery support from the arts. That would cause enormous harm to freelancers, organisations and communities.
The answer is to protect both: proper public investment in arts and culture, alongside strong National Lottery funding that enables additional work, innovation and opportunity.
This is about more than the 20%
Protecting the existing arts and culture allocation is a major part of this consultation, but it is not the only issue at stake.
DCMS is also asking:
- whether funding should favour large national projects or smaller community activity
- how communities should influence funding decisions
- whether areas of greater need should receive more support
- what prevents individuals and organisations from applying
- how applications could become simpler and more accessible
- whether smaller and micro grants should play a greater role
The consultation could therefore influence not only how much funding reaches arts and culture, but who can access it and how future decisions are made.
For freelancers and grassroots organisations, that is hugely important.
A protected arts allocation will only fulfil its purpose if individuals, independent artists and smaller organisations have a fair chance of accessing it.
One grant can support a whole creative network
Funding awarded to one individual rarely benefits only one person.
A grant made to a freelance theatre maker may also create paid work for performers, designers, stage managers, technicians, producers, access workers, photographers, filmmakers, marketing professionals and many others.
It may support a venue, rehearsal room or local supplier. It may reach audiences, workshop participants, schools or community groups. It may develop an idea that later becomes a production, a tour, a partnership or a continuing body of work.
This multiplier effect is not always visible in headline funding data.
When responding to the consultation, freelancers should describe the full chain of impact created by National Lottery funding. That could include:
- the collaborators who were employed and paid
- the skills, ideas or relationships that were developed
- the audiences and participants who experienced the work
- the venues, suppliers and local businesses that benefited
- the future projects or employment that grew from the initial investment
- the work that could not have happened without the funding
Your own experience is evidence, whether you received the grant directly or worked on a project funded through somebody else.
Not every community is tied to one place
The consultation places a strong emphasis on local communities and giving people more influence over funding decisions.
Greater community involvement could be very positive. However, we must also recognise that not every community is defined by a town, neighbourhood or postcode.
Theatre freelancers frequently work across different regions. Touring companies connect audiences and artists across the country. Communities may be connected through disability, identity, profession, cultural practice, artistic discipline or a shared experience rather than one geographical location.
A move towards more local decision-making must not unintentionally disadvantage work that crosses boundaries or serves communities spread across multiple places.
Respondents may wish to explain how their own communities are formed and how future funding models could recognise both place-based and non-geographical communities.
Application systems must work for freelancers
The consultation asks people to share their experiences of applying for National Lottery funding, including what they found difficult and what changes would encourage them to apply.
This is an important opportunity to talk honestly about the realities of arts funding.
Applying for a grant can involve a substantial amount of unpaid work, with no guarantee of success. Freelancers and small organisations may lack the administrative capacity, specialist knowledge or professional fundraising support available to larger institutions.
A shorter form alone will not solve every barrier.
Respondents may want to comment on:
- unclear eligibility requirements
- complex language or guidance
- the amount of unpaid time required
- inaccessible online systems
- whether alternative application formats are available
- a lack of advice before applying
- the cost of employing consultants or professional bid writers
- limited or unhelpful feedback following an unsuccessful application
- repeated requests for information already held by the funder
- reporting requirements that are disproportionate to the size of the grant
The consultation specifically asks about clear eligibility criteria, supportive resources, templates, accessible application methods, confidence in success, application complexity, lack of time and excessive administration.
We need freelancers and small organisations to tell DCMS what meaningful access would actually look like.
Why your response matters
You do not need to represent a theatre, be a regular National Lottery player or have received a grant yourself.
You can respond as a freelancer, artist, cultural worker, audience member, participant or member of your community.
The survey provides an opportunity to defend the arts allocation, but also to explain how funding could become fairer, simpler and more responsive to the realities of freelance practice.
FMTW is encouraging respondents to protect at least the existing 20% allocation for arts and culture and to tell the government, in their own words, why that investment matters.
Theatre contributes to education, wellbeing, skills, local economies, community connection and our shared cultural life.
Funding arts and culture does not prevent National Lottery money from delivering wider social benefits. Arts and culture are themselves a public good, and cultural projects frequently deliver benefits across many of the other categories being considered.
What should theatre freelancers say?
You should respond honestly and from your own experience. There is no single answer that everyone in the sector must give.
However, you may want to explain:
- how National Lottery funding has supported your work, career or local cultural community
- what work would not have happened without it
- why small-scale, experimental and artist-led work matters
- how a grant to one individual generates work and opportunities for others
- why research and development should be valued as work in its own right
- why arts funding must reach individuals and grassroots organisations, not only established institutions
- how funding processes could become fairer and more accessible
- how touring and non-geographical communities should be recognised
- why Lottery funding must remain additional to proper government investment
- why arts and culture should receive at least its current 20% share
Specific examples will often be more powerful than general statements.
Describe a project, opportunity or community that benefited. Explain what the funding paid for, who it reached and what happened afterwards.
Other sectors are already making their case
The BFI has publicly welcomed the consultation and set out the importance of Lottery funding to film, education, cinemas, skills and creative careers. UK Sport is actively encouraging people to take part, while the Museums Association has already highlighted the consultation to its sector.
Theatre and the wider live arts must be equally visible.
If large numbers of people respond in support of other causes while relatively few people explain the importance of theatre and cultural funding, the final evidence will not reflect the true value or needs of our sector.
Silence will not protect the funding.
Evidence might.
Take part now
The call for evidence closes at midday on Wednesday 23 September 2026.
The online survey should take approximately 15 to 20 minutes. You can save your progress and return to it later, although your response must be completed before the deadline. Participants must be aged 16 or over.
Respond to the National Lottery Good Causes call for evidence
Arts Council England has also published information about the consultation and is encouraging people and organisations across the creative and cultural sector to participate.
Read the Arts Council England announcement
Once you have responded, please share the consultation with your collaborators, colleagues, audiences, participants, volunteers and networks.
Organisations and funded artists can play an important role by helping the people who benefited from their work understand where the funding came from and encouraging them to share their experiences too.
This is a rare opportunity to influence the future of National Lottery funding.
We need to make sure freelancers, theatre makers, audiences and the wider arts community are part of the conversation.