The twenty artists shortlisted for the Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2025 have been announced across five award categories: Dance, Design, Film, Theatre and Visual Art.
The Arts Foundation is a registered charity that supports individual artists and creatives in the UK with unconditional financial fellowships through the Arts Foundation Futures Awards.
Since 1993 the Arts Foundation has awarded over £2 million to the most promising artists in the UK at a pivotal moment in their careers to enable them to concentrate on their creative development, experiment, and realise their artistic potential.
The annual Arts Foundation Futures Awards provide five transformative £20,000 Fellowships, with all Shortlisted Artists receiving £1,000 towards the development of their practice.
The vital contribution of the Arts Foundation Futures Awards to the arts in the UK is demonstrated by its past Fellows, many of whom are regarded as contemporary pioneers and have gone on to become leaders in their respective art forms, including: Wayne McGregor (1994), Alice Oswald (1996), Sarah Kane (1998), Asif Kapadia (2001), Ali Smith (2001), Rufus Norris (2002), Carol Morley (2003), Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (2006), and more recently, Simon Fujiwara (2009), Sam Lee (2011), Alice Birch (2014), Hollie McNish (2015), Evan Ifekoya (2017), Holly Hendry (2019), Onyeka Igwe (2020), Klein (2020), and Bethany Williams (2020).
The Arts Foundation Futures Awards 2025 are supported in partnership with The David Collins Foundation, The Yoma Sasburg Estate, and with development support from The Maria Björnson Memorial Fund.
The five winning Fellows receiving £20,000, will be revealed at an Award Ceremony on 17 February 2025 in London at Kings Place. Mary Jane Edwards, Director of the Arts Foundation said:
“The creative ingenuity and breadth of contemporary art practice showcased by the artists shortlisted for the 2025 Arts Foundation Futures Awards is both energetic and inspiring. We are so pleased to be able to increase our support for independent artists this year amidst the growing financial pressures faced across the cultural sector in the UK. No-strings-attached funding of this nature is vital to strengthen creative practice, but also affirm our belief in the transformative power of art.”
You can explore the Shortlisted Artists’ work on the Arts Foundation website and watch the Award Ceremony announcements via Instagram Live on the night.
Read the Press Release here.
The full Press Pack and Artist Images can be viewed online.