The Freelands Foundation has launched a new award scheme, committing £1.5m over five years to recognise organisations that promote progressive visual art education in museums, galleries and arts organisations across the UK. The initiative comes amid concerns that arts education infrastructure has been eroded, with the Cultural Learning Alliance reporting a 42% fall in arts GCSE entries since 2010, alongside declining support in universities and museum learning teams. Backers argue that culture should be seen as foundational to community renewal rather than an optional extra, echoing comments from Andy Burnham about art's role in helping people make sense of their lives.

Three organisations have each received £100,000 as the scheme's first winners. Signal, in Barrow-in-Furness, has converted a vacant building into a community art space in a town dominated by shipyard and submarine-building work. Wolverhampton Art Gallery was recognised for youth programmes offering alternative routes into creative careers outside conventional academic paths. The Burton at Bideford in North Devon won for its Burton Art Box, a converted horse box that brings art directly to primary schools that can no longer afford gallery trips, addressing access barriers in a rural area.