Freelands Foundation today announces The Burton at Bideford in North Devon as one of the first winners of a major new £1.5 million awards scheme recognising and celebrating visual art education in the UK over the next five years.
Winning for Burton Futures – an outreach programme working with rural schools to remove barriers to arts engagement – The Burton is one of three winning organisations who will each receive an award of £100,000. The winners will also collaborate with Freelands Foundation on case study films to share their art education work as a resource and inspiration to other organisations in the sector and beyond.
The Freelands Awards 2026 winners chosen in recognition of progressive art education approaches with demonstrable impact, are:
- The Burton at Bideford in North Devon, for Burton Futures, an outreach programme working with schools to remove barriers to arts engagement, including The Burton Art Box – a horse box converted into a camera obscura and darkroom that travels to rural schools
- SIGNAL in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria for its Artist Development Lab developing artists through workshops, expert mentoring and exhibition making
- Wolverhampton Art Gallery for two stand-out projects in its Arts and Culture Youth Programme inspired by the collection and temporary exhibitions in which participants work with the gallery team to help build skills and careers in the creative industries
Burton Futures was established in March 2025 in response to feedback from teachers about the increasing economic barriers local schools face in connecting young people to world-class art as part of their education. As well as funding continuing professional development (CPD) sessions for teachers and travel bursaries for rural schools to visit The Burton and take part in artist workshops, the scheme runs The Burton Art Box - a converted horse box that travels to rural schools as a camera obscura, connecting science and art curriculums.
Initially funded via a public crowdfunding campaign with The Big Give, the pilot year of Burton Futures has supported neary 500 children from nine rural schools to engage with art in new ways. There are now plans to build on the success of the programme by expanding into artwork loans to schools and mobile museums, working directly with teachers on shaping and fundraising for the project.
Harriet Cooper, Director, The Burton at Bideford, said:
“Receiving a Freelands Award 2026 is a huge honour for The Burton at Bideford. We believe every child in Northern Devon should have free access to art and creative experiences as part of their education. Our schools’ programme, Burton Futures, has shown what is possible when we listen to teachers, work alongside schools and develop programmes that are rooted in the places where young people live and learn.
As we celebrate our 75th anniversary, this Award will help us build on that approach by continuing to listen to and learn from schools. We want young people across North Devon to see themselves as part of The Burton’s community and to grow up knowing this museum belongs to them. Whether they return as visitors, artists, volunteers, staff or trustees, they will help shape the next chapter of The Burton’s story for our future generations.”
Freelands Foundation’s mission is to champion art education. Despite the increasing pressures they face due to declining funding and rising operational costs, visual arts organisations continue to be important sites of life-long teaching and learning. This first of its kind award recognising and celebrating visual art education in the UK is the result of learnings from a decade spent supporting visual art education, during which Freelands Foundation has seen galleries, museums and visual arts organisations as spaces for inspiring and progressive art education.
The judges for the Freelands Awards 2026 are: Artistic Director, Freelands Foundation, Dr Henry Ward; broadcaster, writer and producer Gemma Cairney; artist Joy Gregory; curator and writer Jenni Lomax; and art historian and educator Dr Ben Street. Following an open call and subsequent review of a broad range of entries from galleries and art organisations of different scales and models across the UK, the judges selected a group of organisations to visit in person before deciding on the three inaugural winners, all running innovative programmes committed to and rooted in their local communities.
Dr Henry Ward, Director of Freelands Foundation and Chair of the Freelands Awards 2026 Judging Panel, said:
“Chairing the jury and having the opportunity to read about, then visit, these extraordinary organisations and projects has been an incredible privilege. We are all too familiar with the challenges facing arts education and the constant pressures on the sector. Yet the inaugural Freelands Awards winners are inspiring examples of the progressive work taking place. All three demonstrate innovative, collaborative approaches to visual arts education, working closely with their local communities, responding to the specific places in which they are situated, and creating programmes where everyone is learning. Together, they reflect the remarkable breadth of this work, engaging everyone from primary school children and teachers to young people and emerging artists. Visiting them was a joy, and the judges were inspired to see first-hand the extraordinary impact they are having. They are true beacons of hope.”
This new vision for the Freelands Awards replaces the Foundation’s previous annual award focused on enabling UK arts organisations to present an exhibition of new work by a mid-career woman artist which ran for eight editions between 2016 and 2023.
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