Heritage Crafts Training Bursary for Building Crafts

25 February 2026

The bursaries are for those working in or learning heritage crafts in Northern Ireland.

Apply for up to £4,000 to start training in building crafts or to further develop your skills. This bursary has been set up to help cover or subsidise the cost of training for someone who would otherwise be prevented from pursuing this career path as a result of the cost.

Bursaries are for:

• New entrants in Northern Ireland who have demonstrated a commitment to starting a new craft career and need to acquire the necessary hand skills;
• Early-career practitioners in Northern Ireland who have not yet attained the hand skills required to achieve commercial success; or
• Early- or mid-career craftspeople in Northern Ireland who need to acquire distinctly different hand skills to develop new ways of achieving commercial success.

Building crafts in this context are crafts that relate to the built environment (including interiors). They can include, but are not limited to, architectural blacksmithing, bell founding, block printing (wallpaper or textiles), brick making, cabinetry, canal art and boat painting, carpentry, architectural ceramics (e.g. chimney pots, terracotta and faience), clock making, cob/earth building, decorative plasterworking (including gypsum and fibrous plaster), dry stone walling, encaustic tile making, flintwork for buildings, French polishing, gauged brickwork, gilding, glass working (window glass), heritage tiling and mosaic, historic stained glass window making, architectural iron founding, joinery, leadworking, lime plastering, marquetry, metal roofing, millwrighting, organ building, pargeting, stucco and scagliola, pietra dura, pigment making, reverse glass sign painting, signwriting, slate working (roofs), spar making, specialist painting and decorative finishes, stained glass and glass painting, stone carving, stonemasonry, thatching. tile making (roofing, wall and floor), timber framing, wood carving, wood turning, and so on. This list is not exhaustive, and other crafts will be considered where relevance to the historic built environment is demonstrated.

What can this grant be used for?
You can apply for a bursary for any amount up to £4,000 which can cover or contribute towards the costs of:

• Apprenticeship-style training with a craftsperson/people;
• Attending a specialist training course (accredited or non-accredited);
• Undertaking a self-directed programme of training with one or more craftspeople;
• The cost of specialist tools or materials, books or study materials, or supporting travel and accommodation (no more than 30% of total budget).

More details on how to apply can be found here.