National Youth Choir to receive increased support from Arts Council England

The Government has announced that £1.5 billion will be invested in cultural organisations over a five-year period, with National Youth Choir set to receive a 5% uplift in annual support.

Last year the Culture Secretary announced £270 million worth of investment through the Arts Everywhere Fund. This new commitment builds on this further, with additional funding pledged to take investment to £1.5 billion between 2025 and 2030.

An injection of £80 million of capital funding over four years will benefit National Portfolio organisations that receive regular investment from Arts Council England. This is part of a 5% uplift next year for these organisations that will help deliver arts and culture activity in every local authority.

The injection of funds is said to be a recognition of culture’s power to unite communities in the face of division and break down barriers to opportunity. 

National Youth Choir CEO, Anne Besford says: "We're delighted to receive the 5% uplift in our annual support from Arts Council England and DCMS for 2026-27, as part of government's much-needed package of investment in the creative sector. 

The award will provide a further £6k to empower and support young singers across the country. 

Alongside this, we hope the government will also recognise and invest in the choral sector’s role in creating vibrant, connected and healthy communities by supporting the call for an expansion of creative tax reliefs to include choral singing, which would enable us to do even more to change the lives of young people and early career musicians."

The National Youth Choir support Making Music's campaign to afford choirs the same tax relief benefits that are already enjoyed by orchestras. A tax relief scheme that includes choirs could allow them to reduce their event costs by 26% on average, giving them the security to produce more ambitious concerts and reach more people.