Our Advisory Council next meet to consider applications for funding on Tuesday, 4th November 2025. For further details, or to submit an initial enquiry form, please visit our How to Apply page, or contact our administrator, Irene Langford, at enquiries@granadafoundation.
© Royal Northern College of Music
Latest News
A new Chair for The Granada Foundation
After almost 40 years of service as Chairman of The Granada Foundation, Sir Bob Scott, chaired his final Advisory Council meeting in December last year and retired, handing over the reins of the North West based charity to cultural leader, Dr Virginia Tandy OBE.
The Granada Foundation has supported arts and sciences projects and organisations since 1965 following a generous donation by the founders of Granada Television, Sidney and Cecil Bernstein. To date it has had only two Chairmen in its lifetime, Sir William Mather and Sir Bob Scott.
Sir Bob says, “it was a hard decision to make after almost 40 years in post but I am immensely proud of the support we have been able to provide to the creative talent in the North West and the High Peak by awarding over £6.5m in grants since we were formed. I am delighted that Virginia has agreed to take the Chair of the Foundation and given her unrivalled expertise of all things cultural, I can think of no-one better to continue to take it forward.
Dr Tandy said “The Granada Foundation is indebted to Bob for his contribution over so many years and I am very much looking forward to working with fellow Trustees and our Advisory Council to support the institutions, events and projects that contribute to the quality of creative and cultural life.
We are also welcoming the appointment of two new trustees to our Board, Martin Ainscough DL and Jane Davies OBE, who have served as members of our Advisory Council for a number of years.
Note: Dr Virginia Tandy OBE lives and works in the region. A former Director of Manchester City Galleries, she later became Director of Culture for Manchester. More recently she was the Founding Director of CADA: the Creative Ageing Development Agency. A previous President of the Museums Association, in the 2010s she was a trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She is currently the Deputy Chair of National Museums Liverpool and Chair of Brighter Sound, a music development agency based in Manchester.
Please direct any requests for more information to the Foundation’s administrator, Irene Langford, on 07876 744 235 or at [email protected]
Sir Robert Scott
Dr Virginia Tandy OBE
Welcome to The Granada Foundation
The Granada Foundation wishes to encourage and promote the study, practice and appreciation of science and the arts, including drawing, architecture and landscape architecture, sculpture, literature, music, opera, drama, dance, cinema and the methods and means of their dissemination.
The Foundation also welcomes applications which aim to engage and inspire young people and adults to take an interest in science.
© Peter Carr
We promote the study and appreciation of...
Arts
The Foundation encourages applications from across all areas of the arts, music, drama, visual arts, cinema, festivals. We have made significant awards to many major arts organisations across our region: HOME, The Whitworth Art Gallery, The Royal Liverpoool Philharmonic, Lakeland Arts in Cumbria, the new Storyhouse in Chester, and many more. We also feel it equally worthwhile when we are able to make more modest grants available to organisations which may perhaps be smaller in size, but are the life-blood of our region’s cultural society.
© Science Museum Group
We promote the study and appreciation of...
Science
The understanding and appreciation of science plays an equal part with the arts in making the North West a richer and more attractive place in which to live. Public engagement with science is a maturing professional activity, and the Advisory Council will look favourably at proposals that offer new ways of encouraging people in the North West to explore the way science touches and enriches their lives on a daily basis.
© Science Museum Group
© Brian Slater
“Since 2014, grants given by the Granada Foundation to Northern Ballet have ensured that our world class children’s ballet productions can visit theatres in both Blackpool and Barrow, continuing a legacy of arts engagement in the North West region, reaching diverse communities, home to families that may not have experienced a live ballet, or even theatre performance, before.”
Simon JenkinsNorthern Ballet