About Grand Plan
Grand Plan was created by a trio of artists in Spring 2021 to award £1,000 grants to artists of colour in the UK.
What’s our approach?
We want applying to Grand Plan to be as simple as possible. If you’re interested in applying for a grant from us, the best place to start is with our application guidance. Since launching in May 2021, we’ve awarded over 150 grants. Our grantees have written children's books, made short films, produced Indian classical dance, purchased pottery kilns, launched trans music nights, set up black community archives, and so much more.
Why £1,000 grants?
Countless artists’ careers are kick-started by an invisible, middle-class, leg-up. The gift of money, permission, time or equipment from a family member or personal networks.
Our £1,000 grants mimic a small part of this transformative opportunity to those who don’t have access to it. Over the years we’ve collected countless stories of what £1,000, timed right, can do for artists.
Why artists of colour?
The combined impacts of ethnicity and class continue to have significant impacts on who gets to be an artist in the UK:
Only 2.3% of named artists in GCSE Art exams are from Black or South Asian backgrounds
Just 3% of the workforce in museums, galleries and libraries are from minority ethnic backgrounds
Black and minority ethnic people in the UK are still 2.5 times likelier to be living in poverty
(Data sourced from a combination of research by the Runnymede Trust and Freelands Foundation)
Who are we?
Grand Plan was jointly created by Tom Rosenthal, Marina Diamandis and Siddharth Khajuria in Spring 2021.
We retain an intentionally-small structure (two of us, working 1-2 days a week) with all work remunerated at the same, flat day rate.
Savena Surana - Program Manager
Savena is an award-winning creative communicator and producer. She tells stories of social good for clients such as the United Nations Foundation, Museum of London and Lego. She is also the co-founder of Identity 2.0, a creative studio working at the intersection of digital rights, identity and technology.
Siddharth Khajuria - Director
Siddharth’s an artist and producer. As an artist, he works with photography, language and other materials to poke at the ways we assimilate – and resist – our social and natural habitats. He has been a senior producer at the Barbican, the director of Science Gallery London, and a producer at the BBC.
Throughout the process of reviewing applications, we also work with independent judges – all of whom have a practice as an artist or cultural worker. We’ll continue to do this in 2025/6, and add their details here.
Our Trustees
We’re registered as a charitable incorporated organisation (1193497) in England and Wales, and are governed by three trustees:
April Brown
With 15 years of experience in the creative and social impact sectors, April is passionate about empowering diverse voices and creating inclusive environments. She works as a coach, consultant and creative producer to help underrepresented creatives and socially-minded organisations flourish. April has delivered multidisciplinary programmes and projects for organisations including Tate, Somerset House, Creative Access, A New Direction and LIFT. She is a fellow of The School for Social Entrepreneurs and an alumna of the Clore Emerging Leaders Programme. Her unique blend of creative insight, inclusivity expertise, and entrepreneurial spirit enables her to drive meaningful change and unlock potential in individuals and organisations alike.
Lucy Musgrave
Lucy is the founding director of Publica, an urban design practice, and a director of Publica’s Community Interest Company which promotes a vision for inclusive and collaborative city-making. Over the past 30 years she has been contributing to a global conversation on urbanism and social architecture and how the vitality of urban neighbourhoods can be cared for in the midst of rapid growth and development. Lucy is a Design Advocate for the Mayor of London, with Publica contributing research and policy to make the city child-friendly, to have practical tools to understanding how we can plan and design the city for women and gender diverse people, and leading the policy agenda on the evening and night-time. Lucy has been an ambassador for Grand Plan since its inception.
Tom Rosenthal
Tom is a singer-songwriter who’s released seven albums, amassing over a billion streams to date. He’s done so as an independent artist and has commissioned many creative people in fields such as animation, illustration, and filmmaking. He also makes the podcast ‘Strangers on a Bench’, which reached the top ten of Apple’s Podcasts chart. In each episode, he interviews strangers on benches around the UK. Throughout his career, he has helped developing artists find ways to express themselves free of restrictions. Having seen how too many labels, especially the big ones, use exploitative structures to restrict artists, he established Tinpot Records, an independent record label designed with the artist at its heart. And he’s seeking to do something similar with Grand Plan.
Thank You
A huge thank you to our community of judges, ambassadors, supporters, and the people whose advice and guidance helped us develop Grand Plan.
April Brown (one of our first judges, and now a Trustee) gave us wisdom and direction at the earliest stages
Sophie Chapman worked with us to develop the application process, and managed the fund for its first year
Alison Godfrey helped us navigate the world of the Charities Commission
Anna Leach’s wizardry helped make the website as warm and approachable as it is
Lucy Musgrave (also now a Trustee) provided so much invaluable guidance and has grown the community of people who are supporting our work
Eleanor Nairne advocated for the fund and introduced us to some of our supporters
Travis Alabanza, Zakia Bishton, Akinola Davies, Antonia Odunlami, Balraj Samrai, Nikesh Shukla, Abigail Maria Sol, Bolanle Tajudeen, Keisha Thompson, Sarra Wild, and Matthew Arthur Williams — who have all acted as our independent judges, reviewing applications with a wealth of dedication and care
Safiya Ahmed, Dan Guthrie, Anna Hamilos, Rosalie Schweiker, Jessica Straker, and Jasmine White — whose feedback and expertise helped us re-design our application process in 2025
Our donors (you can find out more about them here), whose generosity and commitment have made Grand Plan possible