Welcome to the Vaughan Williams Foundation – one of the foremost sources of funding for recent and contemporary music in the UK
The Vaughan Williams Foundation is a grant-giving charity which upholds the values and vision of the celebrated composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and his wife Ursula Vaughan Williams.
Our principal aims are to honour RVW’s desire to support his fellow composers through funding for performances and recordings, and to help make his own work widely accessible to the general public.
VWF was founded in 2022, 150 years after the composer’s birth, and brings together the two charities originally set up by Ralph (RVW Trust) and Ursula (Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust).
Funding
Vaughan Williams Scholarships
Applications are now open for the 2026 Vaughan Williams Scholarships.
4 scholarships of £8,000 each are awarded annually to postgraduate students of composition.
For more than 40 years Vaughan Williams funding has been awarded to support postgraduate study in composition. The 270 previous recipients have included names such as Julian Anderson, Christian Alexander, Anna Meredith, Graham Fitkin, Larry Goves, Gavin Higgins, Hannah Kendall and Daniel Kidane.
Congratulations to our 2025 Vaughan Williams Scholars: Tom Burkhill, Lucy Holmes, André Faria Serra and Elliott Park.
Funding
Applications Open
Composers are at the heart of what we do. VWF offers three annual funding rounds towards:
the performance, commission and recording of music by British and Irish composers active in the last 100 years, and/or
work which furthers the knowledge and understanding of the life and work of Ralph Vaughan Williams, and of Ursula Vaughan Williams.
We welcome applications from ensembles, organisations and individuals.
Our new Trustees
Joining the Board
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sam Wigglesworth, Harriet Wybor and Raymond Yiu as new Trustees, bringing with them a wealth of experience and a passion for music.
We are so grateful for their commitment to the Foundation and look forward to working with them to develop VWF for the future.
Find out more about the faces behind the VWF and our work.
RVW
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) is one of the greatest of British composers whose music, generosity and vision for community music making continue to impact British musical life.
Find out more about the composer and explore our extensive archive of letters and photographs and catalogue of published works.
READ THE LATEST
THE LETTERS OF RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Featured Letter
Get to know the man and his music
RVW’s wide-ranging correspondence – with family, pupils, fellow composers, conductors and performers – paints an intriguing portrait of the man, as well as providing fascinating insights into his major preoccupations: musical, personal and political.
Our searchable database includes over 5000 annotated transcriptions of his correspondence all available to read online.
Letter of the Day
Letter from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Alan Bush
Letter No.: VWL1574
From R. Vaughan Williams,
The White Gates,
Westcott Road,
Dorking.
July 13 [1939]
Dear Dr Bush
You put me in rather a difficult position because, as you know, I do not care about mixing propaganda and art and I do not quite see that the people who hold particular political views should arrogate to themselves and none others the title of “Workers”.1
On the other hand I am always glad when I hear of any Society or Club turning from its nominal object and doing something that is worth while – but that something seems to me to be something much too big and eternal to be made the handmaid of quarrels between people who want to turn the world each his own way. I am very glad, for example, when I hear of Selfridges starting a choral society, but I should much disapprove if all the music they sang was an advertisement of Selfridge’s goods – and it seems to me almost equally bad to advertise through music any particular brand of political opinion, even if those opinions are to my mind admirable.
As a matter of fact I hold all political opinions to be good or bad according to the nature of the people who hold them.
But since I hope that in spite of all this these societies may help people to realize what is in the long run worth while I will guarantee the sum of £100 as you suggest up to December 31st 1939. Please write the exact form of words I should send to your bank.
Yours sincerely
R Vaughan Williams
1. VW had been asked by Bush to provide a guarantee of up to £100 for the Workers’ Music Association to cover any overdraft that might arise.
