Artist's Resource Pack

Short courses can vary – some are free or very low cost, others can cost quite a lot to attend, especially if you need to travel to and stay away from home or need access support.

Always ask if the organisation running the course offer concessionary prices for disabled people – often they are so keen to include disabled people in courses that they can reduce the fees to attend.

If you can’t afford even the concessionary rate, you could ask if they would consider offering you a bursary place – a low cost or no cost place. You might have to write a report on how you found the course in order to get this.

Course organisers have to make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of access costs for disabled attendees. If you want to find out more about the Disability Discrimination Act, you can go to that section of this site.

If you are employed or self employed you can also use your Access to Work support to cover training that is directly linked to your work. If you want to find out more about Access to Work you can go to that section on this site or go straight to Shape’s site: Guide to Access to Work.

You can apply for grants to cover training costs too. Your training is part of your professional development. You will have to explain why you want to take a particular course and what effect it will have on you and your work. If you want to find out more about applying for funding, you can go to the fundraising section of this site.