Who can apply: Current a-n Artist members, Joint (Artist and Arts Organiser) members.
What: 50+ bursaries of £500 – £1,500 for self-directed professional development.
When: Activity taking place between 1 April – 31 December 2019.
Deadline for applications: 3pm, Monday 14 January 2019.
Overview
a-n The Artists Information Company is offering 50+ bursaries of £500 – £1,500 to Artist and Joint (Artist and Arts Organiser) members wishing to undertake self-determined professional development in 2019. We know that targeted funding at the right time in an artist’s career can make all the difference – so why not put together a plan to make things happen for you in 2019?
a-n Artist Bursaries provide money for artists to develop their practice through self-determined professional development activity that responds to their own unique needs.
We encourage applications from artists working in all visual arts disciplines that reflect innovative and ambitious thinking.
Since 2013 a-n has awarded £379,500 to over 480 members through our bursary programmes. a-n members have used bursaries to learn new skills, travel internationally, undertake mentoring or coaching, research, curatorial critique, attend conferences, build networks and collaborations within and outside of the visual arts, or a combination of these things.
In 2018 successful a-n Artist Bursaries recipients undertook a broad range of activities including: immersion in the New York voguing Scene, networking with bio-arts organisations in Finland, researching women art technicians in the UK and a new artist collaboration exploring alt-communities and fandoms. A full list of 2018 recipients can be found here, and blog posts from previous bursary recipients can be found here.
Deadline for applications: 3pm Monday 14 January 2019.
How to apply
Applications are submitted via this form www.a-n.co.uk/form/apply-for-a-bursary
Please read Further information and Application guidance below before starting your application.
You must be logged in to your a-n membership to access the form. Only current Artist and Joint (Artist and Arts Organiser) members can apply.
We advise you to first write your application offline and to then transfer your answers to the online form. Upon submitting the form, you will be emailed a final version for your records.
You will be asked for the following:
- Your contact details
- A short overview of your proposed bursary (up to 40 words)
- An outline of your artistic practice (100 words)
- A full description of your proposed bursary activity (up to 150 words)
- Amount applied for (£500 – £1,500)
- An outline of your budget (up to 100 words)
- Start and end date of your bursary activity (to take place between 1 April 2019 – 31 December 2019)
- Why is the opportunity crucial to your professional development at this time and how will the activity benefit you in the short and long term? (up to 150 words)
- Upload your current CV in pdf format (maximum 2 pages no larger than 5mbs). Use the following filename FIRSTNAME_SURNAME_CV_2019 (eg JOHN_SMITH_CV_2019
- A link to your website, online portfolio or other means of viewing your work online
- Equal opportunities monitoring information (this information is separated, anonymised and does not form part of the selection process).
The application form will be accessible until 3pm, Monday 14 January 2019. Because of the expected volume of applications, we strongly advise against submitting your application one the deadline day.
We regret that we are not able to advise on the content of individual applications.
Whilst we can’t respond to requests for advice in shaping applications if you need to contact us email [email protected]
Further information
1. Who can apply?
a-n Artist Bursaries are open to current a-n Artist or Joint (Artist and Arts Organiser) members who are practising visual artists at any stage of their career, with a UK bank account. We encourage applications from artists working in all visual arts disciplines.
Become a member here.
Check your membership type here.
We are not accepting applications from:
- Arts Organiser or Student members
- Members on an undergraduate course, or undertaking full-time study during the bursary period
- Artists within 24 months of completing an undergraduate course
- Individuals who received an a-n bursary in 2017 or 2018 including: Artist Bursaries, Travel or Professional Development Bursaries, Biennial Bursaries, Coaching or Mentoring Bursaries, One-to-one Guidance or attended the a-n Visual Arts Coaching Course
2. What activity can be supported?
a-n Artist Bursaries are intended to support the professional development of your artistic career. This bursary seeks to support the development of new skills, knowledge and networks that will benefit your career in the short and long term rather than supporting material, making or project costs. We are open to considering any ideas that constitute a self-determined professional development opportunity, including those that combine several different activities.
Bursary activity might include, but is not limited to:
- Learning new skills through professional training, courses, peer-to-peer learning with visual arts or non-arts experts
- Mentoring, coaching or curatorial feedback
- Networking with artists, galleries, organisations or other groups of interest
- Research and development costs for a new way of working or collaboration
- Visiting national or international conferences, biennials, exhibitions, organisations, cities or any other specific location or event relevant to your practice
In addition to the activity itself, a-n Artist Bursaries can also support:
- Associated national or international travel costs, accommodation and subsistence
- Contribution to caring costs and any access needs
- Reasonable fees for your own time
Examples of activity that can’t be supported include:
- Applications made only for the purchase of materials or equipment, however this could be included as part of a broader application where learning through making is vital and clearly beneficial in the long-term. Material or making costs should no be more than 50% of the total amount asked for
- Applications made only for goods or services eg paying a contractor for a website to be built, unless this is part of a broader application where other learning or skills building for the artist is included
- Applications that fund the making of new or unfinished work or projects for exhibition, art fair or sale, however this could be one element of a broader application
- Applications that are dependant on other unsecured funding
3. How much can be applied for?
£500 – £1,500
4. What is the selection process?
Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel and a-n Artists Bursaries will be awarded at their discretion. All applicants will be notified of the outcome by the beginning of March 2019.
5. Reporting requirements.
Receiving a bursary comes with an obligation to produce a blog about your activity to share learning and progress with the artists’ community on a-n.co.uk/blogs. Blogs can be completed by text, video, audio and/or images and must be finished by the deadline of 31 December 2019. Bursary recipients will also be required to contribute to the evaluation of the programme.
Application guidance
We receive a large number of applications for a-n Artist Bursaries. Those that are successful reflect activities that will have the most significant and meaningful impact for an artist’s career in the short- and long-term. Please find some notes below to support you when you fill out your application form:
Provide a short overview of your proposed bursary (up to 40 words).
This short outline should communicate the most important aspects of your proposal – what is it you want to do?
Please provide an outline of your artistic practice (up to 100 words).
Don’t assume the panel is familiar with your work. This is a space to introduce what you do, and how and why you do it. Share your interests, motivation and process in a clear and concise way, avoiding art jargon.
Provide a full description of your proposed bursary activity (up to 150 words).
Use this space to expand on the information in the short outline to tell us more about your proposed activities. You don’t need to repeat the information provided in the short outline.
Try to be as specific as you can. For example, if you want to undertake a research trip, tell us why, where and how the research will take place. Who will you meet or network with, how will you make the most of your time there? If you are including a period of mentoring or coaching, give examples of who this will be with and why.
Successful applicants often draw several different activities together to form a bespoke programme that makes the most of an opportunity. For example, if you are applying to attend a conference, you could also visit some exhibitions in the host city while you are there, or set up a networking opportunity. If you applying to do a residency, would it also be useful to have some coaching or mentoring to support you to get the most out of this opportunity?
Amount applied for.
You can apply for between £500 – £1,500.
Outline your budget (up to 100 words)
a-n is committed to ensuring artists are fairly paid for activities they undertake. Please see our guidance to include a reasonable artist fee for yourself or anyone else you work with in your budget.
Please give us some information on how the bursary award might be spent on professional development activities. Try to break down and itemise the amount by separating out different costs. Refer to the a-n’s budget resource for guidance.
Your budget must total the amount you are applying for.
If you will be supplementing the budget with your own funds, other secured financial support or in-kind support please clarify this here.
Any applications that are dependant on other unsecured funding will not be successful.
You can use an a-n bursary as match funding for seeking further funding.
Date of activity
Please state your activity start and end date. These dates must be between 1 April 2019 and 31 December 2019.
Why is the opportunity crucial to your professional development at this time? How will the activity benefit you in the short and long term? (up to 150 words)
Tell us why this particular activity will make a significant difference for you now. Try to be as specific as possible. We want to know why this is the right time for you to be doing this. Tell us how these activities will impact on your current position. What new opportunities could it open up for you that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do without the bursary? Link the activity to your ongoing practice so we can understand why what you’re proposing is vital to your artistic career.
Current CV in PDF format.
Upload your current CV in pdf format (maximum 2 pages no larger than 5mbs). Use the following filename FIRSTNAME_SURNAME_CV_2019 (eg JOHN_SMITH_CV_2019).
Add a link to your website, online portfolio or other means of viewing your work online.
If you do not have a website, alternative ways to share examples of your practice could be a dropbox folder of images or a link to a video sharing websites such as YouTube (if applicable).
Please do not include links to personal social media accounts, unless they are solely dedicated to your artist practice and present only your own artwork.
Equal opportunities monitoring information.
This information is separated, anonymised and does not form part of the selection process.
More on a-n.co.uk
Top tips on applying for a-n member opportunities: a-n’s External Programmes and Partnerships Manager Hannah Pierce offers advice on what the panel will be looking for in a good application.
a-n Blogs: read posts from a-n members who received a-n Artist Bursaries in 2018.