Who can apply: Current a-n Artist members.
What: Bursaries of £500 to £1,500 for continued professional practice and creative development.
When: Decisions are made on a monthly basis, refer to dates below.
Overview
As part of our commitment to supporting artists, a-n is offering bursaries of £500 to £1,500 on a monthly cycle. Until August 2023, a-n will distribute bursaries monthly, giving a-n Artist members the flexibility to apply for a bursary at a time they feel is most relevant to their practice. Bursaries are intended to support practising visual artists at any stage of their career who are wishing to engage in a period of self-determined professional development.
We encourage applications from artists working in all visual arts disciplines that reflect innovative and ambitious thinking, and those that demonstrate pivotal ideas that will enable new opportunities for a step change in their careers.
How to apply
Applications are submitted via this form.
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 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 to provide:
- Your contact details
- Your area of visual arts practice
- A short overview of your proposed bursary
- An outline of your creative practice
- A full description of your proposed bursary activity
- 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
- Amount applied for (£500 to £1,500)
- Additional disability access costs (up to £500), if required
- Details on any other sources of income, if applicable
- A detailed breakdown of your expenditure budget
- Start and end date of your bursary activity. These dates must be within one year of your application.
- A list of your most recent solo exhibitions
- A list of your most recent group exhibitions
- A list of any other key achievements that support your application
- A list of any relevant work experience
- A list of your education history
- 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)
Decision panel meetings take place on a monthly basis. Application dates for 2022-23 are as follows:
We regret that we are not able to provide advice on developing individual applications. However, should you need any technical support or have questions about the application guidelines, please contact us by email at [email protected]. If you require access support to complete your application, please email [email protected] with details of the support required and we will contact you with further information on how to proceed.
Further information
1. Can I apply?
a-n Artist Bursaries are open to current a-n Artist members who are practising visual artists at any stage of their career, based in the UK with a UK bank account. We encourage applications from artists working in all visual arts disciplines.
Check your a-n membership type
We are not accepting applications from:
- Arts Organiser or Student members
- Members who are students undertaking any full time study (statutory education, further education or higher education) during the bursary period
- Members living outside of the UK
- Members within 12 months of completing an undergraduate course
2. What activity do you support?
a-n Artist Bursaries are intended to support the professional development of your artistic career. This could be through the development of new skills, knowledge or networks that will benefit your career in the short and long term. 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 / international conferences, biennials, exhibitions, organisations, cities or any other specific location or event relevant to your practice, and associated travel costs, accommodation and subsistence.
- Market development.
- Portfolio development.
- Professional memberships.
- Tools for business development in relation to your artistic practice.
- Expert consultations (e.g. for business development, modelling, planning associated with your practice).
- Bespoke residencies that are tailored to your personal professional development.
- Reasonable fees for your own time during the bursary activity period.
You may also apply for additional costs relating to disability access requirements of up to £500. You will need to explain what your requirements are and outline what the costs would be.
Any applications for the following costs should each form no more than 50% of the total amount asked for:
- Materials or equipment.
- Goods or services e.g. paying a contractor for a website to be built, mentor fees.
- Making of new or unfinished work for exhibition, art fair or sale.
- Studio rent and/or overheads.
- Artists’ fees.
Examples of activity that can’t be supported include:
- Applications for project funding or to subsidise public programming.
- Applications for the development of curatorial practice.
- Generic off-the-shelf residencies that are not tailored to your personal professional development.
- Applications that are dependent on other unsecured funding.
- Higher education tuition fees and associated costs.
- Applications from part time students (statutory education, further education or higher education) for activities directly linked to their formal course of study.
- Activities that do not meet current government guidelines for Covid-19 where the bursary activity will take place.
3. How much can I apply for?
£500 to £1,500
In addition to the bursary amount requested, we can also support the cost of access support workers to help you write your application and/or the cost of personal access costs associated with the activities you are applying for.
4. If I previously received a bursary from a-n, am I eligible to apply?
Individuals who received an a-n bursary through a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money or a-n Bursaries 2022: Time Space Money are not eligible to apply.
Individuals who received an a-n bursary in 2020 or before are eligible to apply.
5. If my application is unsuccessful, can I apply again?
If your application is unsuccessful, you can make a maximum of one further application to this programme.
6. What is the selection process?
Applications will be reviewed by a selection panel made up of a combination of a-n staff, a-n Artists Council members, and artists. a-n Artists Bursaries will be awarded at the panels’ discretion and all applicants will be notified of the panels’ decision.
7. Will I receive feedback?
All applicants will receive an email notifying them of the outcome of their application. If your application is not successful, feedback will be provided in the notification email.
8. Are there any reporting requirements?
Bursary recipients will be required to complete a Final Activity Report form within one year of receiving their bursary, in accordance with the Terms and Conditions when accepting the bursary.
Application guidance
Please find some notes below to support you when you fill out your application form. Applications exceeding the word count will not be considered.
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. Use this opportunity to introduce what you do, and how and why you do it. Share your interests, motivation and process in a clear and concise way.
Provide a full description of your proposed bursary activity (up to 150 words).
You don’t need to repeat the information you provided in your outline. Expand on this information to tell us more about your proposed activities.
Try to be as specific as you can. For example, if you want to undertake research and development, tell us why, where and how the research will take place. Who will you meet or network with, how will you make this happen? What course do you want to do, or whose expertise will you consult and how?
You may wish to draw on several different activities together to form a bespoke plan that makes the most of the bursary to suit your needs.
Why is your proposed bursary activity 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 your proposed 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 taking on this period of professional development. 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.
Amount applied for
You can apply for between £500 to £1,500.
You may also apply for additional costs relating to disability access requirements of up to £500. Please list details and state the amount (£) for each cost.
Income (up to 100 words)
If you will be supplementing the budget with your own funds, other secured financial support or in-kind support please clarify this here. Please note this is not mandatory.
You can use an a-n bursary as match funding for seeking further funding.
Expenditure
Please provide details on how the bursary might be spent on professional development activities. Try to break down and itemise the amount by separating out different costs under the headings provided. Please complete all the categories which are relevant to your application and enter ‘not applicable’ if you do not need to use a category.
Your expenditure budget must total the amount you are applying for.
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.
Date of activity
Please state your activity start and end date. These dates must be within one year of your application.
Achievements and Experience
List any achievements and experience that support your application in the categories below. Please complete all the categories which are relevant to your application and enter ‘not applicable’ if you do not need to use a category.
Most recent solo exhibitions (250 words)
List any relevant and most significant solo exhibitions within the last ten years.
Most recent group exhibitions (250 words)
List any relevant and most significant group exhibitions within the last ten years.
Key achievements that support your application (250 words)
List any relevant achievements including, for example, prizes and awards, publications, presentations, residences etc.
Relevant work experience (250 words)
List any relevant work experience you might have and whether it was full or part time, voluntary, etc.
Education history (250 words)
If applicable, list your educational achievements.
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 shared folder of images via Google Drive or a link to a video on 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.
Please complete the Equal Opportunities monitoring form. This information is separated from your application, anonymised and does not form part of the selection process.