Polly Staple, director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery, has won the 2014 Genesis Prize. The prize, which is awarded biennially and recognises an outstanding mentor of artistic talent, is worth £25,000 and was set up by Genesis Foundation founder and chairman John Studzinski.
Staple was awarded the prize by judges David Bailey (photographer), Hamish Dunbar (Café Oto), Hadrian Garrard (Create), David Lan (Young Vic), Julia Peyton-Jones (Serpentine Gallery), Dame Janet Suzman (actress and director) and Studzinski.
The gallery director was chosen from a shortlist of six candidates, selected from nominations solicited from over 50 figures working in the arts and media. The full shortlist also included Anna Colin (co-founder and co-director of Open School East), Adam Khan (director of Adam Khan Architects), Kerry Michael (artistic director and chief executive of Theatre Royal Stratford East) and Sally Tallant (artistic director and chief executive of Liverpool Biennial).
The judges praised Staple for Chisenhale’s track record of launching young artists and “creating a programme that presents new artists on an international stage at the highest possible level.” Studzinski said: “Mentoring is central to everything Polly and the Chisenhale does and she’s built a structure that gives young artists an experience that complements what’s offered by formal art education.”
Emerging artists
Staple commented: “Winning the Genesis Prize is fantastic recognition for the work done by all of us at the Chisenhale Gallery. This award will have a real impact on the Chisenhale by enabling us to expand the scope and quality of our work. We’ll use the prize money to commission four emerging UK-based artists, allowing us to work with them in developing their ideas from conception through to the public showing of the finished work.”
The inaugural Genesis Prize in 2012 was awarded to Hamish Dunbar, Artistic Director of Café Oto, to set up an Associate Artists Programme and to build a new temporary project space for artists to create and develop new work.
The Genesis Foundation is a UK-based arts mentoring and development charity established in 2001 by Studzinski. Working in the fields of music, theatre and the visual arts, it funds programmes that support young directors, playwrights and choral singers. It also supports graduate and post-graduate training programmes at LAMDA and the Royal College of Art.
More on a-n.co.uk:
Polly Staple discusses degree show myths in the a-n Degree Shows Guide 2013
Chisenhale Art Place: “A creative space that enables innovation” by Stephen Palmer
