Today, 17 April, Jerwood Arts announces 24 new Jerwood Bursaries across a range of artistic disciplines for artists six to ten years into establishing their professional practice. These bursaries provide targeted funding for artists, curators and producers to support their own self-defined development, aiming to create conditions for artistic excellence to thrive. Each bursary is worth up to £1,250.
During the review process, the selection panel agreed that many of the applicants had not included an adequate fee for themselves which considered their time and expertise. Jerwood Arts subsequently asked those 71% of successful artists to increase their fees, in line with industry best practice, and resubmit their budgets.
Lilli Geissendorfer, Director, Jerwood Arts, says:
‘Jerwood Arts is committed to funding artists properly. We see this as one positive way we can advocate for sectoral change in the way that artists and commissioners approach artists’ right to fair and sustainable pay. By asking artists to fully account for their time and expertise, we hope to contribute to a change in the culture around artists’ pay and funding that creates a more sustainable ecology.’
The recipients of this round of Jerwood Bursaries are: Sharon Adams, Sara Anstis, Jo Bannon, Sophie Blagden, Phoebe Davies, Emma Dove, Sarah Duffy, Ali Eisa, Jane Hayes Greenwood, Fox Irving, Roy Mcfarlane, Louise Orwin, Siôn Parkinson, Berry Patten, Derica Shields, Nastassja Simensky, Jamie Starboisky, Debris Stevenson, Dharma Taylor, Fern Thomas, Joseph Toonga, Katy Weir, Jen White, and Nicola Woodham.
This is the first round of Jerwood Bursaries under Jerwood Arts’ new funding programme launched in January 2019. They were selected through a national call for applications, with a multi-stage process that saw proposals firstly evaluated by Jerwood Arts’ new Artist Advisers, before a selection panel comprising Emma Frankland, artist and performance maker; Heather Phillipson, artist and poet; and George Vasey, curator and writer made the final decisions. Jerwood Arts is openly offering feedback to applicants on request for the first time.
From music to printmaking, sculpture to dance, poetry to moving-image the recipients represent a broad range of artistic practice from all over the UK.
Recipients include Berry Patten, who works across drawing, print, sculpture, film, and performance, and will be using the Jerwood Bursary to fund a research trip for her latest moving image project; hip-hop artist Joseph Toonga who will use the Bursary to fund a concentrated planning period with his producer; and applied-artist Sharon Adams, who uses wood, metal and textiles to create tools, vessels and objects, and will work with a mentor to review and clarify her work to date, and identify what effective next steps she can take.
The issue of proper funding for artists is key to Jerwood Arts’ mission. This new round of bursaries gives an insight into nature of artists’ view of funding, and of their own view of their artistic development and worth. 62% of the total applicants did not include a fee for their own time in their applications despite clear encouragement to do so in the guidelines, and where they did it was often significantly lower than rates recommended by sector bodies. Of the successful 24 Jerwood Bursary recipients, 17 (71%) were invited to resubmit their budgets and include a higher fee for themselves. Recent reports across the arts sector, such as Arts Council England report on Artists’ Livelihood and Arts Professional Arts Pay 2018 report have explored the issues of low artists’ pay and funding, reiterating this as a significant issue within the sector. The Paying Artists Campaign, launched in 2014, published its Exhibitions Payment Guide in 2016.
Jerwood Arts announced its first 52 Artist Advisers in March 2019 as a central element to its new funding approach, providing art form specific skills and expertise to help identify talent and supporting selection and decision making processes. They are part of a push for greater openness, increased national reach and a broadening of Jerwood Arts’ taste. As part of their commitment to improving conditions for artists from all background across the UK, Jerwood Arts aims to continually review and refine its funding processes.
The second round of Jerwood Bursaries, for artists, curators and producers with one to five years professional experience, will open 15 July 2019 until 5pm, 9 September 2019.
See the full list of artist projects here: https://jerwoodarts.org/projects/jerwood-bursaries-2019/
