Launched in 2010, Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open (formerly Jerwood Makers Open) is a biennial commissioning opportunity that recognises and promotes the significance of making practice and process within contemporary visual arts. It supports exceptional UK-based artist and makers within 1-10 years of beginning their practice to develop their creative ideas independently, enabling them to experiment, learn and take risks with substantial curatorial support.
The award offers a supported, high-profile national platform for artists and makers at a pivotal moment in their careers. There are five awards of £8,000 each plus curatorial and production support from the Jerwood Arts team to support the making of new work over a six month period for a group exhibition in London, followed by a national touring exhibition.
We launched this initiative in response to a need for artists and makers to undertake projects outside the specific commercial briefs common in the applied arts sector. To date, this initiative has invested over £250,000 directly to artists to support 34 new commissions that have been exhibited at 14 venues across the UK. It continues to respond to an ongoing dialogue around the place of materials, skills and processes in contemporary art practice.
The eighth edition launches a new collaboration with the Art Fund and partnership with Aberdeen Art Gallery, who host a dedicated curatorial role to support the project. An exhibition of the new commissions will launch at Jerwood Space in London in January 2022, before touring to Newlyn Art Gallery in Penzance in summer 2022 and Aberdeen Art Gallery in autumn 2022.
Find out more about past selectors and awardees here.
Visit our What's On pages for information about current awardees and exhibitions.
Artists selected for Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open to date:
2021: Anna Berry, Cecilia Charlton, Jahday Ford, Vicky Higginson, Francisca Onumah & Helena Russell
2017: Marcin Rusak, Juli Bolaños-Durman, Jessica Harrison, Laura Youngson Coll and Sam Bakewell
2015: Zachary Eastwood-Bloom, Malene Hartmann Rasmussen, Jasleen Kaur, Ian McIntyre and Silo Studio
2014: Hitomi Hosono, Matthew Raw, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen, Shelley James and FleaFollyArchitects
2013: Maisie Broadhead, Linda Brothwell, Adam Buick, Nahoko Kojima and Roanna Wells
2012: Nao Matsunaga, James Rigler, William Shannon, Louis Thompson and Silvia Weidenbach
2011: Farah Bandookwala, Emmanuel Boos, Heike Brachlow and Keith Harrison