Call for entries: Bursary for artists with a disability

If you are an artist with a disability you'll be interested to hear about The Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2010-11.  This annual bursary was set-up in memory of Adam Reynolds (see below), to provide time, space and support for artists to develop their ideas without the pressure to deliver a particular outcome.

Now in its fourth year, the bursary is available to mid-career disabled or deaf artists working in the field of visual arts. 

It has firmly established itself as one of the most significant commissioning opportunities for artists with a disability in the UK.

Aaron Williamson 

(Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary recipient 2010) 

working at the Spike Island Studio

Call for Entries:  This year's bursary is now open for entries.  Applications are welcomed each year both from:

• artists with a disability who work in a disability or deaf arts context
• artists with a disability whose work is not focused on their disability.

Further information and application form

The deadline for entries for the competition is Monday 18 October at 10am

• The application pack Click here to download a word version of the application pack and the equal opportunities monitoring form.
• FAQs and Further information Click here for the frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Prize:  The winner will be given

• a cash prize of £5,000 and 
• a residency at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead.

This bursary is now also listed in Art Competitions - Resources for Artists - see Artists with a Difference which focuses on competitions with criteria which limits entry to artists with a particular characteristic.

About Adam Reynolds

Adam Reynolds (1959-2005) was a sculptor, curator, teacher and arts advisor. Adam was active in the disability arts sector and generous in his support for other artists, the bursary is offered in the same spirit in which Adam lived and worked

I'm clear that my greatest strengths stem from the fact of being born with muscular dystrophy, apparently my greatest weakness.

Adam Reynolds

He always favoured using scrap materials and found objects - picked up from the street or dug out of the ground - making his viewers reconsider the value and beauty of overlooked and rejected 'stuff'. He explained this tendency as being founded on my lifelong experience of disability and [the desire to challenge] the commonplace assumption that this renders life all but useless and without value.

For more information about Adam and his work, please see:

• Adam’s CV
• Obituary by Nicholas Serota in the Guardian
• Obituary by Rob Kesseler in the Independent

World-renowned sculptor Antony Gormley is patron of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary.  

Adam was inspirational as an artist and a man – seeing his disability as a strength. This bursary is the most practical and powerful way to continue doing what Adam did to make the possible palpable.

Antony Gormley

The 2010 Exhibition

The Shortlist 2010 - Artists:
Aaron Williamson (Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary recipient 2010)
Katherine Araniello
Gus Cummins
Anne Deeming
Caglar Kimyoncu
Maya Ramsay

The work of last year’s winner Aaron Williamson and other shortlisted artists for last year’s prize can be seen from 22nd September in a Shortlist Exhibition at the Deane House Studios

Venue:  This accessible exhibition is being held in Shape’s inclusively designed space at Shape, Deane House Studios 27 Greenwood Place, Kentish Town, NW5 1LB.  Access information and details of how to get there available from www.shapearts.org.uk

Note:  
(1)  Shape, who co-ordinate the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary, is a disability-led arts organisation working to improve access to culture for disabled people. We develop opportunities for disabled artists, we train cultural institutions to be more open to disabled people, and we run participatory arts and development programmes.
(2) The Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2010-11 is made possible by The Garfield Weston Foundation.