The Square Peg Bursary is intended to provide an opportunity for a disabled artist to create new work for exhibition which they may otherwise be unable to realise. Square Peg is Artlink Hull’s wide-ranging disability and diversity arts programme commissioned and supported by Hull 2017 UK City of Culture. The bursary is £3,500 for the selected artist’s time and materials/resources for the work/s to be created. Additional finance is available for communications and transportation support for the selected artist during the production process as well as for the realisation of the final exhibition.

The Square Peg Bursary is intended to provide an open-submission opportunity for a disabled artist to create new work for exhibition which they may otherwise be unable to realise. 

A shortlist from the submissions will be drawn up by a panel with personal and professional experience in art and disability including artists, curators and critics. Shortlisted applicants may be invited to interview before the selection of the final artist, for which communication and/or transportation support can be provided.

The bursary is £3,500 for the selected artist’s time and materials/resources for the work/s to be created. Additional finance is available for communications and transportation support for the selected artist during the production process as well as for the realisation of the final exhibition.

The closing date for submissions is Friday 16th February 2018 at 5pm.

Interested artists should submit their outline proposal for the bursary opportunity along with details on their artistic development and supporting information via the portal on CuratorSpace here.

If you require application information or your submission to be in an alternate format, please contact us via the details below to discuss your needs.  

This project is funded by Spirit of 2012 through Hull 2017 UK City of Culture and supported by Shape Arts.

Please read the project brief and conditions thoroughly before requesting more information. 

Bursary brief and conditions

• The competition is open to artists who self-indentify as being disabled. A definition of disability under the 2010 Equalities Act is: “A physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative effect on your ability to do normal daily activities.” We appreciate that this definition is open to contention, and that many people face disabling barriers without having had any medical diagnosis. This opportunity is intended to create a new opportunity for a disabled artist to create new work as, due to societal inequalities, disabled people frequently have reduced opportunities to actively participate in cultural life. This is why, to ensure our aims are met, that we ask candidates to identify the barriers they have faced, rather than discuss their health or other issues.

• We acknowledge that the ‘North of England’ is a subjective concept. However we consider there to be reduced opportunities for artists to make new work for public exhibition in the North of England and that this is an additional barrier for disabled artists. For the administrative purposes of this opportunity we define the North of England as the area of land between the Scottish border and the southern boundaries of the counties of Yorkshire, Cheshire and Lancashire as well as the local authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

• Artists do not have to have been born in the North of England but must have been based there for at least a year. Artists born in the North of England but now based elsewhere are not eligible for this particular opportunity.

• The submitted idea does not have to relate in any way to disability, but this can be a theme if the artist wishes.

• Collectives and partnerships may apply if they wish, however the bursary value fixed so would have to be shared.  

• Applicants should fill in all sections of the application portal on CuratorSpace as well as attaching supporting information as indicated. If you require application information or your submission to be in an alternate accessible format, please contact us to discuss your needs.

• The bursary is open to artists working in what can broadly be defined as the visual arts field. All submissions must be suitable for exhibition within Artlink’s gallery space for a period of around 3 months.  More ephemeral or applied concepts will be considered but the applicants should consider how aspects of these could be made to work in an exhibition environment and detail this in their submission.

• Applicants can apply to produce a single piece or a series of works for the bursary. However consideration should be given to how the final piece/s would work in the exhibition space. Details and images of the Artlink Hull gallery space are available to download on CuratorSpace.

• The artist must create new work as part of the opportunity, however past work by the selected artist could also be exhibited alongside the new commissioned work.

• We do not distinguish between amateur and professional artists in this context and students may also apply. Our judgement on selecting the artist will be based on the quality of the proposed concept and on the strength of past work. Evidence of having previously created work for public exhibition is an advantage.

• The selected artist would be expected to take part in publicity for the commission and the final exhibition.

• We are unfortunately unable to provide feedback to applicants for the bursary who do not reach the shortlisting stage.

Contact details. If possible, please direct all queries through the CuratorSpace portal. However alternative contact details if required are admin@artlink.uk.net (Please put Square Peg Bursary in the subject line) or contact by telephone on: 01482345104