Last updated: 05/02/2025
Unfortunately we are not able to discuss individual artists’ eligibility or applications. If you have a specific query please email it to [email protected] and we will add it to the FAQs on the Artists of the Year call page. All FAQs received are posted anonymously on the call page. We recommend that you join the webinar on Thursday 16th January, for artists and artist collectives who are considering applying to the programme. There will be an opportunity to ask questions during the webinar. To register click here. The webinar will also be recorded and published to the webpage.
You are eligible to apply if you are working as an artist creating your own original work and meet the other eligibility criteria in the guidance. One of the eligibility criteria is that you must be available to start the programme in April 2025, and you can commit to attending Artists of the Year activity throughout the year, so you would need to consider how your studies would fit around this in your application. If you were to reach the interview stage, this is something that would be discussed with you then.
You can submit a relevant excerpt/chapters from your book, up to the word count stated in the guidance. You can also upload a synopsis to give an overview of the work if you wish.
Yes, those who applied last year and were offered / received mentoring (but did not win Artist of the Year) can reapply this year.
You can apply as a duo if you can both evidence professional recognition as individuals. If you have evidence of your work together, please also include this.
If you have specific access needs, please email [email protected] and let us know what kind of support you need. We will do our best to find this support for you to enable you to fill in the form. We are unable to discuss the content of individual applications. If you prefer to speak to someone about your access needs, please call 07443 346272.
You are still able to apply for Artists of the Year 2025 if you are on the current ASPire programme.
The webinar is available to view on the following link – https://teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/business/tees-valley-artists-of-the-year-2025/
You can include excerpts or links to reviews and/or panel feedback in the portfolio submission section or the ‘Why You’ section about your current work.
The development budget is for you to use alongside your development plan to help you achieve the goals you set out. It can be used to match against other budgets, and be put towards other costs including equipment, other people’s time, attendance at events. We will work with you to make sure the development budget is allocated in a smart way to get the most out of it. For more information on the development budget and bursary, see the webinar here at 42 mins 21 sec.
The tipping point we hope to see articulated is a clear understanding of the next phase of your professional journey which this programme could help you to accelerate towards. It will likely include a wider level of recognition and engagement and could also include: diversification of work with expansion into new areas, levelling-up the audiences you’re currently reaching or platforms you’re presenting your work through, securing key partnerships etc. We expect to be able to understand any barriers that might have prevented you from making these steps previously and also why what you hope to achieve will support you to build your career more sustainably.
If there are barriers that you have experienced, we really need to understand those so we can consider how best to support you, should you be successful in your application. This will look different for different people depending on their circumstances. We are looking for an understanding of challenges and the kind of difference this programme could make and how it could help to overcome them. Explaining the barriers is not assessed in terms of the eligibility for the programme, but if there are significant barriers and you know what would make the difference to overcome those, it’s worth telling us.
The application does not have to focus on one goal. The journey to your ultimate goal could be complex and multifaceted – because so many portfolio careers are. The goals that you put into the application form could be the top three things you want to achieve – but these don’t all have to be related to the same piece of work, for example. Artists of the Year are able to refine their development goals, with support, when making their development plan. We want you to get the most out of the time, so would support you to focus on and prioritise areas for development.
No.
The programme will require your time to take part. The idea of the bursary is for you to be able to dedicate your time to the programme. The bursary is equivalent to the real living wage. There is going to be a significant time commitment so we would need to be sure you could fit that around any existing employment / time commitments. We would like to see the intention to transition to earning the majority of your income from your creative practice in the future, although this doesn’t necessarily need to be within the Artist of the Year 2025 year of support.
If you have work that is already committed for the year, we would need to make sure you can work around this to meet the significant time commitment of the programme. The bursary will hopefully mean that artists can say ‘no’ to some of the work that they may otherwise have felt they had to take and, instead, focus on the pursuing their goals within the programme. It will also mean that artists can say ‘yes’ to opportunities they may otherwise have felt they had to let pass by. We do try to be as flexible as possible in terms of making dates work for the artists and understand that, as professionals, there will be established working relationships that will need to be maintained.
We are not able to advise on an individual’s benefits as each person’s situation will be different and may be affected in different ways. We would encourage you to speak to your benefits provider or citizens advice to ask them about your specific circumstances and how receiving a grant would affect your benefits. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/
You can have the same referee as last time you applied. They will need to provide an up to date reference.
We try to be as flexible as possible when arranging activities around artists avilability, but there will be some fixed dates for training and events that are not able to change. We intend to give as much advance notice of the commitment / dates for the year as possible.
To be eligible for the programme, if you are applying as an individual, you need to be registered as self-employed with HMRC.
Unfortunately your daughter will not be eligible for the programme, as she is under 18. The programme is for professional artists who create their own original work.
Please see question 31. This opportunity is specifically for those based (domestically and / or professionally) in the Tees Valley.
You can upload a document to the submission page showing the link and the time stamp of the section of the video you would like us to watch. (each section should not exceed 5 mins.)
You need to show in your application that you are based in and committed to working in Tees Valley, this can include that you live and make work here.
It is up to you to decide who would give you the best reference. We are interested to hear about you and your work and your readiness for this programme. The content of the reference is more important than the job title of the referee.
Please choose the option that is most closely aligned with your work as an artist. You are able to explain in the form section if you feel your work aligns with more than one category, and you can explain your ambitions in the ‘Why You’ sections.
Join us on social media for the latest news