Research And Development Fellowships And Bursaries 2023-2024
7th July 2023
WEVAA supports the visual arts ecology in the West of England through programming, advocacy and partnership working. The goal of the alliance is to invest in development and increase the visibility and resources for the visual arts community.
Their annual programme of Research and Development Fellowships supports three artists/groups annually with £10,000 worth of support to further the practice of Visual Arts in the region. The Research and Development bursary programme offers artists up to £1000 to support creative practice and create a step change in career development. A dedicated office space at Spike Island provides a community hub for the Research and Development Fellows, supporting peer-to-peer exchange; and provides an ad hoc workspace for the VASW team. Find details of fellowship and bursary recipients below.
Find out more:
VASW – OPEN CALL: Announcing a WEVAA opportunity
VASW – OPEN CALL: Announcing a WEVAA opportunity
Partners Bath Spa University have produced research which makes a number of recommendations to strengthen the visual arts ecology in the city by encouraging interaction between professionals and students, and supporting wider community engagement with contemporary art practice. A monthly networking event, WEVAA Wednesdays, enables informal information sharing and has helped to develop networks.
As part of the process of building a visual arts infrastructure in Weston, Culture Weston have worked with Weston Artspace to secure their long-term future. Weston Artspace successfully applied for funding, and have been awarded a R&D Fellowship (details below) to set up a sustainable infrastructure for the visual arts in Weston, providing much needed capacity.
Bristol City Council have begun to research to develop a Cultural Infrastructure Plan (CIP) for Bristol. This will be an opportunity to set out what cultural spaces are needed and should be supported in the city, and will enable the city to plan for cultural development.
The University of the West of England supports the alliance through stewardship, funding, and the development of their partnership with Spike Island. The School of Art and Design have created two new roles to support partnership work, including a Partnership Support Assistant and a Research Fellow.
Creative Youth Network have worked with Spike Island to deliver an Engagement commission with Rachel Bradley and four young artists from their Creative Futures Programme. They have also worked with VASW to co-produce workshops.
The WEVAA Weekend (6-9th October 2022) consisted of a series of talks and networking events. It included a keynote presentation on Civic Engagement by Sarah Munro, Director of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and a panel conversation by the WEVAA partnership. The event included work by school age young people created through workshops with artist Morgan Tipping, and a creative placemaking networking event led by Culture Weston.
To find out more, visit : VASW – Sector Support
