Four Nations Outdoor Arts Bursary
Funding opportunity
Deadline: 12am, Mon 3 Feb 2025
The Four Nations Bursary Project will offer bursaries to emerging artists and companies looking to develop new outdoor art projects. Bursaries will be awarded to applicants from Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland.
The project provides early-career artists with mentorship as they create new outdoor art pieces, which will be showcased at festivals across all four nations in summer 2025, including:
- Surge Festival (Glasgow, in partnership with Articulation)
- Bradford 2025 (Bradford, in partnership with Bradford Producing Hub)
- Spraoi Festival (Waterford, Ireland, in partnership with ISACS)
- Green Man (Wales, in partnership with Green Man Trust)
The chosen artists or companies will receive a budget of £5,000 to create their outdoor art piece, along with £150 per person per day for performance days.
They will also benefit from professional mentoring provided by the festivals and each of the partner networks, as well as a three-day residency in Bradford in March 2025. Travel, accommodation, and daily allowances will be covered for both the residency and the performance tour.
For applicants based in England, please note that this opportunity is reserved for early-career performance makers and companies that are either based in Bradford or have a strong, demonstrable connection to the District. We expect applicants to have some experience of making performance for audiences.
Requirements
- Present an idea for a new small-scale outdoor arts piece, which can be either static or walkabout.
- The piece must involve either a solo artist or a duo of touring artists (all artists must be confirmed by the applicant before applying).
- The piece must be easily transportable.
- The piece must be suitable for performance or exhibition in both urban and greenfield spaces.
- Artists must be available for the residency in Bradford from 23rd to 26th March 2025.
- Artists must also be available for a number of weekday mentoring sessions between March and July 2025 (exact dates to be agreed).
Artists must be available for the following festival dates:
- 18th–20th July 2025: Surge Festival, Scotland
- 25th–27th July 2025: Bradford 2025, England
- 1st–3rd August 2025: Spraoi Festival, Ireland
- 14th–17th August 2025: Green Man Festival, Wales
We Will Offer
- A structured residency in Bradford, including professional mentoring from Surge, Bradford Producing Hub, Bradford 2025, Spraoi, and Green Man, covering areas such as creation, producing and marketing.
- A bursary of £5,000.
- Travel, accommodation, daily allowances (per diems), and a fee of £150 per day per artist for all festival performances.
- Support in accessing appropriate rehearsal and creation spaces.
Four Nations Bursary Project values diversity and promotes equality and inclusion. We encourage and welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and ability.
Please note that the scale and reach of this project is dependent on certain funding outcomes.
How to Apply
For applicants based in the UK with a demonstrable connection to the Bradford district, please email your proposal to [email protected] by Monday 3 February 2025.
Your proposal should be a single document of no more than 500 words that includes the following information:
- An outline of your idea for a new small-scale outdoor art piece and how it meets the requirements detailed above
- A list of your previous experience in creating performance work (this may or may not include outdoor performance)
- A short biography for each performer or collaborator (maximum 100 words each in addition to the 500 word count for the proposal)
If you’re based outside of the UK, see below where to submit your application for your corresponding nation:
If based in Scotland please contact Alan Richardson at Surge at [email protected]
If based in Wales please contact Zoe Munn at Green Man at [email protected]
If based in Ireland please contact Spraoi Festival at [email protected]
Decisions will be made on Monday 10th February.
