Call for bursaries of £1,000 and £5,000 for artists in the Leeds City Region through PANIC

PANIC! Promoting an Artist Network in the Crisis, invites artists in Leeds City Region to submit applications for £5,000 and £1,000 bursaries to support the making of new contemporary visual artwork in any artform. The bursaries will offer space to create a voice and help us think through the new psychological, social and cultural conditions we face today.

PANIC! has been brought together by The Tetley in partnership with Griselda Pollock, together with a steering group of three advisors and seven artists based in the region selected through an open call. We are proud to announce today the artists joining the steering group are:

Bijan Amini-Alavijeh, Claye Bowler, Kevin Chege, Charlotte Cullen, Lucy Cunningham, Ian Jackson, Sam Metz

Led by artists, curators, organisations and individuals in Leeds City Region, PANIC! will create an artists' network in Leeds. Collectively, the network will offer benefits through; platforming activities, sharing information, offering mentoring support and bursaries for practising artists.

The steering group will direct bursary funds and vision a digital events programme with monthly public-facing activity, which is an opportunity to curate talks, blogs, podcasts and more. Artists will also benefit from individual mentoring and studio visits with external artists, curators and practitioners. Artists on the steering group are paid £150 per monthly meeting (up to £1,950 each).

The artists on the steering group were selected by Bryony Bond, Director of The Tetley and Griselda Pollock, alongside the PANIC! advisory group; Kerry Harker, co-founder of The Tetley and East Leeds Project, Simeon Barclay, artist and Nicola Singh, artist.

Lucy Cunningham, Steering Group Artist: “Being selected for PANIC! is an incredibly exciting moment in my artistic career. Helping to develop a network that offers support for selected artists is rewarding, in that it will enable individuals to thrive creatively, with assurance that they will be financially and pastorally assisted, in such challenging times. Graduating only a few years ago, I’m drawn to the potential of inspiring students to persist in the arts beyond graduation, and continue in the evolving community that makes Leeds. Guidance and funding is imperative for artists today - for both graduates and those who haven’t accessed Higher Education. I see PANIC as a programme that artists are welcomed into, enthusing the next generation of creatives in Leeds, to sustain Yorkshire’s visual landscape.”

Georgia Taylor Aguilar, Artist Development Curator at The Tetley: “This is such a generous opportunity for the PANIC! Steering group to question, challenge and make provocations about how artists and networks are practicing and on what terms. I’m really excited for bursaries, mentoring, research and learning to be shared with all artists who want to be involved in the PANIC! Network. This will be a kind and equitable platform – ultimately a useful resource for artists”

Griselda Pollock says: “The response to our call out confirmed the range and wealth of amazing artists in our region. Choosing was difficult but we feel we have a remarkable and skilled team of thoughtful and committed artists to help steer this project, reach into many communities, and take forward our commitment to developing support structures for artists, sites of exchange, learning and mentoring and demonstrating our active commitment to inclusion and diversity. I know we are all looking forward to working with these artists and the artist advisors.”