Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open 2021

Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open 2021 is a major award for five early-career UK-based artists and makers to develop and present ambitious new works using all forms of making and material experimentation.

This eighth edition launches a new collaboration with the Art Fund and partnership with Aberdeen Art Gallery, who will host the exhibition of the new commissions in autumn 2022.

The award offers a supported, high-profile national platform for artists and makers who are between one and ten years of beginning their professional artistic practice to take risks at a pivotal moment in their careers. It seeks to raise the profile and visibility of making processes within the visual arts and create a space for critical dialogue between the craft and visual arts sectors.

What do the five awarded artists and makers receive?

• £8,000 each, inclusive of their fee and production budget
• Full curatorial and production support from Jerwood Arts and a dedicated Curator and Project Manager for nine months followed by a 16-month tour
• A premiere exhibition at Jerwood Space, London in Summer 2021
• An exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery, Scotland, in Autumn 2022
• Two further national exhibitions between Autumn 2021 and Autumn 2022

What are we looking for?

We are looking for bold, original and achievable proposals for a new work that foregrounds materials and making and will represent a step-change in your practice. We aim for the period of development enabled by the awards to be of significant benefit, allowing experimentation with new and ambitious ways of working.

Jerwood Art Fund Makers Open focuses on making and materials and presents these in a visual arts context. They seek to support exceptional skill and imagination within what are traditionally described as crafts and applied arts, looking broadly at how contemporary artists are defining or challenging the discipline. The Jerwood Arts team provides significant developmental support to selected artists, working alongside them on the curatorial and logistical development of each idea.