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Artist Opportunities During Covid-19

POSTED: 29 May 2020

A list of funding, opportunities and resources to help support artists

From the opening night of Sharif Persaud's exhibition Have You Ever Had at Autograph, 2020.
This is a challenging time for artists and those working in the arts sector.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the opportunities, funds, and other useful information sent to us by Autograph’s peers and friends.

We’ll update this blog post regularly, and continue to share opportunities on social media too. Follow us on Twitter, Insta, Facebook or LinkedIn.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Freelands Foundation have announced that it has committed a total of £3m in emergency funds to support artists and freelance creative practitioners in urgent need of financial support as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic across the four nations of the UK. They have partnered with a-n The Artists Information Company to set up a new £1.5m Freelands Foundation Emergency Fund, for artists and freelancers in the visual arts sector living in England and Northern Ireland. Open from Thursday 7 May, the new fund will support grants of £1500 to £2500 per person, assessed by need, with £1 million going to those living in England and £500k to those in Northern Ireland. Find out more

FREELANCE OPPORTUNITIES

Artquest is looking to broaden the pool of freelancers they work with and is inviting expressions of interest from artists, curators, and other art world professionals who may be interested in working with them on an occasional freelance basis. Visit their website to find out more

MORE RESOURCES

Hackney Council are calling for submissions to their new Life Under Lockdown project. Local residents can submit work created over the lockdown period in the form of paintings, drawings, writing, photography or any other art forms suitable to enjoy online. A selection of entries will feature on the new website LoveHackney.uk which aims to capture the borough’s #HackneySpirit being shown in the face of this global pandemic. Find out more and submit

LagosPhoto20 is inviting you to shine your eyes on your homes as if they were museums and take part in building a new virtual Home Museum. To participate all you need to do is photograph (doesn't have to be with a professional camera) a personal selection of objects that are important to you, your family and home, to preserve these everyday treasure that often get overlooked in everyday life. Email 6-12 photos to homemuseum@lagosphotofestival.com. During LagosPhoto20, these images will be exhibited online in your own Home Museum, and these valuable artefacts will be stored for future generations to inspire conversations about our collective histories. Visit their website 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Can you spare a few moments? Autograph is carrying out a survey to better understand who our digital audiences are. The survey should take no longer than five minutes to complete. Anything you tell us will be kept confidential, is anonymous and will only be used for research purposes.

The information you provide will be held by Autograph and The Audience Agency, who are running the survey on our behalf. In compliance with GDPR, your data will be stored securely and will only be used for the purposes it was given. You can take the survey here. Thank you!

Image: 1) Exhibition opening for Sharif Persaud: Have You Ever Had at Autograph, London, 27 February 2020. Photograph by Zoë Maxwell.