New Programme

St Hugh’s Arts Awards 2010

The St Hugh’s Foundation is introducing a new Arts Awards programme from 2010. It replaces both the Corporate Awards scheme for organisations and the Fellowship for individuals (previously on alternate years). This sheet gives information about the kinds of proposal we are seeking, who is eligible to apply, and how to apply.

In brief

• A new Arts Awards programme available to both individual applicants and organisations.
• Extended personal and public developmental arts projects of up to three years.
• Potential to extend funding and other support over that period.
• Successful applicants working in partnership with the Foundation.
• Applicants must be living and working in Lincolnshire or the Humber areas (see detail)

What has changed?

From its inception in 1992, the Foundation has encouraged and supported a large number of new projects proposed by both individual arts practitioners and by local authorities and other arts organisations. Many individual artists, performers and arts workers have benefitted from opportunities to develop their experience in ways that have helped to change their horizons and expand their careers. Unlike some public sources of arts support, the St Hugh’s Foundation is able to consider innovative proposals focusing on personal development in the arts, including, where appropriate, foreign travel and research.

Under the biennial St Hugh’s Fellowship programme and earlier schemes for individuals, proposals came directly from arts workers themselves. On alternate years, however, the focus of this support was specifically through organisations, in the form of Commissioning Awards where local authorities and other public arts funders were encouraged to work with professional arts practitioners to design and carry out new public projects. In both schemes, funding was related to a single year, although in practice, most projects have taken longer by agreement.

The new Arts Awards will still be open to applications from individuals and from groups or public organisations, but there will no longer be separate alternating programmes. The new programme also has different objectives and criteria, with a new emphasis.

New programme objectives

The Foundation aims to encourage innovation in arts practice, policy and management in its area of benefit. For this new Arts Awards programme starting in 2010, we have three objectives.

• To invest in developmental creative projects that will evolve and grow over time.
• To help to address regional needs for innovation and change that can be clearly identified in arts practice, policy or management.
• To back projects which are well-conceived, carefully planned and well-managed.

Criteria

Proposals should meet the following three criteria.

Developmental creative projects
Proposals should represent significant new development opportunities that are not already available publicly, and offer creative growth with widened experience for the applicants and for others. Our involvement may be over a period of two or three years, so we are looking for proposals that will evolve creatively with the potential to grow into wider directions in the future.

Evidence of regional need for innovation and change
Applicants should be able to show evidence of the need for innovation and change, and of the potential value of such a project, both for themselves, and for the wider public context in which it will be developed. It will therefore need to be accessible and easily understood. It should be likely to generate impacts that can be evaluated, with beneficial outcomes for the participants and the communities they touch. And it should have a clear legacy, with lasting value over time.

Practical and achievable
Proposals should be carefully thought-through and thoroughly well planned before applying, including setting out realistic budgets, with clear understanding of where all funding for the duration of the project (not just ours) would be secured. Basic research and essential discussions with other players should be carried out before submitting an application. Your ability to manage and sustain the project throughout its lifetime will be a crucial factor. In the case of proposals by organisations and public bodies, we will want to know that continuity provisions are in place in the event of personnel or policy changes during its lifetime.

What kinds of proposals are we looking for?

The Foundation aims to help established arts practitioners and producers to develop their professional careers in the arts, and in doing so, to contribute their own knowledge and experience to the wider growth and dissemination of arts practice in the region.

We also want to act as a catalyst in stimulating and supporting local authorities and public arts organisations to promote developmental arts projects, relevant to the needs and aspirations of communities in their localities, by working with professional artists and performers.

We will consider projects in any field of the arts including theatre, dance, music, literature, visual and broadcast media, the fine and applied arts. They must, however, produce tangible and, in some sense, durable outcomes which make lasting contributions to the quality of public experience, (work that is essentially conceptual or largely ephemeral will not be appropriate for this programme).

For example, an established individual artist or performer might need to spend time on a major project, or on personal research, or on advanced study, to enable them to develop their career through wider experience, enhanced skills, new stimuli, or specialised knowledge. In such a case, the project, research or course of study would be designed by them to meet their specific career needs; (simply attending an established course, or taking advantage of a project designed by others, would be unlikely to merit an award, and while the acquisition of a higher academic or vocational qualification could be one additional outcome, it should be secondary to the main vocational objective put forward by the applicant).

For an individual, activity may be carried out within the UK or overseas, or combine time spent in different locations, (proposals involving personal research or practical experience abroad will be welcomed). An award could therefore contribute towards such costs as travel, materials, research costs and professional fees paid to recognised mentors or other distinguished practitioners as part of a project, or exceptional subsistence away from home, (for applicants currently dependent on their own business income, any contribution towards loss of earnings as part of the award would have to be justified in the applicant’s submission).

An individual practitioner’s application could also combine personal development with public performances or other public benefit, making the arts more available and accessible while expanding professional practice.

Alternatively, a local authority or not-for-profit organisation might commission work of high quality from an established practitioner who has a strong track record in their field of work; (in this case, the applicant would be expected to demonstrate that a range of experienced practitioners had been considered, including, but not exclusively, regional professional artists). Public projects would be expected to involve local communities, particularly young people, in any selection and development process proactively, in whatever way was considered appropriate.

Examples similar to all the above illustrations can be found on the website. In the new Arts Awards programme, proposals should be for a significant and sustained programme of activity, probably to be developed over a period of two or three years (the Foundation might agree to fund part or all of it, or different phases as appropriate).

Eligibility

Applicants, whether applying as individuals or on behalf of others, must be normally resident (main place of residence) and regularly working (full or part-time) in Lincolnshire (including North and North East Lincolnshire), East Riding of Yorkshire or City of Hull. These geographical requirements also apply to the main participants or beneficiaries of the project (although some public projects may, for example, need to draw in specialist expertise, performers or practitioners from outside the area of benefit). Applicants must be in a position to take full responsibility for the project, including legal and financial responsibility, over its agreed lifetime.

Who can apply?

We will consider projects in any field of the arts, including theatre, dance, music, literature, visual and broadcast media, the fine and applied arts.

Practitioners applying as individuals should have already established themselves professionally by working for a number of years in their field. Individual applicants may have achieved recognition through performance, publication, broadcast or exhibition; or alternatively through their personal contribution to the development of arts practice in a successful arts organisation or service, (for example, as a director, curator or producer).
While individual beneficiaries are likely to have had previous formal academic or vocational training and to have achieved some relevant formal qualifications, professional practical experience will be the main criterion considered by the Trustees. Awards are not intended to support early career development for those only recently qualified, or to fund recreational or other non-professional activity.

Applications may also be submitted by one practitioner on behalf of a group or consortium; or by a representative of a registered not-for-profit organisation or public authority proposing to lead the activity. In this case, the person submitting the proposal must be a senior official of the applicant, acting with the organisation’s full authority and able to enter into binding commitments on its behalf.

What support is available?

Funding
It is the Trustees’ intention to make a single new award each year, to add to our rolling programme of awards that may be still in progress at that time, probably of between £12,000 and 15,000, subject to the scale and scope of the successful proposal. Our support may be expressed as phased funding over an extended period of up to three years, taking into account any natural phasing of the project activity. Some additional support for further development at a later stage may be offered, if we consider it appropriate. If so, we may designate that for some specific development purpose.

Advice, monitoring and mentoring
No award will only consist of funding. The Trustees will offer informed advice at the outset of the agreed project, and then progressively as it develops. We expect to be able to monitor progress through your regular reports, through advice from a designated Trustee for each project, and by periodic meetings with all Trustees, probably annually.

What will be expected of the applicant?

Applicants will be expected to demonstrate their ability to plan and carry through a complex programme; to produce a realistic and balanced budget, drawing on other secured sources of funding; and to act as a dependable ambassador for the Foundation as an award-holder, throughout the whole period of the work.

You will be expected to work in partnership with the Foundation to achieve the best possible results for the benefit of your project and for our support. We will expect to receive regular progress reports without the need to chase them, letting us know you are on course as planned, or if you encounter difficulties or need to change course. You will need to maintain periodic contact with your designated Trustee, who should be invited to view appropriate key stages of the work in progress. Their role will be advisory. We will schedule more formal meetings with all Trustees annually.

Any public work or performance produced as a result of the award should be described as ‘commissioned by St Hugh’s Foundation’.

A subsequent project report will be required, in two parts. An executive summary must be provided, short enough (one to two pages maximum) for publication on the Foundation’s website. In addition, one copy of a more substantial printed report of between five and ten sides of A4 typed (with illustrations if relevant) must be provided, sufficiently bound to provide a permanent record of the project’s achievement.

What we will not fund

The Trustees can only consider applications within this programme. The Foundation does not give grants or other assistance in support of other kinds of arts activities, attendance at academic courses, or other charitable causes.

It will not replace, nor does it seek to duplicate or supplement the arts funding roles and responsibilities of public bodies. It does, however, wish to act in partnership with local authorities and other public arts agencies to achieve shared objectives.

Application procedure

The Trustees are now inviting applications, which can be submitted at any time before the closing date in 2010. Please read these briefing notes careful before applying. Your application must meet these criteria.

All applicants must complete the Application Form Cover Sheet and provide the information requested there (available on request by post or email). Completed applications must be received in hard copy at the Foundation’s registered office not later than 3 May 2010.
Trustees will short-list the proposals they wish to pursue from all eligible applications at their meeting in July, and short-listed applicants will be notified in late-July. Unsuccessful applicants will also be informed at this stage.

Those short-listed will then be invited to an interview with Trustees at their meeting in October, when they will have an opportunity to present and discuss their proposal individually. A decision will be announced shortly after that date.

All communications with the Foundation must be made either by post to the Registered Office (please note that this is only a mailbox address - no telephone calls or faxes can be accepted), or alternatively by email to sthughscharity@tiscali.co.uk  (if using email, please request the Word document to be sent as an attachment in advance). Please note that applications must be submitted by post in hard copy to the Registered Office.

Click here for the Application Form