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St Hughs Foundation for the Arts
Read more about some of the projects that we have supported in recent years.
Soraya's project, Common Good, spoke about rural artists finding themselves isolated, unable to access or to join a network of peers and so to receive the validation such a community brings. She says "Geographical spread, lack of a reliable and affordable public transport infrastructure and economics necessitates the need to devise other mechanisms to generate and sustain an alternative rurally based ‘art scene’. With Common Good we aimed to model a way for this to evolve. We wanted to demonstrate the need and value of bringing together groups of rural artists for long weekends of mass collaboration, critical thinking and networking. The weekend in May was an invitation to make art in response to the location, with available materials and alongside others. And to have conversations on the whys, the hows and unknowns of making art in a rural context."
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Once upon a time there was a woman who wrote. And it wasn’t always easy.
But then one day she was given the greatest gift a writer can ask for – the gift of time. Time to spend on developing her creativity, on researching the landscape which inspired her and writing the stories which had been trapped inside her.
Since receiving her Award Rebecca has developed her ambition of writing the stories, myths and personal tales of the unique Isle of Axholme in the north of Lincolnshire.
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The St Hugh’s grant enabled Simon to purchase hardware and software which allowed the creation of immersive videos and 3D surround-sound recordings. Exploring this equipment Simon's primary goal is being able to create immersive artworks which may be enjoyed by anyone in environments which are both safe and social. He says "The Covid19 pandemic demonstrated the desire for both, with large airy spaces being the ideal arena for social gatherings enjoying shared immersive experiences."
Visit websiteDuring the 2023/24 programme HARI explored themes of clothing and identity through an inspiring range of initiatives in Hull city centre.
They explained "Our city centre location set those conversations against the backdrop of the shifting usage of high street shops, the cost-of-living crisis, and climate emergency. HARI aimed to engage the passing public in exploring social systems and concepts through access to the working processes of artists and their diverse practices, exploring identity, personal expression and environmental sustainability.
A number of artist residencies over the period explored the themes through different practices in the project space, as they moved from threads and strands – to making and re-making – to repairing and patching."
Visit websiteKate’s aim was to create a body of work using chalk pastels - instead of her favoured ink and charcoal – which would describe the richness of the regions travelled, the textures of the land and the every-day world of the labouring peoples. All would be showcased at an exhibition in Tomar which would reflect her explorations. This she certainly achieved and learned so much more along the way. Her journey is a fascinating one and her development far exceeds her expectations. Given that Kate no longer flies, for environmental reasons, she used the award to pay for her travel which would, otherwise, have proved prohibitively expensive but, as it happened, added to the richness of her experience.
Visit websiteAs Steve Thornton says of his project: 'The Lincolnshire coast has a very productive carbon-capturing coastline. The salt marshes cover most of the coastline from Cleethorpes to the Wash below Boston. They are more effective at carbon capture than rainforests and have the ability to capture carbon quickly and store it for long periods and also serve to provide natural flood defences. These salt marshes play such an important role in regulating local and global climate change.'
Visit websiteIn January 2023 Paul underwent spinal surgery following an injury which left him unable to dance or feel any connection to his choreography for 8 months. St Hugh’s award enabled Paul to undertake his project ‘In Time of Daffodils,’ inspired by a poem by E E Cummings. He worked with a trio of dancers (one 45 years old and having undergone multiple surgeries; one younger with no injuries/surgeries) and a co-director/choreographer to create the piece.
Visit websiteNisha’s aim was to reconnect with her creativity after spending her time as main carer for her mother. She then hoped to work part-time as a carer for others but during the pandemic lockdowns found herself supporting her clients through end-of-life care as well as becoming a family surrogate. Her respite from her caring activities consisted of visits to Holme Fen to walk and to photograph which she found healing from the loneliness, emotional and physical exhaustion that can result.
Visit websiteFiona's project follows the immense changes that took place in her life following the loss of a close family member at the beginning of the pandemic.
Visit websiteCharlene Clempson wanted to document the rituals and routines that have begun to disappear from her extended family once they began to move away from their homeland in Jamaica as part of the diaspora. She described: "Soup is both the method of putting multiple voices into a single object of consumption and it is also the topic which enables disparate ideas to fuse together as single entity. Real soups in pots are full of strange food things which lose their identity become part of soup once they enter the pot."
Ella used her Artists Respond Award to take time focusing on her own artistic practice, drawing on her research and experience gained through her work at GROUND – a social arts space in a deprived area of Hull which she co-founded and is unfunded, ORTs – a sewing group for vulnerable women and ROOTED IN HULL - a growing space for recovering addicts.
Visit websiteHaving just completed her PhD in Music Performance and in the process of building her career, pianist Graziana Presicce/s project enabled her to take valuable time to build her piano solo repertoire further by focusing on the works of women composers.
Visit websiteArtist Liz Dorton created the Joy Rummage project with the ambition to "divert from my recent practice of complex, multimedia, highly choreographed puppetry, to something simpler, more primal and unpredictable. Something joyful! We miss colour, connection, collaborations, dancing, hugs, intimacy, comedy, and communal joy."
Visit websiteJayne, a fine artist based in Louth, used the 2022 award to support her travel, accommodation and materials for 10 days in northern Italy, visiting Parma Galleria Nazionale to respond to the Maiolica tiles through writing, drawing, painting and photography, in preparation for an application for The Abbey Awards early in 2023. As Jayne said: "The purpose of this journey was to visit the former convent of San Paolo, and a mysterious collection of maiolica floor tiles (now housed in the national museum) which created a pavement in the monastery during the early renaissance."
Bridlington-based fine artist Anna Kirk-Smith used the Claire Peasnall Memorial Award to spend a period of 28 days wild camping in the remote western Highlands. She describes this as a period of questioning, rethinking, refining; “working within and with the environment, reframing ideas of what ‘landscape painting’ can be and what it has the potential to communicate.”
Visit websiteMichael Sanders, a sculptor and photographer based in Manby, will return to ideas initiated in his ‘We Pump Unseen’ project in 2017. He will return to Scotland, developing new artwork, undertaking discussions with curators at national museums, and working with partners to take his work to the next stage.
Visit websiteSimon-Mary Vincent, a composer and performer based in Lincoln, will recommence work on two major composition projects: ‘Sister Moon’, a composition for 4-channel audio with live percussion, and ‘For Those Who Are Yet To Fall’, for 5-channel audio with live piano, which is an anti-war ‘piano concerto’, whose form and sonic materials are used both as a critique of war and as a ‘prayer’ for those affected by wars globally.
Visit websiteLuke Dankoff, based in Hull, will use the award to contribute to artist fees during a period of development time for Same Circle Productions, working with a director and actor and with Hull LGBTQ+ organisations to develop a conversational and queer show which explores the issues of hyper-masculinity within the gay community.
Visit websiteAnnie Griffith, a community music practitioner, will use the Artists Respond award to help her restart her Steampunk singing group in Lincoln, contributing to costs of hiring an accessible venue and recommencing the process of recording an album of original music with the group.
Visit websiteJosie Moon, a writer based in Grimsby, will use the funding to enable her to take time to think, read, and talk to fellow artists. Josie will reflect on necessary changes to her practice, seeking to understand what has happened and to express her response through new writing, including poetry.
Visit websiteAnnie Kirkman from She Productions, an all-female collective based in Hull and East Yorkshire, will spend time developing the company’s ‘Finding Your Voice’ programme, which was originally a free 5-day drama-based course for local unemployed adults held at East Riding Theatre.
Visit websiteDesigner Ruth Pigott from Gainsborough will take time to put together a collection of samples that she can draw on when looking at designs in the future, including for puppets, props and costuming for theatre and outdoor events.
Visit websiteTheatre director and creative event maker Madeleine O’Reilly from Cottingham will develop the next stage of her ‘Assemble The Caravan’ project, a live event convoy cabaret which she piloted in July 2020.
Visit websiteWriter Laura Turner from Tattershall will use the funding to support the development of her new theatre company, Fury Theatre, which was established just before lockdown.
Visit websiteUrban artist Lynsey Powles from Grimsby will create ‘Little Lincolnshire’, an art trail consisting of a series of miniature doorways and dioramas to be navigated using an online map.
Lydia Caprani will create a series of small decorative tile artworks to install around the city of Hull. The tiles will be based on her own designs as well as locally sourced patterns found hidden in the city’s architecture.
Visit websiteMusician and lens-based artist Quentin Budworth will work on a new site-responsive sound art experiment in Bridlington and an accompanying video.
Visit websitePhotographer and musician Stewart Baxter from Hull will undertake research and development into new ideas and ways of working, exploring analogue and digital technologies and the new ways in which people are building connection through the pandemic.
Visit websiteDocumentary photographer, journalist and researcher Lee Karen Stow is the recipient of the St Hugh’s Foundation’s Main Award in 2019. Lee will create, design, build and deliver the site-specific installation Something to Breathe to mark August 2020, the 75th Anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombings on people. Something to Breathe will coincide with the Tokyo Olympics, which has chosen August 9th, the day of the atomic bombing on Nagasaki, for its closing ceremony.
Visit websiteWriter and story-teller Tanya Akrofi has applied for funding to support The Brigg Storytelling Festival, a month long project taking place in May 2020. The festival will host storytelling events for all the people who live in and around Brigg, North Lincolnshire, bringing them together through the sharing of life events and celebrating the diversity of the region.
Visit websiteCharlene Clempson will use the Claire Frances Peasnall Memorial Award to develop a body of drawings exploring the theme of diaspora through travel to China for a residency at Red Gate gallery (Beijing).
Visit websiteVisual artist Annabel McCourt, whose most recent work Electric Fence was commissioned for Hull City of Culture in 2017 and subsequently exhibited at Hull Minster, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre in Scunthorpe and at the Biennale of Contemporary African Art, ‘Dak’Art’, in Dakar, Senegal, is the recipient of the St Hugh’s Foundation’s Main Award in 2018. Annabel will use the award to create REMOTE, a replica Ground Control Station to be installed in exhibition/gallery spaces.
Visit websiteThe Development Award for 2018 is awarded to Litha Efthymiou and Martin Scheuregger, two Lincoln-based composers who will create and perform a new multidisciplinary work inspired by the history of The Lawn during its operation as an asylum in 1820. It will be performed at the Blue Room (part of The Lawn) by the Bristol Ensemble and actor Ian Harris in September 2019 and include historic film footage of the Lincoln asylum from the Media Archive of Central England (MACE).
Visit websiteRich Wiles is a photographer who, having worked in Palestine for many years, has recently returned to his home town of Hull. He will develop a long-term documentary photography project exploring the challenges faced by refugees rebuilding their lives in the UK. This will be used to create a multi-media tool to be used cross-syllabus in local secondary schools to help students develop deeper understanding of the global refugee crisis and the challenges of relocation and resettlement. There will also be an accompanying photographic portrait exhibition which will be launched at Hull International Photography Festival in 2018 before being taken further afield.
Visit websiteEmma and Giuseppe Belli will undertake a project called ‘Six of One and Half a Dozen of the Other’, which the Foundation will support in its research stages. The project will develop a concept for a six-show evening of theatre (6 new 20 minute plays) that, by beginning with a Set Design, will challenge the journey of the conventional performance process and inspire new routes of creative thinking. The exploration for this new model of theatre will be piloted in Lincolnshire and eventually repeated in multiple regions.
Visit websiteAdele Howitt, a ceramicist from Hornsea, will undertake a period of research and development into the production methods and the back catalogue of designs, glaze technology and application within the historic Hornsea Pottery Collection. As a result of this research, she will create a public art work that will be incorporated into a ‘Heritage on the High Street’ trail planned to celebrate the Hornsea Pottery and its impact on the town and the pottery industry.
Visit websiteKate Genever will undertake a project called ‘Watermark’ which will see her generate 6 large-scale portraits and accompanying sketches that tell of her village, Uffington. Featuring hundreds of marks that respond to the land, architecture, weather, time and resident’s stories, these will be built up by layering pencil, watercolour and coloured pencils. When completed they will be shared through exhibition, a printed publication and a daylong symposium at The Collection, Lincoln.
Visit websiteFiona Caley, a photographer based in Holderness, will be researching and recording her changing landscape through photography and interview, including through the perspective of her 82 year old father who lives on a farm on the coastal edge of the Holderness Plains. She will work towards developing a portfolio of work for exhibition.
Visit websiteSupporting a period of artistic development, including intensive training with a professional drumming group San José Taiko and mentoring from Taiko artist Hannah-Jasmine Brunskill.
Visit websiteSupporting a period of reflection and professional development, focusing on Sarah’s “cross-disciplinary approach fusing photography, design and pattern, also combining contemporary materials with digital technology”.
Supporting Rhubarb in their development from a company delivering indoor touring theatre into a company that could also offer specialised outdoor arts performances.
Visit websiteSupporting a period of research and development for artists Anna Webb, Emily Crossland (composer) and Sarah Davies (theatre practitioner) to work with Castaway Goole’s ‘Engine Room’ Company
Visit websiteSupporting Sounding the Deep, an ambitious project composed by Nigel Morgan, focusing on the life and writings of the American naturalist and explorer, William Beebe.
Visit websiteSupporting development of Matters of Life and Death, a contemporary dance work based on the novel Waterland by Graham Swift.
Visit websiteThe St Hugh’s Foundation Commission was designed to be part of the Convivium Music Voice and Verse Festival 2010. The commission was a response to the Robert Schumann 200th anniversary, composed by Judith Bingham.