In partnership with Natural Resources Wales, National Trust, Elan Valley Trust and Peak Cymru, Arts Council of Wales is pleased to invite artists based in Wales, in particular those from under-represented backgrounds, to apply for a Future Wales Fellowship in 2023.
The Future Wales Fellowship is a grant of £25,000 each for 8 individual artists or creative individuals to spend 16 months undertaking creative research on the theme of “connection to nature”. It is an opportunity to challenge understanding our relationship to nature and how to reconnect with it, and to explore your own relationship with nature, and that of the people and communities around you.
The Future Wales Fellowship is open to all artistic disciplines for artists or creative individuals who are Wales based.
Alongside conducting creative research, the selected Fellows will participate in a development programme hosted with Peak Cymru, combining curatorial dialogue, mentoring and support, collaborative conversations about ideas, research and work in progress, and 3 in-person, three-day residential visits with guest practitioners. Whilst the Fellowship has been designed to be flexible around existing commitments, Fellows will be expected to prioritise the structured development programme and to engage with the other Fellows during the Fellowship period. In addition to the key dates provided in the guidelines document, we can confirm that the first residential will be on 8-10 February 2024 at the National Trust’s Stackpole site in Pembrokeshire.
Should you have any questions, then please do scroll down the page to access the FAQ section.
You’ll need to use our online ‘portal’ to make an application. If you haven’t done so already, you’ll need to register for access to the portal. You can find out how to do this here.
If you’re unable to access the online form or require further assistance, please contact us at grants@arts.wales
Our Grants and Information Officers can help you with the application process, including any problems or questions with the online portal and how to submit your proposal and to advise on eligibility and access support.
You will be directed to a Development Officer if you need support to develop your creative research ideas. We don’t expect to read drafts. Your creative research ideas should reflect your personal approach and lived experience.
This fellowship is open to artists and creative individuals working in all artforms. We especially want to support underrepresented people, like people who are Black, Asian or minority ethnic and people who are deaf or disabled.
Yes, you can apply. You will need to have enough time to do the Fellowship as well your ‘live’ grant. Artists should plan to spend around 60 days working on their Fellowship research and taking part in the development programme. You should explain how you will manage your time in your proposal as we will look at how good your plan is for managing your work when we make decisions.
Yes, you can apply. You will need to have enough time to do the Fellowship as well your ‘live’ grant. Artists should plan to spend around 60 days working on their Fellowship research and taking part in the development programme. You should explain how you will manage your time in your proposal as we will look at how good your plan is for managing your work when we make decisions.
Whilst we welcome collaborative approaches, we can only offer one place for each application so one artist would need to be named as the lead applicant and would receive the fee of £15,000. Collaborators would need to be paid out of the £10,000 production budget.
Yes, you can include a collaboration as part of your proposal with artists or experts, for example, a scientist. The person you are collaborating with can be based outside of Wales and could work internationally. You should name the people you plan to collaborate with in your proposal to show why they are important for your work and what they will do. Any fees or materials needed for collaborations should be included in the production and materials budget.
We don’t expect a detailed project plan. We want to know how you and your creative research will challenge how we think about things. We want to hear about your ideas and themes and how you plan to go about developing your ideas. And how you can make the most of what is offered to you by the fellowship now.
Yes, you can work with a community, for example if your work is socially engaged. If this work is with vulnerable groups or children you will need to consider safeguarding measures.
We can support some childcare costs that help you take part in the project events and activities. Especially if you won’t be able to take part if you don’t receive support. And especially if you are planning activity as part of your creative research that involves people from underrepresented groups. You’ll need to explain why this support is required in your budget. These costs would be additional to the total grant and should be included as access costs.
Artists should plan to spend around 60 days working on their research and attending the development programme. We have set out a payment for your time of £15,000 to cover this. This amount is worked out as appropriate for an artist with at least 5 years experience and based on average freelance day rates.
You should include a description of how you plan to use the grant of £25,000.
You will need to outline the £10,000 for production costs. Production is about making and developing your work. This could include materials, activity and development costs.
You should include how you plan to use the £15,000 that is a payment for your time.
It could be presented as a simple table:
|
Description of costs |
Cost in £ |
|
e.g Mentor fee – name of person |
£ |
|
Materials – wood and paper |
£ |
|
Payment for my time – 60 days = 2 days for 30 weeks |
£ |
|
Total costs |
£ |
Access costs and Childcare costs that you may need to make your work are additional to the grant. You will need to outline your expected costs in the application.
No, as Fellows are not expected to create a finished body of work during the Fellowship period. Fellows will be provided with support to consider the direction of their work beyond the Fellowship period. However, Fellows will be expected to share their practice and process as part of wider, cross-sector conversations exploring our relationship with nature via 1-2 public events across the duration of the Fellowship.
5pm on 15 September 2023 is the deadline for applications.
You will get an answer by the 31 October 2023.
There will be a structured development programme that you will be expected to take part in and prioritise and includes:
-
Three, three-day residential visits with guest practitioners (in person)
-
Three group meetings, ahead of each residential (online)
-
Five 1-2-1 check in meetings (online)
-
Three 1-2-1 curatorial mentoring sessions (online)
-
Opportunities to learn from and respond to sites managed by Natural Resources Wales, The National Trust and the Elan Valley Trust
Confirmed dates for the diary:
-
Wednesday 6th & Friday 8th December 2023: 1-2-1 check in meeting (online)
-
Wednesday 24th January 2024: Group meeting, ahead of first residential (online)
-
February 2024: First residential (in person)
-
Wednesday 15th May 2024: Group meeting, ahead of second residential (online)
-
June 2024: Second residential (in person)
-
Wednesday 18th September 2024: Group meeting, ahead of third residential (online)
-
October 2024: Third residential (in person)
-
January 2025: Group meeting, programme reflection/evaluation (online)
At the moment we only have funds to run this Fellowship. We will evaluate the impact of the Fellowship as part of the Creative Nature Programme to decide how and what we will do in future years.
Yes . If you would like to find out more about joining the Future Wales Fellowship, Arts Council of Wales will be holding 2 online events.
10:00-11:00, 30 August 2023 with the Climate & Culture Working Group. Click here to register: https://forms.gle/6592o2bByrvyNhVa8
08:30-09:30, 6 September 2023 with What’s Next? Cymru https://eisteddfod.zoom.us/j/83413535015#success
The theme is connection to nature. Your proposal will need to reflect this theme in order to be considered.
Friday 15th September at 5pm.
We strongly advise you to familiarise yourself with the application on the portal long ahead of the deadline and to submit it before the deadline to avoid any last minute technical issues. Applications not submitted on time via the portal will not be accepted.
On the 15th September our phone lines will close at 4.30pm.
You can include access support costs in your budget in addition to the grant of £25,000 for things like:
• Interpreter costs
• Support workers
• Specialist equipment or software for example: You are applying for £25,000 for the Future Wales Fellowship and have personal access costs of £500. The personal access costs are additional, so your total application cost is £25,500.
Yes, you can apply. If you are successful, we will work together with you to understand what your access needs are for these activities and what reasonable adjustments we would need to make to ensure you can take part.
Closed 15 September 2023.