Visual Art & Craft Awards Now Open
3.9.2024
Support available for artists and craft makers in South of Scotland
Support available for artists and craft makers in South of Scotland through #VACMAScotland funding
Bursaries of £500 and £1000 now available
- Autumn deadline: 5pm, 22 October 2024
- Winter deadline: 5pm, 4 February 2025
Practising Visual Artists and Craft Makers across the country are invited to apply for grants of up to £1000 to support their creative and professional development, thanks to funding from The National Lottery through Creative Scotland in partnership with 17 different VACMA schemes covering 25 Local Authority areas. The South of Scotland awards are delivered in partnership with Live Borders, Dumfries & Galloway Council, DG Unlimited and Upland.
The Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards (VACMA) fund activities such as mentoring and skills development, testing new ideas, experimenting with sustainable and renewable materials, purchasing necessary equipment, and residencies tailored to the artist’s creative and professional development.
The programme offers a newly enhanced £1000 bursary for artists and makers who have been practising for over 5 years, as well as a £500 early-career bursary for artists and makers that have been practising for less than 5 years.
Funding criteria and information about how to apply is available at https://www.creativescotland.com/vacma.
Sarah MacIntyre, Visual Arts Officer at Creative Scotland said: “VACMA provides crucial support to artists and craft makers at all stages of their careers, enabling them to test new ideas, develop skills, and create exciting new work. This programme thrives on the commitment and collaboration of our local partners, who are dedicated to fostering and supporting artistic practice in their communities. These small-scale yet often transformational awards have a lasting impact, not only on the individual recipients but the wider communities that they are part of.”
The scheme launches simultaneously with the publication of an evaluation of how VACMA has evolved in recent years and the benefits that it brings to artists, makers and partners. Within the report it was found that the vast majority of VACMA recipients identified positive benefits to their practice from their award. 97% said VACMA was beneficial to their practice overall, with 73% saying it was very beneficial. Furthermore, 95% agreed that receiving a VACMA award made them feel more confident about their practice.
In response to the report, Creative Scotland and VACMA Partners have made changes to the programme this year including increasing the upper bursary level to £1000 and improving the accessibility of the fund by offering applicants the option to apply for Personal Access Costs.
Information sessions, delivered by partner representatives and members of Creative Scotland’s Visual Arts Team, will take place on Microsoft Teams on 25 September 2024 (2-3pm) and 14 January 2025 (11am-12pm), and will be followed by a Q&A. Full information and sign-up details are available on Creative Scotland’s website.