FAQ

Applications for the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 have now closed. If you have applied, you can expect to hear back from us by 14 October 2020.

An audio recording of the application guidance and FAQ is available on SoundCloud here.

Where can I review the application form?

You can apply using the online form here.

To review all of the wording and questions contained in the application form you can download a Google Doc here. We recommend you draft your responses using this, and then paste them into the online form when you are ready.

Who are the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 run by?

The Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 are a collaboration between Jerwood Arts and Film and Video Umbrella, in a new partnership with Leeds Art Gallery.

What does the partnership with Leeds Art Gallery mean for this edition of the awards?

This new partnership with Leeds Art Gallery represents an exciting new chapter for the awards, providing awarded artists with opportunities to connect with audiences across Yorkshire, alongside a programme of events and outreach work promoting deepened relationships with Yorkshire-based artists.

The Leeds Art Gallery curatorial team will be part of the selection process for the Awards and will premiere the awarded commissions in their prestigious gallery spaces in January 2022. The awarded artists will have the opportunity to work with the Leeds Art Gallery curatorial team on this presentation.

When is the next call for entries?

Applications for the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 will be open from 11 June 2020 and will close at 1pm, 20 July 2020.

If you would like to be kept informed of our activities please sign up to our mailing lists below.

Are there any costs involved in applying?

Application to the awards is free as part of our commitment to reducing barriers to entry.

You say that you are ‘committed to facilitating an increase in applications from artists whose background and/or identity is under-represented in the awards’ history. This includes but is not limited to artists from Black, Asian and ethnically diverse backgrounds, artists based outside of London, artists from lower socio-economic backgrounds, d/Deaf artists, neurodiverse artists, artists with disabilities or long-term health difficulties and artists with LGBTQIA+ identities.' What do you mean by this?

Broadly speaking, people with these backgrounds and current circumstances are those most likely to experience disadvantage in the form of reduced opportunities due to their levels of income, education, and work experience on the one hand, and discrimination and unequal access to opportunities on the other. Over 50% of the arts and cultural sector is based in London, creating barriers for those based outside the capital. Overall, these groups tend to be under-represented across the arts, to varying degrees in different art forms and disciplines – including in the nine-year history of the Jerwood/FVU Awards.

We believe one of the most significant things we can do is provide accessible support for people to apply to us. We are committed to providing clear and transparent information and advice to enable people to make the right decision for them to apply, and then support them in making an application, including through additional access support as required. Through this support we are investing in the capacity, confidence and skills of artists to apply not just to the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022, but to other opportunities too, thereby supporting their long-term success.

ACCESS AND SUPPORT WITH MAKING AN APPLICATION

Is there any access support available for artists wishing to apply who require additional support in order to do so?

Yes. Up to £200 of funding per application is available to pay for an Access Support Worker for applicants who need one to help them apply for this opportunity. Please email info@jerwoodarts.org or call us on 07944 903991 at least 1 working week before the deadline to discuss how we can help.

If you would prefer to, you can also submit your application as an audio or video recording in the application form. Please see the FAQ about this for further details.

If I am not based in London, is there a budget to support my travel to interview and meetings?

Yes. We encourage applications from artists who are not London-based, and have an additional budget to support their travel where required. Due to COVID-19, we may conduct interviews via video conferencing.

What support is available if I need assistance with my application?

If your question is not answered within this FAQ section, we will be available to respond to any additional questions that you may have throughout the application process.

Please send questions by email to info@jerwoodarts.org. We will acknowledge your email within three working days and aim to answer your question within five working days.

We also offer the opportunity to speak with a member of the internal panel for a 10-minute advice session in advance of applying. In these sessions we are unable to read draft applications or texts, but we are able to discuss your specific ideas for applications, and guide you as to how you might strengthen these in the application. Please email info@jerwoodarts.org to book an advice session.

Please note that the advice we give on making an application is on the eligibility and suitability of your proposal and will have no bearing on its assessment. You do not need to have spoken to a Jerwood Arts or FVU member of staff before making an application.

What happens if I experience a technical issue with the website?

We troubleshoot the website thoroughly; nevertheless, from time to time people do report technical difficulties. If you experience a technical issue with the website, please report it to info@jerwoodarts.org.

You may find this especially frustrating if it happens right before the deadline, therefore we strongly advise that you try to submit your application well in advance. We recommend drafting your application offline in advance of the deadline. Answers can then be pasted into the online form.

ELIGIBILITY

I’ve just applied to FVU’s BEYOND call for entries, can I still apply to this?

Yes. We welcome applicants to apply to both opportunities.

Can I apply this year if I have applied in previous years?

Yes. We encourage applications from those who have applied in previous years if you are still eligible. Just because you might not have been successful in one year does not mean that we are not interested in your work. Several of the artists who have been awarded the Jerwood/FVU Award in the past applied a number of times before being successful.

Can I submit more than one application?

Only one application will be accepted per individual artist or collaborative group. You may submit an application as an individual artist, as well as a different application as a member of a collaborative group, providing the two practices are distinctly different.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Can I make an audio/video application?

Yes. If you would prefer to submit your application as an audio or video recording, the online application portal provides the opportunity for you to do this.

You can upload one audio or video file containing your Length of Practice, Key Career Moments, Artist Statement and Proposal. We will ask you to complete contact details and a 50 word summary of your proposal in written form to assist the processing of your application.

No assessment of the production quality of audio or video recordings will be made.

What information should I include in my proposal?

Applications to the Awards should be fully considered and as detailed as possible, covering both the ideas behind the work as well as the practicalities of how they might be realised.

Although we do not ask for a budget, the selection panel need to understand if the project is achievable using the funds available. Therefore it can be useful to include information about how the budget might be spent, e.g. what cast and/or crew might be required, and/or details of the locations you might want to work in. If there are items that require significant resources, please outline how you would make that work. For example, if you have in-kind support, do mention it, especially if your project requires particularly costly activities. If you would like to discuss how best to do this please contact info@jerwoodarts.org.

There is a 14-month development and production period, so the more fully formed your ideas are, the easier it will be for us to envisage what it is that you might want to make and to see how we might help you realise it. Should you be selected for the Awards, we will not hold you to the letter of what you say in your application and will encourage your ideas to grow and evolve during the 14-month development period.

What are the selection panel looking for?

We are looking for original and achievable proposals for a new moving-image work. We look for artists within whose work we see the potential for progression in both their practice and profile as we aim for this period to be of significant benefit to the artists selected, to experiment with new and ambitious ways of working in order to produce a step-change piece of work for them.

The selection panel will consider applications based on the following criteria:

- The quality of the artist’s current practice, including the most recent examples of ideas and projects

- The quality of the artist’s proposed work

- The feasibility of the proposal

- The potential impact of the award on the professional development of the artist

What should I include in my five-minute showreel?

We suggest submitting a clip (or selection of clips) that best represents your practice and/or your proposal, so that the selection panel can easily gain an understanding of your existing skill with the medium. The maximum length is five minutes. It could be one complete work, a clip, or selection of clips showcasing different works you have made, so long as together they don’t exceed five minutes. If you submit a work or a reel that is longer than five minutes, the selectors will only view the first five minutes.

If your proposal for the Awards is complex to articulate and you would find it more helpful to use this feature to help explain your idea, you can instead submit reference material for the proposed work that is not of your own making.

What do you mean when you say you invite proposals in “any form of the moving image”?

Although previous commissions have often been works for single screen that are digitally shot and presented, we are interested to see proposals for artworks in a wider variety of forms, so long as they are moving-image artworks and they can be presented both online and in a gallery. For example we are interested to consider proposals for multi-screen works, works shot on film, animated works created via analogue or digital techniques, works of any duration, or works involving other moving-image technologies, and installations involving not just moving image components, but also sculptural or wall-based components - so long as the moving image component is the most significant and a version of the work can be presented online. However, all of these come with different cost implications, so please consider this when submitting your proposal and refer to FAQ: ‘What does the £25,000 Award cover?’.

Please note that as a result of the risks of transmitting COVID-19 we will not consider proposals that require presentation technologies such as VR headsets to be shared between audience members unless it can be explained how this will be safely done under COVID-19 guidelines.

I want to propose an installation work. How will this need to be adapted for online presentation?

We encourage applications for moving-image works that are multi-channel or have very specific installations within physical exhibition. We do also require that the work be able to be presented online as well, which may mean that adaptations need to be made and that for its online presentation sculptural or wall-based elements are lost.

If I reach the interview stage, what format will that interview take?

Interviews usually take place at the Film and Video Umbrella office, though it is possible they will now take place online via Zoom. Interviews last one hour, and you will be interviewed by the panel comprised of Susanna Chisholm, Programme Development Director, FVU; Harriet Cooper, Head of Visual Arts, Jerwood Arts; Holly Grange, Exhibitions Curator, Leeds Art Gallery; Hetain Patel, artist and Jarman Award 2019 winner; and Rehana Zaman, artist and Jarman Award 2019 nominee.

You will be asked to respond to a number of standard questions that will be consistent for all applicants, as well as a number of questions relating to your specific proposal, to gain a better understanding of your ideas, as well as their feasibility within time and budget. Interviews are also an opportunity for you to ask us questions about the process if you were to be offered an award.

If you have access requirements to enable you to attend and participate in the interview, we will ask you to tell us about these when you receive the invitation to interview.

Will I get feedback on my application?

We will be in touch by 14 October to update on the progress of your application.

Due to the high volume of applicants to the awards that we receive, we regret we are unable to provide individual feedback to all applicants. We will provide feedback to all 20 applicants who are discussed at the selection panel meeting on request.

We will provide more in-depth feedback and ongoing critical conversation to the shortlisted applicants who are invited to interview but are not selected for the awards. This will be on a case by case basis and may include informal mentoring, feedback on proposals/work and attending future exhibitions of work.

BUDGET

How much is the Award?

£25,000 for each of the two selected artists.

What does the £25,000 Award cover?

Artist fee: £6,000

Production budget: £19,000

The production budget is to cover all costs involved in the production of the proposed work from pre-production to post-production. There is a separate budget for installation and presentation equipment, but if your proposal has very specific or costly physical presentation equipment and/or online presentation requirements and/or sculptural or 2-D features in addition to the moving-image component, then these will likely need to be included within the £19,000 production allocation.

The budget will be managed by FVU, in ongoing discussion and full transparency with you.

How can I possibly spend £25,000?

£25,000 is a significant sum, and in the majority of cases we expect awardees will be working at this scale for the first time. We are therefore providing two sample budgets from recent Jerwood/FVU Awards productions so that you can see how easily a budget of this scale can be consumed. We do not ask you to submit a budget at any time, but we provide this information here to help you scale your ideas to fit the amount available, and to encourage those who think that a £25,000 budget couldn’t possibly be for them, that it could be! We have selected two sample productions with very different approaches and methodologies to demonstrate different ways that the budget can be spent. One production (by artists Webb-Ellis) is documentary based and entirely self-shot, documenting the lives and attitudes of young people, while the other (by artist Reman Sadani) is a short scripted drama working with a cast of 5 actors and a traditional film crew. You can view the sample budgets in this Google Sheet here.

How much budget detail do I need to include in my proposal?

Although we don’t ask for a budget, the selection panel need to understand if the project is achievable using the funds available. Therefore it can be useful to include information about how the budget might be spent, e.g. what cast and/or crew might be required, and/or details of the locations you might want to work in. If there are items that require significant resources, please outline how you would make that work. For example, if you have in-kind support, do mention it, especially if your project requires particularly costly activities. If you would like to discuss how best to do this please contact info@jerwoodarts.org.

If I need more than the £25,000 offered to make my proposed work, can I bring additional finances to support the project, and will you support applications for works on which production has already begun?

No. We will not commission works that we believe cannot be made for £25,000 or less. We aim for parity between the ambition, scale and quality of commissioned works both in and between years, so as to indicate to future applicants what can be achieved on this budget. More importantly, we do this so that the selection of the two awardees cannot be swayed by the benefits or risks involved with the promise of or access to additional financial support. We do accept proposals on which research and development has already begun which may have benefitted from financial support. However we will not fund any work on which production has already begun. If you are unclear about what this means, please discuss with us in advance of applying.

Will you allow the proposed production to benefit from in-kind support?

Yes. We do allow projects to benefit from in-kind support and FVU will support the awardees to bring in-kind support from third parties in order to make your budget go further. If you know you already have promises of in-kind support in order to realise the proposed work then it can be worth mentioning these in your application, as it can make a seemingly unaffordable or difficult to realise proposal more of a realistic commissioning candidate. For example, if you know you want to shoot in a location that is difficult and/or costly to gain access to, but you have already sought and know you have free access to that location, then that may make the difference between our deciding it can or can’t be realised within budget.

RESPONDING TO COVID-19

How should I factor in changing restrictions as a result of COVID-19 into my proposal?

We have thought carefully about whether we can and should still offer the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 in the current context, given the uncertainties ahead. With both organisations committed to supporting outstanding early-career artists through this crisis, we are excited to be going ahead, but we do need to ask you to consider the impact of COVID-19 to help us help you make the work you want to make.

COVID-19 and the unprecedented circumstances in which we find ourselves means we do not know when and for how long we might be able to undertake certain activities. Things like working with large casts and/or crews have become much more challenging to undertake as has undertaking substantial travel outside of, and even within, the UK. If your proposal has certain requirements that may be difficult to realise during a situation similar to phases 1-3 of lockdown, you will need to explain how the film might still be realised if some components become impossible to deliver in the way that you originally envisaged. Alternatively you may choose to propose a work with minimal risk of impact from COVID-19 related restrictions.

Will you consider applications for projects that need to be made abroad?

As a result of COVID-19 we will not commission works that rely on international travel, unless they can be shot by contributors abroad without the need for people to travel in and out of the UK. You can include components of your proposal that would benefit from being shot abroad, but only if the proposal does not collapse if travel restrictions subsequently come into place.

IF YOU ARE SUCCESSFUL…

If my application is successful, what support will I receive to make my work?

In addition to financial support, you will be supported throughout the process by the FVU team who will act as your Producers. You will also be assigned a dedicated Producer who will work with you to realise your proposed work, who will help you with research, budgeting and logistics, as may be appropriate to the needs of your proposal. Throughout the process you will attend regular meetings with your Producer, and FVU’s Director and Programme Development Director who will offer both curatorial and practical suggestions and support. These meetings, from time to time, will also be attended by the Head of Visual Arts and the Exhibitions Manager at Jerwood Arts and Exhibitions Curator at Leeds Art Gallery who will also offer curatorial support, and together with FVU’s Technical Manager they will guide you through installation planning for your exhibition. Your budget will be managed by FVU, in full and transparent discussion with you, and all payments to suppliers will be made by FVU.

If I have a disability and/or specific access requirements, what support can be offered if my application is successful?

We particularly welcome applications from those with disabilities/access requirements. We recognise that artists with disabilities/access requirements are under-represented in our awards history, and we want to reassure all applicants that we are committed to making adjustments to accommodate people with specific access requirements.

If you are invited to interview we will ask you at interview what additional support you would require for us to facilitate working with you. If you already have in place funds from the Department of Work and Pensions to support your access to work please let us know at this stage. If you do not, then we will work with you to apply, to facilitate the project.

All awarded artists are invited to submit an ‘Access Rider’ to outline your access needs. This is useful at the beginning of the commissioning/production process, in providing us with information about what your needs are so that structures can be put in place to ensure that you have equal access to work. Regardless of whether you choose to submit an Access Rider there will be two confidential ‘check-in’ points to see if your situation has changed, or if there is anything that we might reasonably do with regard to access, to better support your ability to undertake and complete the commission and exhibitions.

If I am selected, what am I committing to?

Should you be successful in your application to the Awards, we will require a commitment to the development and production of your work across 14 months and to the two presentations of your work at Leeds Art Gallery and Jerwood Arts in 2022. The £6,000 artist fee is for your time spent on this.

This is part of the reason why we will not consider an application from anyone who is undertaking a formal education programme of study (whether part- or full-time) at any point during the production and exhibition period (including dissertation writing).

Please keep in mind the key dates (see above right) and ensure you can commit enough time within the timeframe of the awards to the production of the work, as well as to the exhibition installations, and to promoting your work with us. Please do not apply if you do not feel you will be able to commit an appropriate amount of time to the awards.

What are the terms and conditions if I am selected?

Selected artists will be asked to sign an agreement with FVU in advance of receiving the first instalment of the artist fee. This agreement will, amongst other things include:

- The right for FVU and Jerwood Arts to host the work on their websites and digital channels on an ongoing basis.

- Terms for crediting the Jerwood/FVU Awards 2022 for its support of the work for future stagings and publicity for the work.

- That FVU will retain one edition of the resulting work that FVU will have the right to sell to a public collection to be accessible to future audiences. Funds from the sale will be used to continue the Jerwood/FVU Awards and FVU’s future work supporting artists. The artist will retain rights to all other editions of the work, and the edition size of the work is at the discretion of the artist.

- Terms around future exhibitions and screenings of the resulting work.