Founded in 2021, Art School Plus is breaking new ground in empowering early career artists to use their skills and vision to reignite communities through impactful public realm work. It achieves this by delivering an intense week-long, in-person training course with a small cohort of carefully selected artists and practitioners. This training is designed to equip participants with the practical experience to respond to public commissioning opportunities and deliver considered, impactful work.
The course includes training and direct support from world-leading mentors and artists with public-realm expertise, as well as hands-on experience of responding to live commissioning opportunities. Art School Plus aims to equip artists with the knowledge, insight and support they need to meaningfully work on commissions in their future careers.
World-renowned sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley has said of the programme:
Art School Plus is doing two crucial jobs. The first is to allow people to realise that making art to live with is more important than making art to be sold, and the second is evolving the support that will help that art to be made.
Creative Cardiff’s Art School Plus Scholarship 2023
The 2023 Art School Plus training course takes place in October, and Creative Cardiff are thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with the project to create a fully funded ‘Creative Cardiff Art School Plus Scholarship’. This means that one local, emerging artist will have the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Art School Plus training course this year on a fee-free basis, including travel and accommodation costs.
Head of Creative Cardiff, Jess Mahoney, said:
Public art can be transformational for cities, bringing social, cultural, environmental, economic and education benefits for residents. It can reignite communities, generate renewed civic pride and provide a focal point for local events and activities. However, public commissioning can also sometimes be vague, last-minute, process-driven and disconnected from the communities it seeks to engage. There is no single set of best practice guidelines in place for public realm commissioning and artists are rarely given proper training in how to approach public realm opportunities- and this is where Art School Plus steps-in.
The successful artist will:
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Attend the 2023 Art School training course (October 9-13) on a fully-funded basis, led by renowned and sector leading artists, architects, environmental and sustainability experts, developers and public realm leaders: past tutors have included Viviana Checchia and Laura Da Silva Gomes.
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Respond to live commissioning opportunities from public sector partners in real-time.
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A public, month-long display of your work at strategic partner KOKO London
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Gain access to a community or peers and alumni with ongoing promotion of your work through Art School Plus channels, including press.
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Be eligible for future public realm commissioning opportunities promoted through Art School Plus.
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Have access to FRIEZE London and linked industry events.
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Membership of KOKO for one month.
The Art School Plus course takes place in London. Travel and accommodation will also be funded as part of the Scholarship.
Ella Snell, Founder of Arts School Plus, said:
Art School Plus is so excited to be working with Creative Cardiff to support their commitment to make Cardiff the most creative place it can be. We can’t wait to have the opportunity to support an early-career artist with their journey into working in public space in this wonderful city.
Applicants for the Scholarship must be:
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Living or working in Cardiff or the wider Cardiff Capital Region (CCR) across South East Wales.
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An ‘early-career’ artist. This is defined as ‘an artist within the first seven years of their professional practice’. If you graduated from art school, you may have taken some time away from your practice meaning you have not been actively practising for over seven years, hence eligible to apply. Alternatively, you may not have formally studied or graduated from an art school, but have evidence up to seven years of active professional practice.
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Demonstrate past experience, or future potential, of public realm practice, particularly within Cardiff or the Cardiff Capital Region.
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Demonstrative a collaborative and inclusive approach to your practice.
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Demonstrate motivation and commitment.
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Be available for the training programme from 9-13 October 2023 and able to prepare for, and contribute to, an exhibition of work at KOKO immediately following this.
Interviews will take place in Cardiff.
If you have questions about your eligibility, you can email creativecardiff@cardiff.ac.uk in the first instance.
Find out more about how you apply for this opportunity.
All application documents and supporting information can also be found on the Art School Plus website.
