Unlimited Partner Awards
Turner Sims has been announced as one of 11 organisations partnering with Unlimited to create Partner Awards for disabled artists. In this blog, Jessica Santer, Head of Programming (Engagement and Participation) explains all.
Unlimited Partner Awards are an opportunity for arts organisations across England, Scotland and Wales to work with Unlimited to match fund a new commission for disabled artists. Each award has its own criteria and funding amount from £15,000 – £40,000. Disabled artists, or disabled led companies, across any art form can apply (with the exception of film, fashion and architecture). This year there are 11 Partner Awards, including one with Turner Sims!
Let’s hear from Jessica Santer, Turner Sims’ Head of Programming (Engagement and Participation), who is personally really excited about this opportunity for our organisation.
Why has Turner Sims chosen to work with Unlimited?
Unlimited is an organisation I have admired for a long time – for the work they do to change the landscape of the art that we get to see and experience in the UK, through commissioning, supporting and platforming disabled artists and advocating for sector change. When the opportunity came up to partner with Unlimited and be part of this change, I jumped at it!
It’s an incredible opportunity for Turner Sims to be part of the commissioning process alongside Unlimited, and work with a disabled artist, or disabled led-company, to create new work for audiences. It’s a chance to build relationships with new artists, and challenge ourselves to think deeply about access and inclusion in our programme. I am also looking forward to be part of a national network of arts organisations so that we can support and learn from each other.
Why now?
It’s an exciting time for Turner Sims, we are undergoing significant building works in our venue to improve disabled access, across front of house and backstage, to benefit our artists, audiences and staff. This partnership with Unlimited is part of our long-term commitment to improve access across all areas of our work – including the artists we support and present on our stage.
What kind of artist or company are you looking to work with on this commission?
Our Partner Award is for £15,000 to develop a research and development piece for young audiences. We are looking for a disabled artist, or disabled-led company, who wants to develop a new creative piece with music at its core, but may also want to include other art forms like theatre, dance, spoken word or visual design.
We would like the piece to have the potential to be performed at Turner Sims however we are open to artists being creative about how they use the space. Our auditorium has a capacity of around 350 and a large flat stage without any wings. The artists might want to perform on stage with the audience sat in the auditorium seats, or they might want to create something small and intimate where the audience sit on stage, or take a much more site-specific approach using different spaces in the building.
We are looking for artists who want to make work for children and young people aged between 7 and 16 years old, although the piece might not cover that whole age range. The artists might choose 7-11 years or 11-16 years, for example. We want the artists to be working directly with children and young people in Southampton and/or Hampshire to be part of the creative process for this commission. Previous experience of working with children and young people is preferred, but not essential.
And ultimately, Turner Sims and Unlimited are looking for disabled artists who are ambitious, innovative and have a really strong idea!
If you are interested in applying, there is a lot of helpful information on the Unlimited website and there are some information sessions in August and September that you can sign up for.
How will Turner Sims support the artist or company that are commissioned?
As well as providing funding for the commission, Turner Sims will work closely with the artist to support them. We will have regular meetings to check in and see how things are going, we will give access to our sound technician and lighting technician to allow you to explore ideas, we will provide a workshop with our Head of Marketing and Sales to plan promotion and we will support you in making plans for workshops and engagement with children and young people in Southampton and/or Hampshire as part of a co-creation process. We know if can be really important for artists to document their process, so we will provide a professional photographer for half a day. At the end of the project, we will host an informal sharing of the research and development project at Turner Sims.
What impact do you hope the Partner Award will have?
I hope that this commission will enable a disabled artist, or disabled led company, to start developing some really remarkable work for children and young people, and that we can use our time, resources and expertise at Turner Sims to support them to do that. This commission, along with the physical changes we are making to our building through our Estates project, mark a big step change in how we support and present disabled artists at Turner Sims, I hope the partnership with Unlimited will help us to embed this into the culture of our organisation and raise our ambition for what we can achieve in the future.
If you are an artist interested in applying for any of the awards there is lots of information, including a list of FAQs, on the Unlimited website.
Find out more
