Five second-year students from the Photography BA Honours course have been granted £8000 by the Arts Council (National Lottery Project Grants) to produce an open call exhibition that promotes the work of young artists who have been affected by the lack of opportunities during the pandemic.
The Arts Council (National Lottery Project Grants) is a national development agency for creativity and culture that distributes funding to individuals, arts organisations, libraries, and museums. Their Project Grants support individual practitioners, communities and cultural organisations with projects within the arts.
The National Lottery Project Grants range from £1000 to £100,000, and aim to help the organisation to reach the people and communities they would like to engage with.
The five students awarded the grant, Jeanine Horgos, Isabella Sawyer, Joe Heron, Isabelle Kalindamar and Edward Tagg, aim to create an exhibition about youth culture as seen through the eyes of young people. They will select ten emerging artists aged 18 to 24 to exhibit their photographs and paintings, as well as give them the opportunity to sell their art and meet with businesses interested in their services.
Their exhibition, titled Teen(R)age, is based on youth culture as seen through the eyes of young people. By allowing participants to showcase their best work without feeling constrained, the students aim to inspire more young people to turn their artistic hobbies into careers.
Commenting on the project, Jeanine Horgos said: “Young artists are one of the groups that have been most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the long periods of lockdown and isolation. The temporary closing of galleries and no opportunities to sell art through exhibitions meant that many artists had to put their passion on hold and find alternative ways to sustain their life.
“Our exhibitors will be young emerging visual artists (such as photographers and painters) that need a space where their work can be appreciated by the general public and possibly sold.”
Find out more about Art, Design and Visual Culture courses at the University of Westminster.
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