£70,000 directly to artists

Nearly £50,000 will go through the Axis Artist Awards, which open on 11 June. The awards are for Axis members, and will support 38 artists through 35 Development Awards of £1,000 and 3 Fellowships of £4,000.

A further £20,000 will go to artists through the rest of the year through bursaries and paying artists we work with. These awards matter because they are simple, direct and practical. They give artists money, trust, and room to move.

Lucy Wright puts it plainly in The work behind the work of art:

“Almost no one wants to pay for the real ‘work’ of art.”

A lot of that real work happens before anyone sees the finished thing. The thinking. The admin. The meetings. The care. The studio time. The testing. The bit where the work is still awkward, private, uncertain, or half made.

That part needs support too. Axis can do this because we are independent and member-funded. 

Membership includes practical benefits, including access to £15 million Public Liability Insurance for eligible members, it is also the foundation that allows us to put resources back into artists through awards, bursaries, paid work, mentoring, feedback, publishing and space to develop practice.

As we build on this work, we are also welcoming two new trustees to Axis: Catherine Hemelryk, Director of CCA Derry~Londonderry, and Mick Watson, Global Head of Creative & Content at MPB. They join us as we grow our direct support for artists and strengthen how we share that work with wider audiences.

We want more money to reach artists, more space for practice to develop, and more ways for people to understand and support contemporary art.

If you are an artist, joining Axis means you can apply for a Development Award when applications open.

If you are not an artist, you can still help. Share the awards. Read more about why we do this. Make a donation.
 

Thank you for reading.

Daniela, Emma, Harlan, Lucy, Julian, Mark, Paisley

The Axis Team

Take one next step:

> Find out more about the Axis Artist Awards

> Join Axis

> Read The work behind the work of art

> Make a donation