Live Work Fund
What is the Live Work Fund?
This new fund, worth £660k, will support at least 33 exceptional individuals over 12 months with awards of £20,000 to adapt their approach to making and sharing live work. It is for artists, creatives and producers with no more than ten years’ experience, based anywhere in the UK, whose practice pre-Covid-19 focused and relied on live performance. This includes those with artistic/creative practices based in music, theatre, opera, circus, dance, live art and performance as well as those who work in the gaps between these disciplines. Around half of the funding will go to music creators.
The Live Work Fund brings together Jerwood Arts, Wolfson Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and The Linbury Trust, four independent funders who share a common aim to substantially support individuals whose work relies on live performance following the impact of Covid-19. We understand the pandemic currently makes it hard to imagine a positive future in the arts, but we strongly believe that artists/creatives hold the key to discovering and forging new ways forward. We are committed to a vibrant future for live work and to ensuring that right across the country outstanding artists, creatives and producers are able to transform and develop their practice to survive and thrive.
The Live Work Fund is designed to help prevent exceptional talent of all backgrounds from abandoning the development of their practice due to the impact of Covid-19 and create the space for reflection and experimentation. It will provide substantial support throughout 2021 to enable the selected artists, creatives and producers to take the time to think ambitiously about how they can adapt their artistic/creative practice and make a vital contribution to the future of their artistic/creative community.
Awardees will also be able to call upon Jerwood Arts expert staff for advice and introductions, and established artist/creative mentors and other experts will be available to support career development, answer discipline-specific questions and signpost opportunities.