Disability Arts Online is announcing a funding pot of £10,000 for the second iteration of its Covid Commissions programme, offering a series of micro-grants for up to 35 disabled artists based in the UK. This time, the programme will be centred around the theme of Connectivity.

This time, the programme will respond to the theme of Connectivity. The crisis has impacted on the mental health of the nation and particularly on communities of disabled people. They want to highlight connection and ways that communities of disabled artists can support each other and collaborate and find resilience through these difficult times.

Criteria 

• Applications from disabled artists based in the UK, though proposals with international collaborators, where a UK disabled artist is the lead are fine.
• one application per artist or artists collective.
• Any art form.

There are four strands of commissions, please only apply to one strand. For Artist Presentations and Showcases, they will consider proposals for the presentation of pre-existing work.

Open Commissions

10 commissions of £500

Pitch an idea for an online event, discussion, workshop, performance or exhibition – anything that can take place or be displayed online. These are open commissions so bring us your best ideas. Please consider audience access in your application (we will make additional funds available to cover these costs, if required). Applications from partnerships or collectives are welcome. The budget is fixed so be realistic with your ambitions.

Artist Presentations

5 commissions of £200 each

Produce and record a 20-30 minute artist talk from the comfort of your own home. Presentations could be about how your work has changed over the last year, describing a piece of work or a series of works created since the pandemic. Equally, your presentation could be on an arts theme, that’s close to your heart. The presentation will include a short Q&A after the main presentation with DAO’s Editor. All content will be pre-recorded and then broadcast on the Disability Arts Online YouTube and Facebook channels. We will expect artists to answer questions posted by viewers in the comments section as your presentation is being broadcast. Disability Arts Online will provide tech-support, including captioning and audio-description where appropriate.

Art showcases: creative writing, visual art, music or performance

10 commissions of £200 each

They are looking for commissions of artistic responses that respond to the theme of connection. This might be pre-existing work presented in a new way.

Artist Collaborations

5 commissions of £400 for pairs of artists (receiving £200 each).

They are asking you to pitch a collaborative exchange that responds to the theme. This could take the form of a conversation, two artists working in different artforms responding to each other’s work, or something completely different.

Deadline 

16 May 2021

Disability Arts Online announces our second set of Covid Commissions for disabled artists