UK and International Open Awards will offer 14 awards to disabled artists in England, Scotland, and Wales. These awards will offer a grand total of £600,000 to commission artists on a national and international level.

These awards give disabled artists the chance to develop and present work across the country and/or internationally. They’re open to all disabled artists based in the UK with projects at any stage of development, across artforms, to bring their ideas to life.

These awards are made possible with the support from Arts Council England, Arts Council Wales, British Council and Creative Scotland.

You can be the lead applicant for up to two applications – one UK Open Award and one International Open Award.

 

Deadline:

Monday 2 October 2023, midday.

 

UK Open Awards- nine awards for UK-based disabled artists.

For artists based in England:
Six awards available: two awards of £20,000, two awards of £50,000, and two awards of £80,000.

For artists based in Scotland:
Two awards available: one award of £15,000 and one award of £45,000.

For artists based in Wales:
One award available of £47,500.

The UK Open Awards are open to:

• professional disabled artists and/or a disabled-led companies
• based in England, Scotland, or Wales
• aged 18+
• not in full-time education

For these commissions they’re looking for artists that wish to create and share a new piece of work. Your work can fall into any of the following artforms: drama, dance, music, visual arts, literature, and/or combined arts.

The only areas that they don’t support are fashion, architecture, and film- because the conditions of our funding don’t cover these artforms.

The work should aim to be:

• High quality
• Disabled-led
• Innovative and ambitious
• The work has the potential to reach multiple, diverse venues and audiences
• The artist and/or company has a track record of creating work and reaching audiences
• This criteria is what we will use to assess your application.

The aim is to support a range of ideas in relation to artform, diversity, scale, and location.

UK Open Awards

 

 

International Open Awards-five awards for collaboration between UK-based and international disabled artists. 

The International Open Awards are open to:

• professional disabled artists and/or a disabled-led companies
• based in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, or Wales
• aged 18+
• not in full-time education
• The work must facilitate a meaningful collaboration with a disabled artist/collective based in one of the following Official Development Assistance (ODA) countries:  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Turkey, Ukraine*, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

*British Council have temporarily suspended activities in Ukraine for the safety and well-being of all. You can still collaborate with a Ukrainian artist working outside of Ukraine.

They reserve the right to suspend activities in any of the countries listed above if a national safety concern arises.

For these commissions they’re looking for work which creates genuine international collaboration. It should produce positive social and/or economic impacts by artists wishing to create and share a new piece of work.

It can be created in any of the following artforms: drama, dance, music, visual arts, literature, and combined arts, fashion, architecture, and/or film.

The work should aim to be:

• High quality
• Disabled-led
• Innovative and ambitious
• A genuine collaboration – an exchange of skills and knowledge
• Improving networks as a result of the collaboration
• Developing the artistic practice of all involved
• The work has the potential to reach multiple, diverse venues and audiences
• The artist and/or company has a track record of creating work and reaching audiences

The aim is to support a range of ideas in relation to artform, diversity, scale, and location.

They understand that not all ODA-eligible countries will have disabled-led organisations, and that many are still led by non-disabled people. The selection panels will take this into account, aiming to support those focusing on the direct benefit to disabled artists.

It is your responsibility to find an international collaborator. To stay impartial, Unlimited cannot match UK artists with international collaborators.  You need to have permission from your international collaborator before putting in an application.  The list of eligible ODA countries has been finalised by Unlimited and British Council. We won’t be able to add other countries to this list.

International Open Awards