Venice bursaries: 21 artists to attend La Biennale professional view

a-n is supporting 21 artists to attend the 56th Venice Biennale preview week in May, through the latest round of its Go and see bursary awards scheme.

a-n has awarded 20 bursaries in the latest round of its Go and see bursary strand, supporting 21 artists from across the UK to attend this year’s Venice Biennale. Selected from over 130 applications received from a-n members, the £400 bursaries will help support the artists to attend the professional preview period, 6-8 May.

The successful artists, who will be blogging about their experiences or publishing reviews of the exhibitions on www.a-n.co.uk, are:

Alia Pathan, Sarah Jane Lawton, Ami Clarke, Fay Nicolson, Holly Slingsby,Susan Stockwell and Vanessa Scully (London); Andrew Maughan and Rachel Madgeburg (North East England); Sinead Bhreathnach-Cashell (Northern Ireland); Jane Lawson (North West England); Marc Cairns, Janie Nicoll, Aeneas Wilder and Lada Wilson (Scotland); Ruth Jarman (South East England); Tania Kovats (South West England); Anthony Shapland (Wales); Andrew and Caitlin Webb-Ellis and Nicola Golightly (Yorkshire).

Andrew and Caitlin Webb-Ellis will travel to Venice in their converted mini-bus, undertaking a round trip of 2,500 miles from their base in Scarborough. The pair, who assisted this year’s Wales in Venice artist, Helen Sear, install her 2011 exhibition at Crescent Arts, see the opportunity to attend the professional preview week and visit the Welsh Pavilion as ‘a rare, first-hand, behind the scenes experience of what it takes to install film and video work at the highest level.’

Having been invited to create a screensaver for EM15’s Sunscreen project – conceived by 2013 Venice bursary recipient Candice Jacobs – Alia Pathan intends to engage and participate in this East Midlands-initiated curatorial project as well as extending her stay in Venice to further develop her research on theVenice Time Machine.

Turning point

Like many artists, Cardiff-based Anthony Shapland divides his time between his art practise, curating (as part of the team at G39 in Cardiff) and writing about art. Having taken an extended sabbatical, he says he needs to step away from his curatorial role in order to develop his own work, and sees attending the Biennale preview week as a key step in this process.

“Being a regional artist in the UK can give a distorted view of the artscene that you are in and I need to establish where I fit internationally,” he explains. “I am at a turning point in my career and opportunities like the Go and see bursary are key to this shift.”

Speaking about the importance of the awards to artists, a-n’s Head of Programmes Gillian Nicol said: “It’s great to able to support artists at a range of career stages to attend the Venice Biennale – making the most of the fantastic networking opportunity that arises when the international artworld converges there.

“We look forward to them sharing their experiences upon their return.”

The bursaries are part of a-n’s commitment to professional development within a programme that also includes information and networking sessions and seminar programme, online toolkits and expert guides.

Bursaries are open exclusively to a-n Artist members – for full details of other benefits, including access to £5m Public and Product Liability insurance, see the Join section.