Who is eligible to apply?
Bloomberg New Contemporaries is open to individual artists or collaborative groups* who meet one of the following criteria:
- Undergraduate in the final year of a degree in fine art** at a UK college†
- Postgraduate enrolled on a degree in fine art** at a UK college†
- Those who recently graduated (within 12 months) from either an Undergraduate or Postgraduate degree in fine art** at a UK college†, Current participants on an alternative learning programme‡
- Those who completed an alternative programme‡ within the last 12 months.
* Collaborative applications are eligible providing at least one member of the group meets the criteria above.
** 'Fine Art' here refers to visual art including, but not limited to, painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, video, audio, performance and installation. Those studying or having graduated from applied arts courses are not eligible. 'Applied Arts' here refers to design courses.
† 'College' here refers to Higher Education institutions offering recognised degree qualifications at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Students enrolled in Foundation Diploma courses are not eligible.
‡ ‘Alternative learning programme’ refers to programmes, that operate broadly as alternatives to BA or MA study. These programmes must have been established before 2017 and offer artists an opportunity to develop their practice in an environment outside of a ‘college’ as defined above. Regrettably, residencies and informal peer-to-peer networks that do not have a clearly defined process of application and study are not eligible to apply. Currently we are accepting applications from artists who are enrolled in or have completed alternative learning programmes, in the past 12 months. Only the following programmes are currently included: AltMFA, The Collective Studio, Constellations, Essential School of Painting, Evening Class, Into the Wild, Islington Mill Academy, Open School East, Royal Drawing School, School of the Damned, The Syllabus, TOMA and Turps Art School.
Is there an application fee?
New Contemporaries is an educational charity (No. 1013848). The administrative costs associated with giving proper attention to the huge number of submissions we receive each year mean that we must charge an application fee. The charge is currently £25
Further Questions?
Please write to submissions@newcontemporaries.org.uk with any further queries that are not answered in the guidelines.
New Contemporaries can assist artists with the application process who may identify as having a disability. Please contact us at submissions@newcontemporaries.