Regional Development Agencies

Alongside the National Arts Councils there are also Regional Development Agencies that offer support to aspiring photographer artists. For additional funding the Photographer's Gallery and Photoworks (Brighton) are Lens-based Regional Development Agencies for the Arts in England.

The Photographer's Gallery

https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/about-us/awards-and-partnerships

Looking at the Photographer's Gallery website they have an 'awards and partnership' section that details three pathways that could be utilized by an aspiring photographer. One of these is the 'Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize' that we are all familiar with. As a soon to be graduate photographer I don't feel it appropriate to be applying for my work to be exhibited in such a prestigious exhibition at this time. I'm not sure an artist can even apply, I think the artists are selected by a panel each year from well known practitioners. I've seen some amazing work exhibited at the annual prize by some amazingly talented photographers. I feel a small and personal exhibition that I can learn and grow from is the best approach at this stage.

The other application option with the Photographer's Gallery is to approach for funding for a photobook. The 'Bar Tur Photobook Award' publishes a photobook chosen from a number of applicants and is open to all that are studying at or just finished their photography degree studies. My 'Target Practice' body of work has been made with an exhibition mind so this approach would be problematic for the following reasons: There are only eleven images. A photobook format does not seem appropriate for such a small number and also, I certainly did not conceive the work with this format in mind. I could make more work but I would need a lot more time to achieve this. I think that attempting to shoehorn work made for a specific format into another is not the best way to approach my project.

The third option offered by TPG appears to be a mentorship programme. This option is more geared towards personal development rather than achieving a specific outcome towards a publication.

Looking at the options presented it seems a bit negative to dismiss them all. But at this stage of the course I think it is important to assess all the funding options for my exhibition and carefully choose the most appropriate pathway for me. This will involve analysing all the available resources and narrowing down and accessing the ones that will be most beneficial to where I am at this stage of my photography career. The process is very useful as I am developing an overview of how the grants and funding system works in this country and where I sit as a fledgling photographer artist within it.

Photoworks (Brighton)

https://photoworks.org.uk/jerwoodphotoworks-awards-2/

Photoworks can provide financial and mentorship assistance in the form of the Photoworks /Jerwood Awards. This substantial project grant may be awarded to any photographer artist that is within ten years of establishing their practice. The financial award is over ten thousand pounds and a mentorship programme and touring exhibition are also included in the package. There are no entry qualifications or age limit although current full and part-time graduates are excluded from entering.

This award appears to be aimed at graduates in photography that want to establish their art practice as well as those that did not follow the formal academic art route. In any case I am still an undergraduate at this point so I will file this information for future reference.