Whitworth Wallis Fellowship

Whitworth Wallis Trust funds an annual fellowship with Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, in partnership with Birmingham City University’s School of Art.

Applications are sought from BA, MA and PhD fine art or art and design students (Full and Part-time), graduating from Birmingham School of Art, and alumni of up to ten years since graduating.

The selected artist will be paid an artist’s bursary of £1,500 to undertake a fellowship with Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

The aim of the fellowship is to enable the artist to research and study the museum collection and the building to inform their own practice, and to develop their professional career.

The fellowship is aimed at early stage and mid-career artists who have studied at Birmingham’s School of Art and who can demonstrate exceptional creative ability. The fellowship has no defining conditions, moreover it is an opportunity for the selected artist to develop their practice under self-directed research using the city’s museum collections (on display or in store) to inform their work. The successful applicant will have access by arrangement to Birmingham School of Art facilities.

We want you to be inspired and to inspire others!

The selected artist will be paid a bursary of £1,500 (paid in two instalments.)

Application to be submitted by Sunday 10 September 2023. You can download the application form here.

Fellowship overview:

w/c 16 Oct 23: Start up meeting to meet Birmingham Museum curatorial staff and plan the fellowship. The first instalment of £750 bursary paid to the artist following the signing of the contract.

16 Oct 2023 - 14 Apr 2024: 6-month fellowship with access to Birmingham Museums’ collections in store for up to 4 days. The second instalment of £750 bursary is paid to the artist by end December 2023.

Apr 2024: Artist to write and present a short end of project evaluation report about their fellowship, as well as present finished research and/or any resulting artwork(s) at a Sir Whitworth Wallis Trust board meeting. 

Fellowship dates: Monday 16th October 2023 to Sunday 14 April 2024.