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Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards: Aberdeen City

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Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards: Aberdeen City in partnership with Creative Scotland 
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VACMA Bursaries for 2024/2025

The Aberdeen Visual Artist and Craft Makers Awards (VACMA) scheme is open to visual artists and craft makers who live or maintain a studio space in Aberdeen City. These awards are supported by Creative Scotland through funding from the National Lottery in partnership with Aberdeen City Council. 

VACMA offer fixed bursaries of £500 and £1000. The purpose of these bursaries is to support visual artists and craft makers in their creative and professional development. 

This fund is for practising artists and makers. Applicants should have achieved a body of work out with formal education (unless a recent graduate) and have experience of the public engaging with their work. 

 Please read VACMA guidance for applicants

VACMA will give priority to applications that clearly demonstrate: 

  • Commitment to practice- your application material demonstrates relevant experience and an ongoing commitment to development of your visual arts or craft practice. 

  • Creative development- your application clearly describes the opportunity for development and the anticipated impact on your creative skills and ideas. 

  • Clear project plan- your application material demonstrates that the proposed activity is feasible and that there is a clear delivery plan in place. 

Funds available  

VACMA offers fixed bursaries of £500 and £1,000. You should apply for the level of bursary that best suits your circumstances. 

  • £1,000 bursary is for artists and makers who have been practicing for over 5 years, regardless of whether they have gone through formal education or not. 

  • £500 Early-Career bursary is for artists and makers that have been practicing for less than 5 years. This includes recent graduates (2019 or later) and those that have not studied art formally but have been practising as an artist or maker for up to 5 years. 

Deadline: 5pm, Tuesday 4 February 2025

Please send your complete VACMA Application before the deadline to VACMA@aberdeencity.gov.uk

What can the funding be used for? 

The bursaries can be used to support a wide range of activities that support applicants to develop their creative practice. Activity can include, but is not limited to:

  • Professional training, courses and peer-to-peer learning
  • Mentoring and skills development 
  • Testing new ideas and processes 
  • Researching and developing a new body of work 
  • Experimenting with sustainable and renewable materials, circular design and low impact processes 
  • Residencies that are tailored to your creative and professional development
  • Equipment where there is a clear rational for how it will develop your practice and support experimentation 
  • Additional support towards making new work for an exhibition or presentation 

What this fund does not support:

  • Activities that are scheduled to begin before you hear your decision. You must allow at least 8 weeks from the deadline before starting your activity. 
  • Academic activity and courses or training that result in an accredited qualification
  • Business start-up and business development activities 
  • Applications that are solely for marketing and website costs 
  • Filmmaking projects unless you are a visual artist with a moving image practice 
  • Community or educational projects 
  • Illustration and graphic design that sits outside of a visual art or craft context 
  • Building projects such as building renovations or refurbishments 
  • Applications that are solely for framing and presentation costs 
  • Projects that include partnership funding from other VACMA or Creative Scotland funding programmes. 

You can read more about how the VACMA scheme has benefitted individual artists and makers in Aberdeen from a few case studies below.

How to apply

Please download and read through the VACMA guidance for applicants and artist checklist to assist you in your application.

You can also view further information on the wider scheme by visiting the Creative Scotland website.

To make an informal enquiry or to book a one-to-one online advice session with Creative Learning please email: VACMA@aberdeencity.gov.uk.

Once you are ready to proceed, please download the VACMA application form and save it to your desktop before completion and submission via e-mail in advance of the set deadline.

In addition to your completed application there is a requirement to send through supporting materials including an up to date CV and strong images of your work.

We also request all applicants submit a completed Equalities Monitoring Form this is to give us essential statistical information this will be processed anonymously and does not impact on your application.

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