MANCHESTER ARTIST BURSARY FAQ
Who is this for?
The Manchester Artist Bursary is open to all creatives over the age of 18 who live in the borough of Manchester. This is open to artists of any type (theatre practitioners, visual artists, musicians etc.) engaged in creative work or projects, which may be part of a professional creative career or may be self-guided creative projects that you are doing for yourself. The Artist Bursary is open to ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs’ and is aimed at encouraging as diverse as possible a range of people to engage in creative practice.
If you applied for Round 1, you can still apply for Round 2, whether you were successful or not.
How old do I have to be?
The scheme is open to anyone over the age of 18.
What can I apply for?
The Manchester Artist Bursary is an access bursary, which will provide financial support to overcome barriers to professional and personal development in the arts. Applicants can apply for up to £100 to support in accessing events, training or creative development. Please see below a range of examples of how the access bursary could help individuals in a range of situations.
Example 1: an applicant who wants to develop their career in theatre may use the bursary to support them in attending an acting workshop. The bursary of up to £100 could go towards travel costs, childcare, or any relevant expenses that would allow the applicant to engage with the workshop.
Example 2: an applicant who wants to develop their interest in painting may have signed up to a community painting course but is struggling with the expense of the paints and materials needed to fully take part. The bursary of up to £100 could go towards the resources needed to fully take part in the painting course.
Example 3: an applicant is accessing an online training programme in digital arts but is struggling with concentrating due to noise and distractions in their working environment. The bursary of up to £100 could go towards devices such as headphones needed for the participants to fully engage in the online training programme.
If you are unsure about an application to the artist bursary we would welcome you to contact us so that we can discuss your needs and support with any potential application.
Do I have to live within Manchester Borough?
The Manchester Artist Bursary is only open to people who are resident in the borough of Manchester. This can be checked at the link below using the You Gov ‘find my council’ tool: https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council
Please note there are similar schemes to the Manchester Artist Bursary in operation across the Greater Manchester area run by the relevant councils. Please contact us if you are unsure or would like signposting towards the relevant bursary scheme in your area.
What if I haven’t practiced as an artist in a while?
The Artist Bursary is open to ‘professionals’ and ‘amateurs’ and is aimed at encouraging as diverse as possible a range of people to engage in creative practice. We warmly welcome applications from people who are rekindling their creative side or would like to use the bursary to access something in a completely new creative direction. Bursary applications are not accessed on the levels of skill or professional qualifications of applicants.
What conditions apply to the bursary?
Successful applicants to the bursary scheme will be expected to provide feedback on their experience of the bursary and later provide feedback on how the bursary has impacted on their professional or personal development.
We would welcome as full an engagement with the feedback process as possible to ensure that council funds are being assigned meaningfully and equitably.
How are the eligibility criteria used?
We request you let us know that you are eligible for this bursary because with these criteria we seek to provide the financial support to those who most need it and also understand how the bursary money has helped with those barriers.
The 6 eligibility criteria are:
I am not in education, employment or training
I am under-employed
(Under-employment in this context is where you are working, but your job does not utilise your creative skills or abilities, and/or does not provide sufficient hours or pay to meet your needs.)
I identify as working class
I identify as a person of colour
I identify as neurodiverse
I identify as disabled
You only need to be able to tick one of these areas to be eligible. During the bursary selection process will use a panel of minimum 3 STAF members. We will take the context of how you plan to use the money alongside your age, area and eligibility criteria to determine who we think can be best supported.
How do I get paid?
If successful, applicants will have a short telephone interview with our financial department who will require bank account details in order to transfer the bursary to successful applicants.
For Round 1, we can only make payments to UK bank accounts in the name of the bursary applicant. We would like to confident we’re doing the correct amount of due diligence and to mitigate putting people at risk of financial abuse .
For future rounds of the bursary we are keen to explore ways of payment that might make it accessible to people, such as paying a support organisation. If you have any questions or feedback on this please contact us to inform our learning.
Payment timeline:
- Applications open: Thursday 5 December 2024
- Applications close: Monday 20 January 2025
- Assessment including follow up to ask any questions we might have about your application:
- Decision date: Friday 25 January 2025
- Select a phone call or zoom slot to set you up for payment
- Expected payment date: 31 January 2025
Do I have to pay tax or financially declare the bursary?
This will depend on your employment status and if / what benefits you might receive. We reserve the right to not make payments if we feel it puts you at risk of benefit sanctions or other financial harm.
We would not want this offer to put you at risk of losing your benefit provision, but it unfortunately very much depends on the type of benefits you receive. We have this resource to try to help with the complex issue, please only apply if you feel confident in your tax and benefits status. Click Here to access the resource
What is STAF?
Something To Aim For (STAF) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation working on behalf of Manchester Council in this pilot roll-out of the Manchester Artist Network and Manchester Artist Bursary scheme.
Do I have to provide receipts for how I have spent the bursary?
No, if successful we will not need you to provide receipts for how you have used the bursary. We would love to hear as a part of the evaluation what it became useful for, how that may have changed and especially what could be improved!
What happens if I am not successful?
We aim to contact all applicants to let them know the outcome of their application, successful or not. The level of feedback we can provide will be based on the number of applications we receive. We are a small team, we aim to create a fair and transparent process within the capacity available to us.
Still have questions? Please feel free to get in touch!
