The inaugural Debut Contemporary Art School Awards have launched, offering Foundation to PhD year art students the chance to receive a prize fund valued at £5,000 to showcase and sell their artworks at the Debut Contemporary gallery space in London’s trendy Notting Hill, coupled with 1-2-1 mentoring and professional development led by their team of industry experts.
Debut Contemporary is not simply an art gallery, but also an innovative mentoring and professional development platform for emerging artists assisting them in turning their creative practice into a viable business. Here artists are prepared with a business savvy mind while they maintain their artistic freedom and creative license. It is the only professional development and empowerment platform of its kind in the UK. The co-founders, Zoe Knight and Samir Ceric, the husband and wife duo, have been dubbed as ‘One of the UK’s Most Powerful Couples in Art & Fashion’ by the Times Magazine; ‘London’s Top Tastemakers’ by Time Out London and ‘Kingmakers of Creative Talent’ by International Life Magazine.
The Debut Team believes that art students should not wait until after their degree show to start looking for ways in which to launch their artistic career. They believe that many art students create artworks worth placing with serious collectors and within serious private and corporate collections. It can not only lead to sales which can help students build up their collector base, confidence in themselves and media exposure but also inclusion in important exhibitions in the UK and internationally whilst still studying.
A Presentation Evening will be held at the University of the Arts London introducing the awards on 23rd January 2012. Information given during this presentation will also be available online.
There will be 7 Prizes awarded in the following years: Foundation Year, First Year BA, Second Year BA, Third/Final Year BA, 1st Year MA, 2nd / Final Year MA, PhD all years.
To participate in the open call, artists need to email 3 digital jpeg images (300dpi) that best represent their art practice; and a summary of no more than 100 words. (Links to web pages will not be considered.)
Submissions will be accepted from 3rd until 31st January 2012. The Debut Contemporary Panel will personally review all submissions and select 6 finalists from each category.
Finalists will then have the opportunity to put the image that represents their art practice on the Debut Contemporary website and blog alongside a short interview allowing the public to vote for their favourite three artists in each category.
AWARDS CEREMONY
The three most successful entrants from each category will be able to display their work in a gallery for a prestigious awards evening on March 21, 2012 with industry experts, industry heavyweights and press. Winners will be announced on the night.
The successful candidates will each receive a prize fund valued at £5,000, including:
– 1-2-1 Mentoring and professional guidance by the industry experts
– 1-2-1 mentoring and practical guidance by one of successful Debut artists
– Marketing, PR and business advice.
– Brand and/or Business development consultancy.
– Opportunity to showcase and sell their work in the Notting Hill gallery space.
– Opportunity to showcase and sell their work on an international art fair circuit including in front of tens of thousands of collectors and industry professionals (and possibly free flight and accommodation to one of the international fairs, if selected)
– Free exposure and visibility on our e-commerce site, blog and other social media channels.
Application details can be found at debutcontemporary.wordpress.com/
