Welcome to issue 003 of TRINE!
I wanted to begin this issue of TRINE with an open letter asking the cultural and creative industries as a whole to actively begin working to put an end to white supremacy.
Over the past year we have seen official statements from museums, cultural institutions, galleries, archives and all who make up the global powerhouse that is the creative industries publicly declaring that Black Lives Matter and more recently committing to Stop Asian Hate. Following last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests there has been a flurry of appointments, job vacancies, open calls, funding opportunities and arts programming from organisations who finally felt the pressure to transform their ‘commitment’ to diversity into actions of inclusion. As a curator who has spent the past eight years working across national, regional, portfolio and local organisations in the UK’s cultural sector I want all who contribute to our cultural and creative sectors to know that these small long overdue actions are not enough.
Culture organisations, white supremacy is seeped into every aspect of your operations. It is evident in your corporate sponsors that actively contribute towards climate change. Visible, in the manner your comms strategy brushes away allegations of sexual assault made against collaborators and high level stakeholders. Present, in the entry level jobs you advertise that do not pay London living wage. Clear, in the pathway to senior management and the directorate that values an expensive postgraduate degree and the ‘right connections’ over experience. Apparent, in your artistic programming that only highlights marginalised communities during their designated history month - if at all. Obvious, in your unwillingness to commit budgets to building audiences that deviate from your white middle class demographic. Evident, in the inaccessible (as well as at times racist, transphobic, misogynist and classist language) that litters your interpretation labels and collection database entries. Unmistakable, in your inflexible and unrealistic project timelines that require countless additional hours of unpaid labour to meet, excluding mothers and other care givers from advancement opportunities. This merely scratches the surface.
On Wednesday 31st March, the government appointed Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities set up by Boris Johnson published a report that stated that the UK is no longer a country ‘where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities.’ As a woman of colour who has spent her life navigating public, academic and professional spaces where the decision makers and gate keepers are predominately white upper class I am not going dignify this ludicrous claim with a response. The only individuals who claim that structural and institutional racism do not exist are the ones who directly benefit from it. The same report goes on to add that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion all affect life chances more than racism. What it neglects to mention is that the barriers that are constructed around these life circumstances are built on the foundations of white supremacy. Racism is just one of the many indicators of white supremacy.
As artists, designers and creatives we have the privilege of creating work that reflects the societal events that future generations will study as history. Museums, cultural institutions, galleries, archives and every other organisation across the creative industries, the brutal murder of George Floyd forced you to acknowledge that the space you occupy is not a neutral one and admit that you ‘need to do better’. It has always been your responsibility to accurately record history but what we require from you in this moment is to stand on the right side of it.
Shasti Lowton
Curator, Creative and Agent of Change.
Please find the Build and Plan sections of the TRINE newsletter below. As always, the guided meditation for our Rest section is found at the top of this page. Take what works for you and leave what doesn’t. If you find success with any of the opportunities featured or find any of TRINE’s tools useful do reach out and let us know.
ART X BUSINESS X ASTROLOGY
~ Build ~
Expand your network and invite new opportunities into your life. Opportunities arranged in deadline order starting with the soonest. Click on the underlined title text for application details.
Funding opportunities
INTERLUDE: Bursary and Mentoring Programme
INTERLUDE, organised by Visual Arts Group Wales offers a mentoring programme consisting of four collective and peer-mentoring based workshops, an assigned mentor for one-to-one mentoring, and a bursary for five artists living or working in Wales, or with connection to Wales.
Grant: £3000 bursary
Eligibility: Artists of colour 18+ who have a connection to Wales
Deadline: Sunday 11th April 2021
Help Musicians Transmission Fund
Funding activity: To further professional development of musicians by supporting opportunities that enhance your skills or artistic practice.
Grant: Up to £1500
Eligibility: Musicians of all genres and disciplines. You can also apply as a group of musicians if you’re looking to develop your skills collectively
Deadline: Monday 12th April 2021
Artwork Archive's Art Business Accelerator Grant
Funding activity: The Art Business Accelerator distributes unrestricted funds to invest in your art business, as well as six weeks of self-guided online educational resources that increase business skills, economic proficiency, marketing knowledge, and more.
Grant: 10 x grants of $2500 and a lifetime Master Account with Artwork Archive (valued at $1,000).
Eligibility: Professional visual artists 21+ worldwide.
Deadline: Friday 14th May 2021
The Judy Chicago Art Education Award
Funding activity: The award is open to scholars, artists, and educators creating projects based on research that incorporates any of the archives that are included in the Judy Chicago Research Portal.
Grant: $2500
Eligibility: Anyone proposing a project that is based in research using any of the archives in the Judy Chicago Research Portal.
Deadline: Tuesday 1st June 2021
Funding activity: To support a new or existing publication focusing on the themes of gender, race, disability, care, class, politics and/ or art.
Grant: £500
Eligibility: Women, especially Black women, women of colour; as well as trans, non-binary and queer folks.
Deadline: Tuesday 1st June 2021
Funding activity: The Awesome Foundation is a global community advancing the interest of awesome in the universe. Each fully autonomous chapter supports awesome projects through micro-grants, usually given out monthly. These micro-grants, come out of pockets of the chapter's "trustees" and are given on a no-strings-attached basis to people and groups working on awesome projects.
Grant: $1000 or the local equivalent
Eligibility: Anyone
Deadline: Rolling grant
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants
Funding activity: The Foundation provides financial resources for visual artists to create new work, acquire supplies, rent studio space, prepare for exhibitions, attend a residency and offset living expenses.
Grant: Up to $30,000
Eligibility: Visual artists who are painters, sculptors and artists who work on paper, including printmakers.
Deadline: Rolling grant
Artist residencies
Cultivating (more) Flight in Blue Skies is the second residency and commission opportunity produced by Coventry Biennial, DASH and Talking Birds that is designed to support a Midlands based d/Deaf, disabled or neurodivergent visual artist to produce a new artwork or project that will be presented as a part of Coventry Biennial 2021.
Fees: £1500 residency fee + £1000 commission fee
Deadline: Tuesday 6th April 2021
HOME x Cob Artist Studio Residency
HOME by Ronan Mckenzie and Cob Gallery are excited to present the first Artist Studio Residency and Exhibition; in celebration of Cob’s 10 year anniversary and opening of their new artist studios. This residency has been created specifically to support Black, Indigenous and People of Colour Women-Identifying Artists. This residency will offer two artists free studio space for six weeks, followed by an exhibition in the studio and online. Artists are invited to work collaboratively or independently for the duration of this residency, and may apply individually or in a pair.
Dates: 17th May - 28th June
Budget: £2400 artist fee and £750 production budget.
Deadline: Sunday 11th April 2021
Stochastic Labs awards fully sponsored residencies to exceptional engineers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs from around the world. Residencies are of variable length and include a private apartment at the mansion, co-working and/or dedicated work space, shop access (laser cutter, 3D printer etc). Residents become part of Stochastic’s creative community, participating in weekly dinners and invitation events.
Budget: $1000 monthly stipend + budget for materials
Deadline: Rolling deadline
Open calls
Two Temple Place Artist Commission
Two Temple Place is looking for an early-career artist to create an age-appropriate trail for children to take them through the rooms of Two Temple Place, providing fun creative learning and engagement during a visit and beyond.
Fee: £1000
Deadline: Tuesday 6 April 2021
With venues closed over the past 12 months, audiences have turned to online platforms like YouTube to watch theatre, creating exciting innovations from practitioners in this new, evolving medium. The Initiative is designed to support those who want to create content that answers the question ‘what is theatre when it’s online?’. The aim is to help participants continue innovation in digital theatre, break down boundaries, make the arts accessible to more people, and ultimately encourage more people to engage with live theatre.
Budget: Up to 4 Participants will receive between £10,000 - £20,000 to create 3-4 pieces of content to be hosted on their YouTube channel (and beyond).
Deadline: Wednesday 7th April 2021
Invites proposals that critically engage with the present and propose alternatives current developments and disruptions, reflecting on what makes us human, and reexamining our relationship with society, the planet, and life itself. Proposals may connect to larger themes such as the social impact of climate change, energy cycles and our current technological acceleration, the mirror between the biosphere and the technosphere, contemporary processes of exchanging values and objects, and/or the impact of collective decision-making.
Budget: 2000 Euros artist fee, up to 2000 Euros production budget, travel and accommodation for October 2021 event in Berlin.
Deadline: Friday 9th April 2021
Project grant for five London based community, youth or voluntary groups to help connect local city dwellers with the natural world by transforming urban spaces. Projects that focus on UK native wildflowers, plants and/or fungi, either through planting or as inspiration. Helping other people understand the importance of these native species for the environment and our lives.
Grant: £1000 + a Grow Wild seed kit
Deadline: Monday 12th April 2021
For its 3rd edition, the Lagos Biennial invites submissions from teams – including curators, artists, collectives, designers and architects – that speak to the institution of the nation state and the concept of refuge.This edition of the biennial will adopt an online/remote format, with physical models displayed in either private and public spaces in the home countries of participating artists. Drawings, concepts, renderings and text will be documented in a three edition publication of the Lagos Biennial which will also catalogue the first two editions of the biennial, the 2017 and 2019 editions respectively.
Budget: Production grant of up to $10,000 for each team
Deadline: Friday 30th April 2021
The Jerwood/Photoworks Awards are a major commissioning opportunity supporting early career artists working with photography to make new work and significantly develop their practice. They particularly seek to encourage artists exploring new approaches to photography. Now in their fourth edition, the Awards are for UK based artists who are between one and ten years into their practice to realise ambitious new works for a national touring exhibition.
Budget: 2 x artists will receive £10,000 artist fee, £5000 production budget, access to £5000 printing budget.
Deadline: Wednesday 12th May 2021
In response to extensive need in the creative community for monetary support and career guidance the Adobe Creative Residency program has launched a $1M Community Fund to support creators of visual digital work. The Fund supports creators by hiring them for Adobe-commissioned projects.
Fee: Between US$500 - US$5000.
Deadline: Rolling application
~ Plan ~
Tune in to the movements of the universe and use them to support your decision making and forward planning. There is no bad astrology, nor can it be used to predict the future. Astrology is best used as a tool to help you navigate the different areas of your life.
Key astrological dates for April
Sunday 4th April - (Mercury enters Aries)
Mercury’s appearance in Aries lends itself to a bold and explicit communication style. You will feel compelled to cut the small talk and get straight to the point. Remember that it is time, not money that is your most valuable commodity and if you don’t ask you don’t get.
Saturday 10th April - Mercury sextile Saturn (Aries - Aquarius 12 degrees)
The addition of Venus, planet of relationships (both love and business) sextile with Jupiter, planet of good luck and abundance to this aspect makes this a great day to explore potential partnerships. Saturn in its home sign of Aquarius encourages us to experiment and challenge existing structures to find new ways to create profit. This is a great day to sign a contract or draft an agreement.
Sunday 11th April - (New Moon in Aries 22 degrees)
This fantastic new moon in action orientated Aries encourages us to tap into the ram’s big cardinal energy and initiate our entrepreneurial mindset. The magical beams that Jupiter is sending to the new moon, Sun and Mercury put you in the right place at the right time. Giving any new endeavours the weight they need to carry forward.
Tuesday 13th April - Sun sextile Mars (Aries - Gemini 24 degrees)
Mars the planet of action and energy is being lit up by the sun’s rays making us driven to complete a goal. This is a great day to give a pitch or submit a written project. Actions taken on this day lead to success and profit.
Thursday 15th April - Sun sextile Jupiter (Aries - Aquarius 26 degrees)
Positive energy shimmers when the Sun sextile Jupiter, planet of abundance. This could see you receive a large tax refund at the close of this financial year. Jupiter’s presence in Aquarius (a sign that is known to be visionary) will give you the opportunity to create a futuristic idea that will not only be popular but have strong profit potential.
Friday 16th April - Sun square Pluto (Aries - Capricorn 27 degrees)
Pluto as a planet rules transformation and represents the influential people within our sphere. This challenging square with the Sun may bring a lack of cooperation or support from a VIP. However with Mars (planet of action) reaching a trine with Jupiter (giver of gifts) on the same day you will be charged with powers of persuasion. Be confident and be sure to work out how to offset any risks to put decision makers at ease.
Saturday 17th April - Mercury sextile Jupiter (Aries - Aquarius 26 degrees)
Mercury sextile Mars (Aries - Gemini 27 degrees)
Mercury square Pluto (Aries - Capricorn 27 degrees)
With Mercury working harmoniously with both Mars and Jupiter this is a great weekend to work on any communication project. Your concentration will be focused and Jupiter could see you receive a generous fee for your work. However, its square with Pluto requires you to dig deep to ensure the message you wish to convey is what is actually being put across.
Monday 19th April - Sun enters Taurus
A fixed earth sign, Taurus is steady in nature and encourages us to stabilise and build with the resources we have. The Sun’s presence in the bull’s ring requires us to move at the pace that we feel comfortable with. To rush is to miss the opportunity the season presents us to cultivate the seeds of action and manifestation that we sowed in the earlier part of the year. By being generous, resourceful and relaxed in your professional life you will feel energised and attract the support you need to progress.
Friday 23rd April - Mercury conjunct Uranus (Taurus 10 degrees)
Uranus embodies the revolutionary and as a higher octave of Mercury, works to magnify the gifts of the messenger planet to their highest potential. Experimentations in creative thought can lead to brilliant innovations.
Sunday 25th April - Mercury square Saturn (Taurus - Aquarius 13 degrees)
Mercury conjunct Venus (Taurus 14 degrees)
Saturn, the planet of hard work and discipline requires us to go over the complex details of projects. Mercury’s conjunction with Venus encourages us to take a soft touch when communicating with clients and higher ups to ensure success.
Monday 26th April - Full moon in Scorpio opposing Uranus
This full moon will be a tricky one. As a fixed water sign Scorpio harnesses the power of its emotional intensity, which coupled with the moon’s opposition to Uranus has the tendency to bring suppressed emotions rapidly to the surface. If you’ve been hoping that a business partnership or collaboration would improve you may finally come to the realisation that it is best to cut your losses. Full moons bring closure, clarity and truth working to clear what is no longer serving us from our paths so that we have the capacity to receive the blessings we are due.
Thursday 29th April - Mercury sextile Neptune (Taurus - Pisces 22 degrees)
Today is the perfect day to send a creative proposal or pitch. The influence of Neptune (the planet associated with dreams and the imagination), will make your concept hard to resist which could see you get the green light to move forward.
Friday 30th April - Sun conjunct Uranus (Taurus 11 degrees)
Uranus by nature is unpredictable and innovative. When it is in the same sign as the sun we must expect the unexpected. The ideas that we share and receive during this transit will buck all trends and challenge what has become the norm in our sectors- resulting in either a breakthrough or a rejection. Slow and steady is the nature of Taurus so it is advisable to refine your concept before rushing in. If you do receive a rejection remember that ’no’ simply means ’not now’ or ‘not with me’.
~ Rest ~
Nurture the needs of your mind, body and soul so that your personal wellness is placed at the centre of your actions.
April’s guided meditation is inspired by ‘Between Words & Space’ a collection of poetry and prose by curator, writer and educator Péjú Oshin. You can find out more about Péjú’s work here.
Background Music: Sleepwaves 2 - Calm Ocean Waves Sound by Calmsound
TRINE ISSUE 003