Welcome to TRINE Issue 004.
The past month has felt emotionally draining on so many different levels as we witnessed more brutal murders of black and brown bodies at the hands of police.
Adam Toledo, Daunte Wright and Ma’Khia Bryant’s lives were stolen by the very system that was supposedly put in place to protect them. Their senseless deaths formed the backdrop to the trial of Derek Chauvin, the infamous Minnesotan police officer responsible for the murder of George Floyd.
On Thursday 20th April a jury unanimously found Chauvin guilty of all charges bought against him - second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three guilty verdicts sent shockwaves around the world which were echoed across every social media platform. Our timelines and newsfeeds were full of declarations that ‘finally justice had been served’ and reposts of George’s daughter Gianna telling us that her ‘daddy is going to change the world.’
The tears of relief that I cried at the pronouncement of three guilty verdicts was quickly washed over by a deep wave of sadness. This is not justice. Gianna, it was not your daddy’s job to change the world it was his job to read you bedtime stories, take you shopping for your prom dress, cry tears of joy at your graduation, walk you down the aisle on your wedding day and cradle his future grandchildren in his arms. Justice would have seen George live a full, happy and joyous life that he departed from in old age.
The road to ending white supremacy and creating a truly equal society is a long one. As we continue along this difficult path let us never believe that someone’s untimely murder at the hands of our oppressors is more meaningful than the actual life they were deserved to live.
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. You can also find us on instagram here.
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
Writing Our Legacy Bursary Scheme
Writing Our Legacy is offering 15 bursaries to Black, Asian or ethnically diverse writers in Sussex, Hampshire or the wider South East to research and develop new writing or project work with a focus on the landscape of South Downs National Park.
Grant: £500
Eligibility: Black, Asian or ethnically diverse established and emerging writers in Sussex, Hampshire or the wider South East.
Deadline: Wednesday 5th May 2021
UK Global Screen Fund: International Distribution
Fund supporting UK sales agents to increase their international promotion and sales of live action and animated fiction and documentary UK feature film projects.
Grant: Up to £60,000
Eligibility: UK companies who have been appointed as the international sales agent for a feature-length live action or animation, fiction or documentary film.
Deadline: Wednesday 30th June 2021
Royal Television Society Bursary Scheme
The Royal Television Society runs two bursary schemes: the Technology Bursary and the TV Production and Journalism Bursary. The schemes are designed to support people from lower-income backgrounds to pursue a career in the television industry.
Grant: £1000 per year of study + additional £2000 per year for successful Steve Hewlett scholarship applicant
Eligibility: Undergraduates or those studying a Level 5/6 HND.
Deadline: Thursday 30th September 2021
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant is one of the most prestigious grants available to emerging figurative artists, as well as one of the most substantial. It is one of the longest-standing foundations, with an illustrious history of recipients spanning more than half a century. It is also unique in its scope, in that it is available to students and artists around the world.
Eligibility: Young figurative artists who are pursuing their studies or in the early developmental stage of their career.
Grant: First grants are in the amount of CAD $15,000 each, and subsequent grants are in the amount of CAD $18,000 each (maximum three grants).
Deadline: Rolling deadline - Applications open in May 2021
Residencies
Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art - Remote Archive & Library Artist Residency
Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA) and The Portico Library are accepting applications from North West-based contemporary artists and practitioners for a 6-week remote residency working with CFCCA’s online archive and library collection. The intended outcome of the residency is for the artist to produce one or more new artworks in the form of a Chinese folded book, to be included in an exhibition at The Portico Library in central Manchester.
Budget: £450 artist fee + £250 production costs
Deadline: Sunday 9th May 2021
Delfina Foundation - The Politics of Food
Delfina Foundation will launch their fifth concentrated season of residencies and public programmes focusing our investigations on the most pressing issue of our time: the climate emergency. The overall programme will include a minimum of 10 international residents or UK associates.
Fee: UK Associates receive a bursary of £2,000 GBP, plus access to the foundation’s space, networks, and programming
Deadline: Monday 14th June 2021
Open calls
Screen Shot Special Event Call Out
To celebrate the end of lockdown and Selina's new Camden music embassy location, Screen Shot and Selina are opening The Special Event Call Out, celebrating London's thriving creative events scene by offering creatives the opportunity to produce their dream events.
Eligibility: Creatives in any field.
Budget: Complete production and marketing costs covered, successful applications will retain 100% of profits from ticket sales.
Deadline: Wednesday 5th May 2021
Barbican - Conservatory Trail Open Call
The Barbican wish to commission a Creative Writer to produce up to five short stories, that will explicitly draw on the Conservatory’s flora and fauna, connecting them to their native lands. They are also looking to commission a Sound Artist to bring these stories to life more vividly by producing soundscapes that will be dispersed throughout the storytelling.
Eligibility: Underrepresented Artists; Disability, Sexual Orientation, Ethnicity and Socio-Economic status as categorised in the Arts Council’s Diversity Report.
Fee: £2400 fee for creative writer, £1650 fee for sound artist
Deadline: Thursday 13th May 2021
Commission for a London- based visual artist/artist collaboration with lived experience of migration to create a temporary art work in the public realm that will serve as both stage and prompt for the performances and arrival of The Walk to Deptford, Lewisham, on 22nd October 2021.
Fee: £4000 artist fee + Production budget TBD
Deadline: Sunday 16th May 2021
~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 Transits for May
Sunday 2nd May ~ Mercury trine Pluto retrograde (Taurus - Capricorn 27 degrees)
A retrograde planet usually causes us to hold our breath while we wait for the drama to ensue. However, Pluto’s fifteen year stay in a single sign makes this experience less chaotic than when planets like Mercury and Venus enter their retrograde state. With Pluto ruling hidden resources and what lies beneath the surface today’s trine with Mercury makes this a great day to examine project budgets or strategy plans as helpful information could come to light, enabling you to solve a problem you were encountering.
Monday 3rd May ~ Mercury square Jupiter (Taurus - Aquarius 29 degrees)
Mercury enters Gemini today, one of the signs (the other being Virgo) that it feels completely at home in. When in Gemini, Mercury offers a stream of unfiltered information. Getting the message across with great speed feels more important than taking stock of how it will be received. Today’s square with Jupiter in addition to the Sun’s square with Saturn warns us to think before we speak or put anything into writing on social media platforms.
Tuesday 11th May ~ New Moon (Taurus 21 degrees)
New Moons encourage us to set out on a new path for ourselves by imbuing us with energy, drive and the desire for change. When the moon is in Taurus it is exalted giving the planet extra strength to bestow its blessings on us. Productive, fruitful and giving the new moon in Taurus allows us to begin building stable partnerships with longevity whilst giving us the boost we may be looking for to begin manifesting our talents in the public sphere. Today Mars will also sextile Uranus bringing with it pleasant surprises and possible breakthroughs. Pluto is also supporting this New Moon allowing you to gain favour from VIPs and Neptune also makes a favourable aspect boosting creativity.
Wednesday 12th May ~ Mercury trine Saturn (Gemini - Aquarius 13 degrees)
With both Mercury and Saturn in their home signs of Gemini and Aquarius this is a fantastic day to sign on the dotted line with regards to a contract or partnership agreement. Saturn in Aquarius is a gifted observer, allowing the emotional detachment needed to understand a situation from all angles and Gemini in Mercury is ensuring that you are being presented with all the information available surrounding the situation.
Monday 17th May ~ Sun trine Pluto retrograde (Rx) (Taurus - Capricorn 27 degrees)
This favourable aspect between the Sun and Pluto may turn up a piece of research or material that you had forgotten about at the very moment it is needed to move a project on to the next stage. An influential person you connected with previously may also make an unexpected return with the advice or opportunity you have been waiting for.
Thursday 20th May ~ Sun enters Gemini
Gemini season brings with it a call to roam and delve into our diverse interests creating many intellectual exchanges that allow us to get a better grasp on a single subject. Inquisitive and social, this mutable air sign is a canny shape shifter giving us the confidence to feel comfortable navigating spaces that may have seemed out of reach to us previously. Our need for change and diversity within the part of our chart that is ruled by Gemini is heightened right now. Enjoy exploring all the options the universe is presenting you but be cautious of circulating any unsubstantiated gossip and rumours (particularly in the professional sphere) as you may have to answer for it at a later date.
Saturday 22nd May ~ Mercury square Neptune (Gemini - Pisces 23 degrees)
Today is not the day to sign a contract or partnership agreement. Neptune’s dreamy influence may impact your judgement causing you to become idealistic in your assumptions and miss critical details. Slow down and triple check every detail.
Wednesday 26th May ~ Full Moon Lunar Eclipse (Sagittarius 5 degrees)
Lunar eclipses bring with them emotional and final endings that make us aware of the passage of time. The effects of a lunar eclipse can be felt up to three months after it has occurred. Situations that present themselves surrounding eclipses can seem drastic and as if they came out of nowhere but often reveal a truth about events that we never even considered. When this occurs it is usually advisable to respond rather than initiate action. However, a full moon eclipse in Sagittarius encourages us to take care of ourselves by taking action and pursuing the truth. It finds comfort in travel, new ideas and leaps of faith. Allow yourself to be led by your intuition, inspirations and insights as your path is being cleared to make room for your personal growth.
Saturday 29th May ~ Mercury turns retrograde to go direct on Tuesday 22nd June
During Mercury’s retrograde period you can expect delays and misunderstandings in communications and contract negotiations, technical issues with apps and other devices, people from your past reaching out to you and if you are able to travel at the moment cancellations and delays. As a whole Mercury’s retrograde is a period that invites us to rethink, revisit and re-evaluate.
To avoid costly mistakes you should get into the habit of triple checking all documents and data. If something is not clear question it and get it clarified in writing, assumptions and verbal agreements will not work in your favour during this transit. This is specifically key in regard to project budgets and collaborator fees.
While Mercury is retrograding it’s best not to enter into any new contracts or agreements as not all the details regarding the extent of your responsibilities have come to light. The one exception to this is if you are signing an agreement with someone you have worked with before as Mercury retrograde invites us to reconnect with and revisit previous projects and relationships. Additionally if you are planning a large scale launch of a new product or project it would be preferable to delay executing this until Mercury has returned to full strength on Tuesday 6th July as with the planet’s full strength behind you the launch will have a better reception.
Mercury also rules technology so any purchases of expensive electrical equipment should also be delayed, if they are required urgently make sure you opt in for an additional warranty. As a rule I would strongly recommend backing up all important documents on an external drive or via the cloud as well as password protecting anything highly confidential.
Although Mercury retrograde officially ends on Tuesday 22nd June, much like when you wake up with a killer hangover, it takes a while for the planet to feel like its usual self again. This shadow period of any retrograde (two weeks pre-retrograde and two weeks post) is when the planet is at its most mischievous so don’t rush to launch, sign or purchase anything significant during this time. To make the best of Mercury’s retrograde period I would encourage you to revisit old projects, inspirational places (if COVID restrictions allow) and reach out to past collaborators. The work you do in these areas will reap rewards in the months to follow.
~Rest~
Nurture the needs of your mind, body and soul so that your personal wellness is placed at the centre of your actions.
May’s meditation (available at the top of the page) focuses on building personal boundaries.
Background music: Rain Forest Sounds in Australia by Soothing Sounds, Relaxed Minds and Rainforest Sounds
You can now access the complete TRINE guided meditation series on our soundcloud page.
