Funding Opportunity

Open Call – UK Deaf Artists for Stagetext 25th Anniversary Commission

Stagetext is going to be 25 in 2025! We are looking to commission a UK based visual artist to create an artwork celebrating our 25th anniversary

Deadline for applications: 9am, Thursday 29th May 2025.

Stagetext is looking to commission a UK based visual artist to create a replicable and unique piece of artwork celebrating our 25th anniversary, marking a quarter of century of advocacy and support in opening up arts and culture to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences.

The commissioned work should be an original piece made by the artist that conveys the value of having access to arts and culture such as theatre, that would otherwise be denied if it wasn’t for theatre captioning and live subtitles provided by Stagetext.

The work should focus on celebrating the uplifting experience of meaningful and rich
connection to culture through text based deaf access.

We are seeking a piece of work that can be readily wall mounted or hung and reproduced as prints, postcards, tote bags and t-shirts, with the original work to be sold at auction to raise funds and profile for our anniversary campaign. For this reason, we are not seeking electronic/digital or 3D/sculptural works.

The selected artist will receive a £2,000 commissioning fee (payable in three mutually agreed instalments) for which to create the original piece of art, plus access and travel expenses

Requirements

You must have:
• Lived experience of deafness
• Personal experience of benefiting from access provision at cultural events such as that provided through Stagetext – this is to ensure the award and campaign are of meaning and relevance to you
• An active artistic practice
• Availability and capacity to deliver the work according to the brief, and in the timescale given, and for the given budget. The selected artist must be able to create a design in 10 – 12 weeks.

You must also:
• Agree to, and be available to attend a central London or Colchester, Essex
event to mark the unveiling of the work as part of our anniversary launch in
November 2025
• Be able to submit a proposal for discussion and approval by mid-June 2025, with the artistic works completed by end of September 2025.

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