The Lowry offers £10k grants for artists to create new work for the lockdown age

The Lowry arts centre in Salford has announced a UK-wide commission call-out for new work designed for the ‘lockdown age’.

Entitled Live Now, the new commissioning scheme will offer three £10,000 grants to mid-career artists to create work for The Lowry’s online platform #LoveLowry.

#LoveLowry is The Lowry’s online platform – a virtual theatre, gallery and studio space that presents a series of performances, artworks, exhibitions, tours, workshops, comment and blogs, curated by the centre’s creative team and special guest curators.

The Lowry’s galleries are currently closed in line with the national lockdown announced by government – so the arts centre is asking what ‘digital performance’ means now, when venues are closed, and what it will mean when venues reopen?

The scheme aims to provide space for artists to reimagine their practice for a digital stage – and to explore how best performers can connect to their audience when they are physically removed from the space.

How do you create a sense of connection when each audience member is watching from a different location?

The grants have been made possible further to The Lowry’s Culture Recovery Fund grant by Arts Council England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.

“This investment in new digital work will, we hope, support artists to pivot into making work designed with the digital platform in mind,” said Claire Symonds, senior producer for artist development at The Lowry.

“It also represents a new strand to our artistic programme and we’re really excited to see what ideas are put forward.

 “We’re looking for individual artists, companies or collectives with an established practice and track record for creating high quality work.

“They should have the capacity, infrastructure and experience to deliver on the ambitions of their proposal and be willing to share their learning with other artists as part of our Artist Development Programme.”

Expressions of interest should be sent to The Lowry by 5pm on Friday 26th February. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to meet with The Lowry’s creative team over Zoom on Tuesday 23rd March. For more information about the scheme, click here.