Final year BA (Hons) Painting student Thomas Arnold was one of the recipients of this year’s creative bursaries from The Supporting Act Foundation, which supports students from marginalized groups, who are experiencing financial hardship, and who want to develop practices focusing on arts for social change.
Thomas says the €10,000 award has transformed his life and practice during the final year of his degree:
“The Supporting Act bursary is unique in that it allocates bursaries only according to financial need and the desire to engage with community within your work. I did not send in photos of my practice. The application process required me to answer a series of questions about my artistic practice, my ambitions, and how the bursary would help me.
“The wonderful thing about the bursary is that you can use the funds in whatever way you please – the foundation recognises that as artists, the biggest gift is frequently just to be granted time to work. That often relies on a degree of financial stability. The bursary is paid in instalments throughout the year and this has enabled me to pay off my gender affirming surgery loan, which is a huge weight off my back.
“I used a small amount of the funds to print copies of my handmade book, ‘the club, from outside (on gayness, otherness and observation)’ which I’m selling on my website to raise money for LGBT Health and Wellbeing – a fantastic local LGBT charity here in Scotland. It’s been great to build stronger links between my work and the queer community and I’d love to do more of this kind of work. This summer I’m planning to set up a structure which gives artists small grants to make work in order to help fund the queer organisations local to them.
“The bursary has also enabled me to focus entirely on my practice. I have not had to work part time this year, and I’ve been able to enjoy my time in the studio. Being able to pay my rent and bills without worrying whether I have enough for the month is amazing.
“There aren’t words to emphasise just how much it meant to me to win the bursary. There’s nothing I find more fulfilling than making work and this bursary has given me hope that I can spend my life doing that – knowing that there are people who want to support me and see me succeed is so motivating.”
About the bursary
The Supporting Act Foundation is a non-profit organisation established by WeTransfer in 2021 to foster diversity in the arts, and create better opportunities for marginalised groups. Since launching its grant programs in 2022, it has completed three open calls. Recipients have ranged from a project to help incarcerated people in Cameroon share their music with the world, to a magazine showcasing Ukraine's cultural and artistic scene, as well as grants to dozens of individual artists.
