Legacy grants to artists pledged by Vale of Glamorgan Festival

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After over 55 years of championing the work of living composers, engaging with audiences in South Wales and beyond, and forging unique international partnerships, the Vale of Glamorgan Festival has come to an end.

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Composer John Metcalf has been the Festival’s Artistic Director since its inception, during which time the Festival has commissioned scores of composers, platformed world-class performers from across the globe, and been an innovator in the field of new music – thanks to a raft of funders and supporters, including Arts Council of Wales, Vale of Glamorgan Council and Colwinston Charitable Trust.

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It is entirely in the spirit of John as a composer and enabler, and of the Festival’s remarkable body of work, that the charity’s farewell gesture will be to distribute grants for composer-led work in Wales. Also within this spirit is a desire to support the boldest artists and music through this fund. The grants will be administered by Tŷ Cerdd on behalf of the Festival.

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A limited number of grants of between £2k & £6k will be awarded to proposals that provide a platform for Welsh/Wales-based contemporary classical composers’ work, and that demonstrate a collaboration between composer/s and performer/s. The entire fund is c£23k, and we envisage that one or two grants at the upper threshold will be awarded, alongside a number of smaller awards.

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Individuals or organisations are eligible to apply, and grants will support activity taking place between 1 April 2025 and 31 December 2026.

 

TO APPLY

We want the process to be as accessible as possible, so are simply asking for the following information to be uploaded to our PORTAL:

1. Personal details: name (and name of organisation, where applicable), email address, mobile number, address, confirmation that you are over 18.  NB: The application must come from an individual or organisation based in Wales.

2. Tell us about yourself:  Tell us about the applicant’s work in new music (individual or organisation, whoever is the applicant)

3. Your proposal? What do you want to do? What is the music that will be performed? How will your work champion the composer(s)? What are the performance details (venue, performers, dates, etc)? Remember to include information on the partnership that is working on this project, as well as start and end dates for your activity. Max 500 words

4. Your budget? Please upload a simple budget sheet, detailing income and expenditure. NB you may be intending this fund as the sole income, or it may form part of a larger project budget. If you need assistance, please email us.

5. Music examples: please attach 2-6 links or attachments to the music-creators you want to champion (please send links rather than sound or video files; if you need help creating links, let us know.)

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Video and audio applications are also welcomed, if that’s more accessible for you.
Record your answers to questions 2 & 3, above (up to 5 minutes’ duration), and upload a link to your recording, adding the information requested in questions 1, 4 & 5 to the upload form. If you need help creating a link to your video, or uploading your information, email us for help.

 

TIMELINE & PROCESS

• Deadline for applications: 12:00 midday on Monday 20 January

• Panel: John Metcalf, Steph Power (composer), Deborah Keyser (Director of Tŷ Cerdd)

• We’ll let you know the outcome w/b Monday 3 February

 

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Musical genre  We want to be as open as possible to music-creators from the broadest range of “contemporary classical” styles (including less well-represented traditions, and not restricted to Western classical) – from notation to improvisation, from non-notation to experimental…

• Welsh music-creators  This fund is to support the work of Welsh composers. If the composer being represented has been based in Wales for at least a year, or was born in Wales, they’re eligible.

• Diversity  We are keen to receive applications from individuals who are under-represented / have faced neglect or exclusion from the arts community; we particularly welcome applications from disabled people, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse people, LGBTQ+ people, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

• Individuals  To be eligible to apply as an individual, you must:

  • be over 18 and live in Wales.

  • be able to apply in the legal name of the individual making the application.

  • have a bank account in your legal name.

 

If you’re interested, but you have some questions…

…we can chat with you directly by phone or Zoom –  email us to arrange a call. We’ll try to answer any questions you may have about the fund and the process.