The application form
The application form is available on the BCB website. If you are writing your Award proposal, we advise that you write your artist statement, proposal, and environmental impact statement on a separate document, as it will be easier for you to edit and proofread. You can then copy and paste to the form once you are ready.
Your proposal will be saved and stored in your browser in case you lose connection or need to pause. Please do not close the browser if you want to keep your information stored.
We have recorded the Award 2025 application guidelines, please click here to listen.
The Award proposal
Artist statement (200 words)
This is a general statement about how you work as an artist. It should give an overall view of your current artistic practice.
Proposal (500 words)
Please answer these questions in your proposal:
- What is your idea for Award?
- How will it look and how will you make it?
- Why is it important for the work to be presented now?
- How will the work extend and develop your practice as an artist?
Environmental impact statement (200 words)
Please list the sustainability practices you are committed to or will commit to in your proposal for Award. BCB seeks to responsibly manage its environmental impact and therefore all artists we work with are asked to outline their environmental responsibility actions and consider new actions they can take. Applicants who do not provide methods they seek to implement in being environmentally responsible will not be considered.
Examples may include:
- Committing to low or no firings
- Recycling and reusing materials
- Presenting work that engages with environmental themes
- Using a green website host
- Using renewable energy sources
Submitting an audio or video proposal submission
You can submit your application proposal as a six-minute audio or video file. If you are submitting an audio or video recording of your Award proposal, you will need to clearly separate each of the three sections:
- Artist statement – 200 words
- Proposal – 500 words
- Environmental impact statement – 200 words
You can do this by speaking aloud or through post-video editing. Please include the proposal questions in the recording as a guide.
If you require further assistance, a BCB team member can assist you with the Award proposal. We will prompt you with each section and ask you the proposal questions and record your proposal on Zoom for your application.
Please email apply@britishceramicsbiennial.com if there is anything we can do to support you. Please note that the BCB team will only ask questions as they are written in the application form, we will not be offering further advice or asking for clarification from you. Using this method for your application will have no bearing on its assessment during the selection process.
In the proposal section of the application form please share a link to your audio or video file (this can be shared as a link from: Dropbox, Google Drive, Vimeo or YouTube for example). The recording of your proposal should be clear and not heavily produced. There will be no assessment of the production quality of audio or video recordings. Please ensure the audio or video length is no longer than six minutes. You will still need to fill out the application form on our website to submit your contact information, budget and timeline. If BCB can transcribe this information for you, please email apply@britishceramicsbiennial.com.
Budget
Please list the costs involved in your proposal, income identified and if necessary, please indicate unidentified income. We know that artists may wish to propose work that will require additional funding or resource, however, this is not an expectation of the exhibition.
Timeline
Please share with us how you see the proposal coming together starting from October 2024 please list key points and self-set deadlines demonstrating how you will meet the delivery deadline of August 2025.
Please use the Budget and Timeline template here.
Please format your spreadsheet title:
yourname_BCBAward2025_Budget&Timeline
Supporting material
You will be able to submit 8 supporting files within your application. Supporting files can include photographs of existing work, illustrations of your proposal or recordings of planned or existing work. Images included in your supporting files must be no more than three years old and cannot include graduate or student work.
- Files can be no larger than 5MB and should be 300 dpi
- Please title your files with: yourname_worktitle_year_dimensions_primarymaterialused
- File types accepted are: png, jpg, jpeg, wav, mp4
Applicants must also complete the online Diversity and Equality Monitoring Form.
