Awards for Artists recipients announced
Paul Hamlyn Foundation has announced the eight recipients of its 2012 Awards for Artists programme.
Five visual artists and three composers were announced as recipients at last night’s Awards ceremony hosted at the new PHF headquarters in King’s Cross. Each artist was presented with an award of £50,000 over three years, a recent increase from £45,000.
The visual artist recipients are Ed Atkins, Pavel Büchler, Andy Holden, Elizabeth Price and Lis Rhodes. The composers are Steve Beresford, Eliza Carthy and Edmund Finnis.
The Awards are made to support artists at timely points in their careers, providing them with the freedom to develop their creative ideas and contributing to their personal and professional growth. It is the most generous support of its kind in the UK and comes with ‘no strings attached’, giving the recipient full autonomy to decide how the Award can best support their life and creative practice.
PHF Chair Jane Hamlyn, who also chairs the Visual Arts judging panel, presented the awards. She commented: “Since 1994, PHF has given nearly £4m to artists and composers – to buy some time, pay some bills, dream some dreams. It’s one of the best investments we’ve made.”
The night’s keynote speaker was John Wilson from BBC Radio 4’s Front Row. He discussed the value of creative opportunities for young people, and the ways in which these could be supported. John Wilson said: “I’m delighted to be announcing this year’s PHF Awards for Artists. The Awards make a huge contribution to the lives and development of the exceptional artists and composers they support. With the country’s economic troubles and the impact this is having on employment, especially for young people, the work of organisations like the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in supporting artists – but also supporting creative opportunities as a whole – is more significant now than ever.”
Chair of the judging panel for Composers, Jonathan Reekie, Chief Executive of Aldeburgh Music and an advisor to the PHF Arts programme, said: “This is the sixth year that the Awards have recognised composers alongside visual artists and we are always impressed by the quality and inventiveness of work that we find across a range of genres. The three composers we have selected this year give a taste of the extraordinarily high standard of composition that we find in the UK today.”