CVAN EM is thrilled to announce the incredible artists and arts workers who have been awarded bursaries across Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, and Nottinghamshire. CVAN EM bursaries support ambitious, innovative projects in the visual arts, offering artists the chance to further their practice through research, skill development, collaboration, and more.
We want to thank all the talented applicants who submitted applications for the CVAN EM Bursaries opportunity. The selection process was highly competitive, and we are excited to celebrate the recipients and their diverse, thought-provoking projects.
Derbyshire: Bella Milroy
Chesterfield-based artist Bella Milroy works across sculpture, drawing, photography, text, and curating, exploring how we make contact with the world around us. Bella’s work highlights the complexities of making work (and not making work) while navigating disability.
Currently, Bella is cultivating a rose garden at her studio-allotment, using the space to explore scale in the context of illness. With the support of the CVAN EM Bursary, Bella will share this space with disabled peers, fostering connections and collaboration within the community.
Leicestershire: Beth Edge
North-West Leicestershire-based artist Beth Edge is a socially-engaged, self-taught photographer experimenting with alternative print methods to change perceptions of photography. Beth is passionate about sustainability, giving new life to repurposed materials in her work.
With her bursary, Beth has developing new work to be presented at Coalville CAN. Her project promised engaging local communities and challenge viewers to take a closer look at the world around them.
Lincolnshire: Ruth Charnock
Lincoln-based writer and emerging visual artist Ruth Charnock explores the intersections of socially engaged work, photography, and text, often delving into themes of institutions, feelings, and subjugated knowledge. Ruth’s current project, ‘knotwork,’ examines relational entanglements—from the contortions of a new mother caring for her child to the possibilities of queer attachment inspired by Japanese shibari.
Thanks to the bursary, Ruth will facilitate knotworking workshops and collaborative research sessions with Lincoln-based artists. These sessions will foster community connections and expand her multidisciplinary practice.
Northamptonshire: James Bristow
South Northants artist James Bristow reinterprets traditional silkscreen printmaking with a joyful, abstract expressionist approach. Embracing chance and spontaneity, James explores themes of inequality and division through celebratory technicolour resistance.
James’ recent experiments with screen printing on canvas have opened new possibilities, and with the bursary, he’ll continue to explore scale and repetition by printing onto fabrics. We’re eager to see how James’ vibrant and optimistic work evolves!
Nottinghamshire: Meloni Poole
Sutton in Ashfield-based artist Meloni Poole creates across photography, moving image, installation, and performance, weaving personal narratives with voices from her coalfield community. Her project, She Samurai, is a powerful meditation on grief, resilience, and transformation, rooted in her ten-year training in Japanese sword.
The bursary will enable Meloni to develop a performance and moving-image piece that blends her Samurai sword practice with contemporary Butoh performance. Collaborating with costume designer Sil Devilly, Meloni will craft a shamanic crow-crone costume for her performance, reclaiming the power and agency of midlife women.
About the CVAN EM Bursaries
The CVAN EM Bursaries aim to support the development of ambitious activity with a focus on contemporary visual arts, enabling artists and arts workers in the East Midlands to explore new ideas and expand their practice. Each bursary includes funding of £1,500 along with 1-2-1 mentoring with CVAN EM’s Regional Director to support the recipients throughout their journey.
A huge thank you to everyone who applied for the bursaries. Stay tuned as we follow Bella, Beth, Ruth, James, and Meloni on their creative journeys, amplifying their voices and celebrating the vibrant diversity of contemporary visual arts in the region.