Based in Nottingham (UK), Near Now is Broadway's studio for arts, design and innovation. We work with artists to make, and make sense of, technology in everyday life.

The Near Now Fellowship is our artistic and professional development programme which, through curiosity and discovery, helps pioneering artists to explore and realise bold ideas.

See our Studio page for information about previous Near Now Fellows.

Apply online

What's on offer?

The Near Now Fellowship is a twelve month programme which offers:

• Time and resources for you to focus on your artistic and professional practice and test ideas for new work founded on rigorous research.
• An opportunity to exhibit work in Broadway's Gallery.
• A Creative Producer working closely with you to advise and support the research, development and showcasing of work originating from the Fellowship.
• Support in identifying and approaching other sources of finance, collaboration, commissioning and showcasing opportunities to develop your work.
• Access to mentoring from practitioners from Near Now’s existing networks or identified by you.
• The opportunity to join our growing community of Fellows and Studio Members.

We offer over £20,000 in support of each Fellow's work.

Each Fellow will receive:

• £6000 research and development stipend.
• £750 exhibition payment.
• Up to £3000 towards production costs to showcase work emerging from the Fellowship.
• Paid travel, accommodation and catering costs during residency periods at Broadway.
• Further financial support towards R&D resources, exhibition costs, materials, research trips, documentation, mentor and collaborator fees.
• Access to 'follow-on' support from Near Now beyond the Fellowship period.

Applications are invited from artists, working in any art form, who use technology in their practice and/or explore the place and impact of technology in everyday life.

Near Now Fellows will display exceptional artistic talent and ambition, with work influenced by art, design and technology. Fellows will critically reflect on their work and have a desire to challenge their practice and push their career forward.

The Fellowship start dates are staggered with six-month intervals. In this round of applications two fellowships will be awarded:

• Fellow 1: July 2019 - July 2020
• Fellow 2: November 2019 - November 2020

We particularly welcome and encourage applications from artists with diverse experiences, perspectives and backgrounds which are essential for innovation to thrive and for new ideas to emerge.

What's expected of you?

As a Near Now Fellow, you will be expected to originate and publicly present work that is bold in its scope, rigorous in its practice and is open to critique. The planned artistic outcome during the twelve months is the research and development of an ambitious new work that can advance your practice and progress your career beyond the Fellowship.

You will achieve this by actively pushing critical, creative and technical possibilities, and by considering the impact of your work within the everyday.

You will be expected to:

• Dedicate 28 days to the Fellowship, with some of this time spent in residency in Nottingham.
• Publicly document your ideas, research and progression using the Near Now website and other online platforms of your choice.
• Agree to your work, practice and progress being filmed to create a resource for a short film to document your Fellowship (see Insight Film below).
• Participate in a mid-point review and an end-point evaluation.
• Credit Near Now, Broadway and Arts Council England during the Fellowship and in perpetuity in relation to the work originating and emerging from the Fellowship.

You will also support us in increasing opportunities for people to experience and be inspired by the arts by taking part in public-facing activity centered around your practice and Near Now's focus on arts, design and innovation. Including:

• A showcase/exhibition of your existing work, accompanied by a talk, providing context for your artistic practice and proposed area(s) of research and development.
• A workshop that will provide an opportunity for the public to learn from your skills, knowledge and experience.
• A showcase/open studio event that will present the culmination of the development of your artistic practice and the work that emerges from your Fellowship. This will be designed to best suit your work at its particular stage of development and could be, for example (but not limited to), an exhibition, a performance, a prototype, a service, a product, an experience or screen-based content.

Insight Film

To document your Fellowship, we will commission the creation of a short film that will give insight into your practice and the wider context of your work.

The creative style of the film will be led by you and co-produced by Near Now with a commissioned filmmaker.

Key dates

The Fellowship is a twelve month programme.

• Call open: Monday 20 May 2019
• Deadline for applications: Friday 28 June 2019, 11:59PM
• Interviews: Monday 15 and Wednesday 17 July 2019 *
• Fellow 1: July 2019 - July 2020
• Fellow 2: November 2019 - November 2020

* You must be available on at least one of the dates set for the interviews. Support to pay for travel costs associated with attending interviews will be provided by Near Now.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply you must:

• Be an artist based in England and eligible to work in the UK.
• Not be in full-time or part-time education during the period of the Fellowship.

How to Apply

Complete the online application form:

Apply online

Deadline for applications: Friday 28 June 2019, 11:59PM.

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

Unfortunately, due to the anticipated high volume of applications we are unable to offer feedback to applicants who are not shortlisted.

See the Downloads section at the bottom of this page to save a PDF version of this open call information and a Word version of the application questions.

Selection criteria

Your application should include sufficient information for assessment on the following criteria:

• The quality of your previous work
• The ambition and feasibility of the ideas within your proposed areas of research and development and the relevance to the Near Now programme’s areas of interest.
• The relevance of a Fellowship in relation to your current experience and to your ongoing artistic and professional development.