THE AMPERSAND FOUNDATION AWARD
In 2019, the Ampersand Foundation launched the Ampersand Foundation Award, a biennial UK prize offering an institution the funds to produce their dream exhibition or visual art project. We aim to let curators and directors realise a project that they have always wanted to do but have been unable to achieve due to funding constraints.
The Award will be given to any visual arts project in the format of an exhibition, new artwork commission, public space intervention, or any other kind of visual art project. There are no restrictions on the subject or format of the proposal except that it must be delivered by a curator, director or a team of curators working within the institution.
The Award is currently open only to institutions that are members of Plus Tate, a network of 47 UK visual arts organisations facilitated by Tate.
The winner is chosen from a shortlist of five proposals. The winning institution is awarded £125,000 to realise their proposed project plus an additional £25,000 to produce a related publication. The remaining shortlisted institutions receive £5,000 to cover the costs of preparing the proposal.
2023 TAF Award
The Ampersand Foundation announced on 10th May 2023 that Clarrie Wallis, Director of Turner Contemporary is the winner of The Ampersand Foundation Award 2023 for Resistance, an exhibition, curated by Clarrie Wallis with artist Steve McQueen, that charts how protest shaped Britain – and photography shaped protest – through the twentieth century.
With a focus on amplifying underrepresented voices, the exhibition will explore the vital role photography has played in the perception of protest movements and its impact as a driving force for change. It tells the stories of individuals and how their often-forgotten stories helped to create modern Britain.
The five shortlisted institutions were:
Fruitmarket, Edinburgh / Fiona Bradley, Director
HOME, Manchester / Clarissa Corfe, Creative Producer: Visual Art - Curator
Liverpool Biennial / Aimee Harrison, Curator of Learning
Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange / James Green, Director
Turner Contemporary / Clarrie Wallis, Director
Judging panel:
Hurvin Anderson, Artist
Jack Kirkland, Chairman, The Ampersand Foundation
Mike Layward, former Creative Director, DASH (Please note DASH did not enter this year)
Victoria Siddall, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation
Alastair Sooke, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation
2021 TAF Award
Mike Layward, former Creative Director of DASH, a Shropshire organisation which supports and commissions the work of disabled artists, won the second edition of the Ampersand Foundation Award in 2021. DASH has a long history of producing provocative interventions that continue the legacy of Dada, Absurdism and Surrealism into the 21st century. The winning proposal entitled We are Invisible We are Visible (WAIWAV), consisted of 31 disabled artists creating interventions that appeared in 30 Plus Tate members’ venues on 2nd July 2022, the 102nd anniversary of the first International Dada Fair.
The five shortlisted institutions were:
De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill-on-Sea
Turner Contemporary, Margate
DASH, Shrewsbury (winner)
Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea
MK Gallery, Milton Keynes
Judging panel:
Alastair Sooke, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation
Amalia Pica, Artist
Jack Kirkland, Chairman, The Ampersand Foundation
Jonathan Watkins, Director, Ikon Gallery (Please note Ikon Gallery did not enter this year)
Victoria Siddall, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation
2019 TAF Award
In 2019, Jonathan Watkins, former Director of Ikon Gallery in Birmingham was the inaugural winner with his proposal entitled Carlo Crivelli: Shadows in the Sky, an exhibition of works by Renaissance painter Carlo Crivelli. The exhibition held in 2022 included loans from The National Gallery, the National Trust, the Vatican Pinacoteca, the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Wallace Collection, and the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.
The five shortlisted institutions were:
Camden Arts Centre, London
Firstsite, Colchester
Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (winner)
MK Gallery, Milton Keynes
South London Gallery, London
Judging panel:
Alastair Sooke, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation
Amanda Sharp, Frieze Co-Founder
Caragh Thuring, Artist
Jack Kirkland, Chairman, The Ampersand Foundation
Sam Thorne, Director, Nottingham Contemporary
(Please note Nottingham Contemporary did not enter the 2019 edition of the Award. In future years, the director of the winning institution will sit on the judging panel and that institution will be ineligible to enter that year).