Resident Artists
Bristol Beacon is on the look-out for three outstanding artists to come and make us their creative home for a 6-month tenancy.
We’re opening up our transformed venue and providing the time, space and money to three Bristol-based music creators to supercharge their development, skill-up, and realise their ideas within our walls.
“Having the support of Bristol Beacon with developing my live show was instrumental in helping me to build my confidence and unlock new layers of creativity”
NGAIO, artist
About the project
The Resident Artists project aims to:
- Support the creation, performance and promotion of outstanding new music in any genre
- Enable the city’s most talented music creators to experiment and find new creative pathways, and progress in their career development
- Connect music creators with new audiences, build upon their existing fanbase, and expand reach beyond the region
Our brand-new Cellars space, complete with state-of-the art recording studios and live performance space, is where the Resident Artists will be based.
As a new initiative at Bristol Beacon, we want to learn alongside our Resident Artists, so we’d love to welcome applicants who are open to collaborating with our team – helping to shape the creative community we’re building for emerging artists and those working in the music industry.
What Resident Artists can expect
Our Resident Artists project will support three music creators aged over 25, through a paid six-month residency providing:
- Participation fee at a rate of £100 per day, for 1 day per week for 6 months, equivalent to £26k pro-rata
- Access to studio facilities and performance spaces for one day per week
- Access to Bristol Beacon’s artistic, marketing and production teams for advice, feedback and professional support
- Personalised 360° development plan including long-term strategy advice
- A music creation grant of £2k to bring in collaborators such as producers, engineers or session musicians to aid the creation of new recorded or live material
- A professional development grant of £1k to use for advice sessions from a bank of external professionals such as legal experts, publicists and music managers
- A creative development grant of £1k to cover the cost of training, attending events for research and inspiration, purchasing musical equipment and instruments etc
- The opportunity and support to test and showcase new work at Bristol Beacon
- Free access to Bristol Beacon’s events programme (concerts/festivals/workshops / conferences / training sessions)
- An ongoing alumni relationship and support to seek further independent opportunities
Who is it for?
We are looking to support artists who:
- Show ambition, originality and dedication, and are ready to break through to the next stage of their careers
- Are producing work of high quality, across any music genre and discipline
- Are producing work firmly centered around the creation and presentation of new music
- Are producing work at the level required to effectively attract an audience and industry interest
- Have momentum, with which added support and investment could result in real impact
- Will be undertaking activities focused around writing new music, exploring collaborations,developing work in progress, experimentation, or undertaking R&D
- May have professional experience with live performance through small to medium sized shows, festival slots and possibly toured in the UK or played abroad
- May have commercially released records or had compositions published already, and possibly seen some success with press and media attention received
- Stand to significantly benefit from this type of support at this particular point in time
- Are underrepresented in the music sector or who face barriers or challenges to progression within the industry
If you’re interested in becoming a Bristol Beacon Resident Artist, read the application guidance and information before you start completing the application form.
Applications for 2024 are now closed.
Key Dates
Thu 8 Aug: Applications open
Fri 30 Aug: Applications close at 12pm
Thu 5 Sep: Artist selection (artists informed of decisions with 1 month to give any required notice and make arrangements ahead of starting weekly attendance)
Thu 3 Oct: Artist Inductions
Thu 10 Oct: Weekly studio days start
Supported by
Our Resident Artist programme is possible thanks to support and funding from PRS Foundation’s Talent Development Network.
Support for Creatives
Support for Creatives
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About Us
About Us
We’re a music charity, renowned venue and award-winning music education hub. Find out about our city-wide programme of live music, creative learning opportunities and community engagement.