Bursaries for Young Creatives

Applications have now closed for the 2025 Bursaries

All applicants will be contacted with the outcome of their application by the end of November 2024.

2024 Recipients

Our inaugural Bursaries for Young Creatives awarded £2,500 to each of eight recipients aged 18-25 years. The bursaries supported them to develop and deliver projects around the region to support the creative journeys of other young people. Each bursary recipient was supported by the Festival and a local organisation to deliver their projects.

Run across nine months, you can find a short summary of each project below.

Recipient: Anna Benari
Location: Cambridge
Partner organisation: Babylon Arts

Anna organised and curated an interdisciplinary art exhibition in Cambridge, showcasing the work of East Anglian-based young and emerging artists aged 16-25 years. The exhibition featured free networking events for young people, as well as a platform for local young artists to have their work showcased whilst exploring the theme of nature and climate change.

Recipients: Amy Falla and Natalie Whitney
Location: Ipswich
Partner organisation: Community Hub Ipswich

Amy and Natalie are part of Young Artists in Suffolk (YAIS), a collective of young creatives. They worked with Community Hub Ipswich to offer free sessions to locally based families, focused on the idea of place, connection, and belonging. YAIS also invited 16-25 year olds living in Suffolk to submit art as part of their Homegrown project, a co-created and free publication celebrating the creative community in the East.

Recipient: Emillia Zirker
Location: Peterborough

Emillia, a theatre producer, writer and actor, created a new and interdisciplinary work called DISPLACEMENT, a contemporary take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The piece will tour East Anglia and explores themes around transience, place and connection, whilst scored by a live musician and communicated in both English and Arabic.

Recipient: Honey-Rose Cook
Location: Lowestoft
Partner organisation: The Garage

19 year old Honey-Rose noted that her local area in Lowestoft did not offer any drama or performance provision for children whilst having a high proportion of income deprived and home schooled children. Honey-Rose used the bursary to offer weekly cost-free drama workshops to children aged 7-14 years.

Recipient: Isabella Grieco
Location: Ipswich
Partner organisation: SPILL Festival

Working closely with SPILL Festival, Isabella organised a free programme for aspiring writers aged 18-25 years, living in Suffolk. The programme hosted one-to-ones, group critiques, workshops and panel discussions with industry professionals, and ultimately created a locally based young writers’ collective working to catalyse accessibility, disability awareness, and inclusivity within the film sector.

Recipient: Louise Garwood
Location: Peterborough
Partner organisation: Jumped Up Theatre

Louise completed a research and development project exploring children’s theatre, and how children and young people’s voices can shape the future performance offer in Peterborough. Working closely with Jumped Up Theatre, Louise engaged primary and secondary school children within the city to discern the preconceptions and barriers young people face when engaging with (or avoiding) the performing arts. Louise worked with local students to report on theatre programming that would be relevant and engaging to young people. The report will be shared with arts organisations in Peterborough via the Peterborough Cultural Forum.

Recipient: Maddie Exton
Location: Norwich
Partner organisation: OUTPOST Gallery

Maddie attended University of the Arts London’s ‘The Art of Social Engagement’ course. She subsequently devised an interactive workshop and framework exploring social engagement within visual arts. Maddie not only hosted this workshop with the OUTPOST steering group and trustee board, but will also be offering free workshops to East Anglian based artists and young people.

Recipient: Rosa Chalfen
Locations: Norwich and Great Yarmouth
Partner organisation: Norfolk Museums Service

Rosa worked with Norfolk Museum Service’s ‘Kick the Dust’ programme to offer free writing workshops for 16-25 year olds. The workshops explored the museums’ collections and local histories, and the young participants were able to have their work featured in a printed zine curated by Rosa and designed by a young local graphic designer.