Bursary Recipients

2025 Bursary for Young Creative Recipients

To date, we have awarded sixteen £2,500 Bursaries to Young Creatives, aged 18-25 years. The bursaries support them to develop and deliver projects around the region to support the creative journeys of other young people. Each bursary recipient is award £2,500 and is supported by the Festival and a local organisation to deliver their projects.

Applications for 2026 Bursaries will open in September 2025

Recipient: Katie Evans
Location: Ipswich
Partner organisation: Ipswich Maritime Trust

In this research and development project with the Ipswich Maritime Trust, I am combining my love of working with families and community with my artist background to design and host a series of collaborative workshops for primary-school-aged children. Inspired by oral history collected from older members of the trust who worked on the Ipswich docks; the workshop sessions will explore art, physical movement, and music making, as well as create inter-generational connections through meeting members of the trust and learning about Ipswich’s maritime history. The project will culminate in a short film of the children’s illustrations set to the story audio, and a celebration and sharing event for children.

Recipient: Reuben van Tankeren
Location: Ipswich
Partner organisation: The Hive

A series of Filmmaking workshops will include discussion of the topics Scriptwriting, Directing, Cinematography, Editing and more, with some contributions from local filmmakers, and opportunities to practice using filmmaking skills. These workshops will inspire participants, equipping them with knowledge and practical skills, and providing a creative outlet in an inclusive and welcoming environment. They will also gain confidence in areas like storytelling, collaboration, and technical awareness —skills that could benefit them in future creative endeavours, studies, or careers. 

Recipient: Chloe Coles-Smith
Location: Cambridge
Partner organisation: Fitzwilliam Museum

I will be collaborating with the Fitzwilliam Museum to challenge young artists to create work that contrasts with what they’re accustomed to. Through free workshops that move beyond specifications and mark schemes, we’ll encourage students to embrace new techniques and concepts, allowing them to approach their work with fresh perspectives.

Recipient: Jack Stevens
Locations: Norwich
Partner organisation: The Garage Trust

I’m all about creating spaces where authenticity thrives. I find it hard to not walk in venues that have local performers on; the good, the bad, and the ugly I want to hear it all! That’s what BLAND is about; a show that has all the grandeur of something extraordinary but still feels like something you can wrap yourself in. Where familiarity meets the thrill of uncertainty. It’s a place where people can experience something grand, without ever feeling out of place. The Bursary will help fund and develop BLAND, nights of multi-art form performances from local emerging talent in Norwich, including bands, stand-up, spoken word, plays and more.

Recipient: Peterborough Collective
Location: Peterborough
Partner organisation: Peterborough Cultural Alliance

Eva, Faith, Maleeha and Kinz form the Peterborough Collective, a partnership of young creatives with backgrounds in journalism, literature, spoken word and youth work. The Collective founded ‘Culture Talks’, a radio show that evolved into a digital platform to curate local stories of creativity, talent and identity.

The partnership seeks to the grow the ‘Culture Talks’ podcast and website, platforming new voices and cultural conversations to empower young creatives and enhance their pride of place and career ambitions.

Recipient: Beth Parlett
Location: King’s Lynn
Partner organisation: Collusion

My project will be focusing on the process of conceptualising ideas and working on encouraging participants to research into the history of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk to create their own character and setting which could be used in a gaming context. I will introduce each aspect in a separate workshop from Character Design to World Design, giving insight into the process of coming up with a concept for a game that people could use going forward in their own creative journey.

Recipient: Ruby Pinner
Location: Norwich
Partner organisation: National Centre for Writing

I studied Scriptwriting & Performance at the University of East Anglia, and have given poetry performances at Norwich Arts Centre and National Centre for Writing. My project will focus on creating storytelling and creative writing opportunities for young people with learning disabilities through a series of workshops. I will be supported throughout the project by National Centre for Writing, where I currently works as Communications and Participation Assistant.

Recipient: Isiah Jordan
Locations: Ipswich
Partner organisation: SPILL

Grounded in a social documentary approach, my work examines the nuances of social behaviour and the idea of home, often drawing inspiration from the voices of the young people I work with. Their perspectives inform and challenge his creative direction, creating a collaborative dynamic that shapes my photographic narrative. The Bursary will help fund and support a series of photography workshops for young people in Ipswich, and will result in an exhibition at SPILL festival in the autumn.

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.