Graduate Scholars & Alumni

 

In 2014 we launched the annual Graduate Scholarship Scheme, with our School of Arts and Media, industry partners Castlefield Gallery, and a range of local artist-led studios.

The programme offers graduates a bespoke 12 month period of support to continue their professional practice, including: studio membership, mentoring, peer support, professional development sessions, and a cash award.

Over 30 graduates have completed the scheme, and gone on to a range of creative careers. The Art Collection acquires an artwork, (or documentation of practice) from each graduate scholar, after their participation in the scheme.

In 2022 the scheme enters it’s ninth year, with studio partners Islington Mill, Paradise Works and Hotbed Press, alongside Redeye the Photography Network.

Meg Woods, Condescending Order 1-5, 2015
A large flat-screen television on a blue wall. The screen has green blocky text upon it, like you'd see in old movies where they hack computers - think the matrix. The screen reads: industry, a pillar of flame, the call to industry
Joe Fowler, Call to Industry, 2023
A view of a desolate and destructed post-apocalyptic Media City with an abandoned forklift loader in the centre.
James Chadderton, Media City (from the Manchester Apocalyse series), 2012
A colour photograph shows a black person. They have curly hair styled in a bob and are wearing a necklace and earings made from coloured pencil segments, and a dress with a green and yellow floral pattern. They have their nose piereced and visible armpit hair. Their right eye is half obscured by shadow.
Jesse Glazzard, LGBT+ Letters, 2018-19
A large oil painting. spouts of crimson red, sky blue, and hints of yellow emerge through a luscious collection of forest greens.
Adam Rawlinson, 'The birds will sing, that you are part of everything', 2024
A CRT TV sites on the edge of a black and pink cabinet. Behind, a thin light net curtain allows a soft glow of light into the room. The TV screen is paused, the bottom half is black, in the upper half a pair of eyes and hat are just visible.
SHARP, Dancing with Elvis, 1999-2021
Joshua Turner, A Seat in the Shade, 2020
Sarah Hardacre, Arms Open to Welcome the Sun, 2012
A large predominantly charcoal black artwork hung on a blue wall. This work depicts a park bench on the lower right, grass along the bottom, trees toward the top, and a figure on the left - all of which are in a contrasting white tone emerging from the black.
Lizzie King, Belonging, 2021
Willow Rowlands, A Way of Organising a Pig, 2015
Sarah Hardacre, Forget Mermaids, 2012
A digital photograph shows Jackie Kay, a black woman with short hair, wearing a black and red paterned shirt.
Claudia Alonso, Jackie Kay, 2015
A pink, black, white, and yellow abstract print.
Joey Collins, Gathering of Strangers, 2018
A large flat-screen television on a blue wall. The video on the screen depicts a club party, with everyone covered in bubbly foam. There are subtitles on the screen reading: "I feel like the music sounds better with you"
Elliott Flanagan, A piece of something bigger, 2018
A large sculpture, a floating island. A lower rocky layer, followed by soil, then grass, then a whimsical scene. 3 figures - one perching on an outstretched cliff outside of a cave. The next half-submerged in the water below a waterfall running through the center of the sculpture. and the last amongst the trees toward the back side of this diorama.
Jack Jameson, Arcadia; Queer by Nature, 2023-24
2 portrait orientated rectangles, in an almost 4 by 3 format. The left one has a subdued cyan tone on its left side, and a desaturated orange on the right. The righthand object is cyan and white on its right side, but bare cardboard on its left. Both are textured with thick paint and cardboard, hung on a blue wall.
Mollie Balshaw, Painting Sandwich #7 & #5, 2019