Maurice O’Connell Bursary
Most artists are so busy chasing funds or working to the next deadline that they have too little time to hone their skills, learn new ones or experiment with other possibilities.
It is even more critical at this time for opportunities for artists to develop their practice in response to changed artistic landscape.
The Maurice O’Connell Bursary, worth £5,000, is designed to enable an artist (in any performing or visual arts discipline) to take time out to develop their practice.
Maurice O’Connell
Maurice, who died in 2018, helped create the original artistic vision for November Club (www.novemberclub. org.uk) the company which is managing the bursary. The thread of his imagination continues to run through our artistic programmes. Wherever he worked he always brought his unique sense of fun. He had a wonderful ability to engage and inspire audiences of all ages. He was a wonderful storyteller. He said: “All my stories had some truth to them but rarely if ever were they as unreal as the actual events referred to…in the tradition of all storytellers it is not important if they happened but it is great fun to imagine they might have.”
This one-time bursary has been funded by two anonymous donors who want to offer an artist the opportunity to enhance or develop their skills especially with an eye to drawing participants into highly creative projects as Maurice did for so many people. It is for time to dream, think, re ect about how to engage creatively with people.
More Information regarding making an application for the bursary can be found at https://www.novemberclub.org.uk/news/an-invitation-to-dreamers-the-maurice-oconnell-bursary