Achates Philanthropy Prize Announces National Showcase and Bursaries

The Achates Philanthropy Prize, the national campaign to promote support of the arts, has announced that eight cultural organisations have been selected for its National Showcase. They are: 20 Stories High, Craftspace, Rifco Theatre Company, Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery (RAMM), Scottish Ballet, Stage Beyond, Theatr Clwyd, and Theatre Centre/Theatre503. Curated by this year's Judges, the National Showcase was announced last night at a special Achates Prize ceremony hosted by poet, producer and librettist, Karthika Naïr and presented online in partnership with HOME, Manchester.

Achates Philanthropy Foundation Chair, Caroline McCormick, said: "The National Showcase marks how at a dark time, arts organisations across the UK have risen to the challenge and responded to the priorities of their communities. The question of who owns and controls art has changed during the pandemic thanks to this groundswell of organisations who are actively seeking to engage more deeply with their audiences and communities, and to capture and share that work widely. The pandemic has exposed the limits of the argument of the economic value of the arts, and the breadth of the Showcase underlines the many ways in which arts organisations bring impact, whether on mental or physical health, in community building, educational, innovation, artistic development as well as economic value. We hope it will inspire and inform the work delivered under the next wave of the pandemic, and drive a greater appreciation for the ecosystem which not only supports resilience but gives the arts its range and richness."

Five years since it first launched, the Achates Philanthropy Prize has been reimagined to reflect some of the seismic shifts that have defined 2020, beginning with the removal of the competitive element of the Prize. Whilst maintaining the view that philanthropy is a barometer of relationships with audiences, the Prize pivoted to explore how cultural organisations across the country have responded to the needs of their communities during the pandemic, despite themselves being under threat, and how their communities have responded to this work.

Eight Regional Prize Ambassadors were appointed to research and develop fifteen case studies from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and each of the five ACE regions in England (London, Midlands, North, South East and South West) to produce a longlist of 120 nominations, from which a Regional Showcase of 24 cultural organisations - three per region - was selected.

A 19-strong panel of Judges then hand-picked eight from this list to curate a National Showcase celebrating the many ways in which art generates value - looking beyond economic value alone to encompass intrinsic value, with proven benefits to mental health, physical health and social wellbeing, community building, educational value and innovation.

To post a comment, you must register and login.