Accelerator Bursary Call Out for Creative Discipline Graduates
About the Scheme
The Accelerator Bursary is a scheme funded by Leeds Art Fund and delivered by Leeds Art Gallery in partnership with Assembly House. It is designed to support highly motivated students who have a clear intention to build and cross bridges between art forms (and potentially to disciplines outside the arts), who wish to explore and integrate different modes of creativity in their own practice, and who are interested in collaboration.
The three students will share the studio to experiment, explore and develop their practices at a critical juncture in their career development, just after leaving formal education.
The scheme will run from January to December 2026.
Download the Accelerator Bursary Call Out (PDF, 786KB)
What does Leeds Art Gallery provide as part of the scheme?
As part of the scheme, Leeds Art Gallery provides Accelerator Bursary artists with monthly mentoring sessions with its team of curators and any other relevant team members. It also connects artists with relevant practice-specific mentors to help contextualise their work and support its development, drawing on its extensive network of contacts. Participants will also have the opportunity to present work at the Gallery, as part of a sharing event in the Central Court, Leeds Art Gallery.
What comes with the studio at Assembly House?
The three participants in the 2026 Accelerator will become members of Assembly House and receive a dedicated shared large studio, that comes with a range of desks and storage and access to a paint sink in the adjoining space. The space can be configured in different ways, and also has its own private, heated room in the building’s turret. The building has Wi-Fi, access to a kitchen and on site parking. We pride ourselves on being a welcoming and community-focussed organisation. This type of studio would suit an artist who wants to learn about collaboration and is keen to be part of a supportive peer group, rather than working completely alone.
The three participants will have a group exhibition at Assembly House towards the end of 2026. This exhibition will be supported by Assembly House’s in-house technician, curatorial and producing staff and will form part of the core programme in the project space. The Accelerator participants will also receive continued support from the Assembly House staff team, for example having check-in / mentoring sessions, practice specific support and more.
All of Assembly House’s members receive the same support and benefits, which includes:
- Funding bid and application writing support
- Joinery and technical support, with access to our tools and other equipment
- Free hire of our large project space
- Opportunity to apply to our core yearly programme
- Paid opportunities to work on our projects, such as our weekly life drawing class, Armley Festival, event shifts and community projects
- Inclusion in our annual group exhibition
- Access to our regular crit programme
- Invitations to our regular social events and trips
- Invitations to our quarterly members meetings, to be involved in decision making for the organisation
Access information
Assembly House is accessed by a set of large stone stairs and is on the first and second floors of the building. There is unfortunately no lift access. The studio assigned to the Accelerator Bursary is on the second floor.
Our toilets are all for any gender and are on the first floor. It is an old Victorian industrial building, so it can be cold in the winter months.
Many of our members choose to have a small heater, heated clothing or other options to warm themselves up during winter. Sometimes the space can be noisy due to power tools being used. You can park close to Assembly House in one of our two carparks.
You can see some images and a floor plan of the studio here:
What have the 2025 cohort achieved so far?
The three artists selected for the Accelerator Bursary for 2025 have been busy working in their studio and have all made huge progress in creating new artworks, including sculptures, photography and wall based art. The three artists have also begun a joint zine, publishing their first edition in May 2025. The zine brings together their work on the scheme so far and will continue to be published throughout 2025.
The artists have also completed several mentoring sessions with staff from both Leeds Art Gallery and Assembly House, and have done some development work looking at risk assessments and practical skills with the Assembly House team. They will soon be benefiting from mentoring sessions with their chosen artistic mentors, and working towards a group exhibition in October 2025 at Assembly House.
Application Questions
- Tell us about yourself and your artistic practice (max 500 words)
- Tell us about your aims for the graduate scheme and what you’d hope to achieve from taking part (max 300 words)
- Tell us about your commitment to being present in the studio throughout 2026, and collaborating with other bursary holders. What are your current plans for the year and where will you be based in the country? (max 200 words)
Please submit up to 5 examples of your work. We accept Instagram links, links to websites, online portfolios, links to Google Drive or Dropbox files, and PDF or Word attachments. We will also accept applications as video or audio recordings (5 mins max), in MP4 format sent via WeTransfer or Google Drive.
Make all submissions to Elizaveta Butakova, Curator of Exhibitions at Leeds Art Gallery at elizaveta.butakova-grimshaw@leeds.gov.uk with the Subject Title ‘Accelerator Bursary Application’.
Please also include details of the course and university you have graduated from, as well as your personal email address.
Interviews will take place in the week commencing 22nd September 2025.
The deadline for applications is 23:59, Friday 1st August 2025.
