The practicalities of running an award or prize scheme are many and require both flair and detailed advance planning. Roanne Dods shares some tips for success.
Award schemes inspire debate, celebrate achievement and excellence, offer a range of work and provide a context within which the public and the profession can discuss contemporary issues. They also raise the profile of the medium they are celebrating and the profile of the short-listed artists. They can have a significant impact on the interest taken in the artists on the shortlist in terms of future exhibitions, productions and sale of work, and finally, the reward to the winning artist can make a serious difference to them personally.
Of course, they also generate controversy. Judging artists and their work is a very difficult task. Particularly for serious judges who care deeply both for their medium and for the work they are being asked to judge. The stakes are always high and the risks are always great. The more fair and more ?hands-off? the organising body, the less control you have on the final result. This can be a very good thing, but you have to be happy to work with the consequences of the decisions that are made.
The Jerwood Charitable Foundation runs and has run a number of awards and prizes across a range of fields: choreography, painting, sculpture, theatre directors, drawing, fashion, film. Each of our prizes has been tailored and developed individually. One or two have come to us ?ready-made?, but most we have developed according to a joint vision with the organisation we are working with and dependant on resources at the time the project was set up. For us, our overall aim is as much to create structured, responsible and celebratory ways to identify and support excellence and talent, as it is to ensure artists are recognised and given the opportunities that will help them in their creative and professional journeys. We do this primarily by working with organisations who work directly with artists to develop the initiatives: Young Vic, Dance Umbrella, Jerwood Space, Wimbledon School of Art, First Film Foundation, Jerwood Sculpture Park and so on.
Recipe for success
The most important question when setting up an award scheme is to ask why you are doing it. This question is vital, not only because of the commitment necessary to pull the whole thing together properly, but fundamentally so that you are clear about who is going to benefit, how you frame your guidelines and how you target your press and marketing. The following are some of our considerations when setting up a prize or award scheme:
? Timetable ? We always give ourselves more time than we think we need, particularly in the first year. Always, always plan a detailed schedule. Artists and interested parties will be watching that the published dates are kept to. Plan backwards.
? Design of print ? This is one of the early tasks. There needs to be a link in the design between the adverts calling for entries, the guidelines, entry forms, labels, invitations to private views and award ceremonies, catalogue and letterhead, as well as any online presence.
? Drafting of guidelines ? Essential to the success of the award scheme are the clarity of the guidelines, and the description of how to enter.
? Call for entries ? This will often be the point at which the wide world hears about the prize, so careful thought needs to be put into where the ads are placed. Advertising costs are, of course, very high and will be required for both the call for entries, and where there is one, the exhibition.
? How do people submit ? There are a myriad ways to seek submissions, including self-selection, nomination by invited nominators, self-appointed nominators, judges? selections. Also logistically, do the judges see all the work that is submitted. If so, do they look at original work, or slides/CD-Rom/ photographs? Should the artists submit personal statements? Much will depend on the information the judges need to comply with the guidelines and objectives of the award. Seeing work is much more difficult in the performing arts than in the visual arts. With the Young Vic (see p6) we put the young directors through a vigorous interview process that helps bring out their communication skills and vision for their directing process, which goes some way to helping the assessment.
? Enquiries ? There will be a substantial number of enquiries from potential artists who want to submit work. Planning for this is essential, as it is time-consuming and important and will take up a great deal of the administrator?s time.
? How do you tell people they have not been successful ? This is a difficult job and it does make a difference if it is handled well. How you manage this depends very much on the numbers you are dealing with. It can be helpful to let those who were on a final long-list know that they did get to the final stages of the selection process. We regularly hear how much that means to unsuccessful artists.
? Selection of judges ? The judges play the most important role in the whole process and the selection of judges is the most significant in developing the stature of the prize. It is important when developing the prize to have the sort of people in mind that you want to judge the project. This may have an impact on budgeting.
? Judging process ? As we think our guidelines are fairly clear about each prize, our policy is to ask the judges to answer, as a group, any philosophical questions or questions relating to the interpretation of the guidelines, and then adhere to their own definitions when making their decisions. We always have someone representing the administrators or Jerwood on hand to help, but on the whole we leave the entire selection process to the judges.
? Presentation of the award ? If an award is about celebration, then the award ceremony needs to bring some excitement. Again, budgets will always be an issue but even a tight budget can manage to create a sense of excitement to honour the artists who have reached the shortlist.
? Press ? All of the elements of the prize contribute to the sort of interest the press will take in a prize. Again, it is important to think about who the target press is, both for the benefit of the prize itself, and more importantly, for the artists.
? The prize money ? This will often be about a third of the total cost of running the project. It is important to set this according to the group of people you want to support.
? Tax implications ? The tax implications for an award can vary between different tax offices. The general rule is that an open submission award is taxable and a nominated award is not.
? Efficiency of management ? Together with choosing the right judges, good and efficient management will make or break an award. We have fantastically organised people running all our initiatives which is inspiring in itself.
Elements of a good scheme
A good award scheme will know exactly what it aims to achieve, will say it clearly and will operate in such a way to make sure that the process is run efficiently, fairly and with good communication. An award scheme that is focused on the medium and the benefit to the artists will make a worthwhile and effective scheme. It is up to you then, what dose of mischief you want to add to the mix to spice it up.
Roanne Dods is Director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. t: 020 7388 6287 e: roanne.dods@jerwood.org