The Henry Moore Foundation has launched a £100,000 fund to support 50 artists across the UK in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
The grants will aim to alleviate some of the financial pressures facing artists amid funding cuts and rising costs.
The 50 artists, who will receive the funding this month, were nominated by a panel of prominent cultural figures from across the UK, including Northern Ireland.
Recipients include artists at all stages of their careers, working in a wide range of media and across different themes.
“This is an incredibly difficult moment for the arts and especially so for many artists,” said Godfrey Worsdale, Director of the Henry Moore Foundation.
“Henry Moore himself benefitted from an ex-serviceman’s grant after he fought in the First World War, which enabled him to study sculpture at Leeds College of Art.
"With this in mind and the challenging outlook for 2023, the Foundation wanted to offer timely support and give artists across the country some much-needed assistance.”
The fund is unrestricted, allowing artists to use the money in whatever way they need, from paying rent on a studio to reimbursing the funds for work they may have lost due to events and exhibitions being cancelled or postponed.
“The awarding of this grant allows me to take a deep breath and exhale, relieving some of the everyday burden of asking, how am I going to keep on pushing through as someone who has chosen to prioritise the creative part of my being in a society which often makes you question if that was the right thing to do in life,” said artist Adam Farah-Saad, one of the recipients of the award.