The third Spectrum Art Award, created to celebrate the work of autistic artists, is open for applications.
The national award demonstrates how to empower autistic artists to achieve their full potential by providing critical personal and professional support and a high-quality platform for their work.
Poe with her winning artwork from the inaugural award in 2018, ‘How To Be Autistic’
Access to professional mentoring
From the beginning, access to professional mentoring has been fundamental to the award, including judges Richard Billingham, Mark Wallinger and Paul Noble, guided by lead judge and curator, Sacha Craddock.
Mary Simpson, chief executive of Spectrum, said: “In creating the Spectrum Art Award our goal was to increase awareness of the relationship between excellent art and autism, through the work itself. The unique element to this award is the ongoing curatorial, advocacy and mentorship for the finalists. By offering continued professional support for artists with autism, we hope they will in turn become ambassadors for artists who might struggle with established art world structures.
“Our goal is to reveal serious artistic talent to institutional and cultural bodies by highlighting the exceptional work of a selection of individuals, and to build an archive of art and autism which previously has not existed, to help educate the wider public about the brilliant talent of autistic artists.”
Sacha Craddock, curator and lead judge of the Spectrum Art Award, said: “As we announce the next manifestation of the Award it’s great to realise the way that our founding objective of establishing an awareness of the context and working conditions of each artist has intensified during this last extraordinary year. We remain even more committed to understanding the particular situation of each Spectrum award finalist, now and in the future.
The Spectrum Art Award has thrown a light on the brilliant work of artists with autism, to date generating media coverage with an international audience reach of more than 380 million. It has attracted the participation of more than 200 artists and supported the remarkable work of finalists, including Poe, Peter Matthews, Dawnne McGeachy, Nnena Kalu (2018) and Elise Broadway, Janice Hughes, Joseph Coyle, Harry Moorcroft and Sharif Persaud (2020).”
Timeline for the 3rd Spectrum Art Award
- Until 31st July 2021 – applications open
- September 2021 – 5 finalists selected by expert panel, including Mary Simpson, Sacha Craddock and specially invited judges, including artists John Hooper, Simon Baron-Cohen, Larry Achiampong, Alison Wilding and 2020 Spectrum finalist, Janice Hughes.
- December 2021 – announcement of finalists
- May 2022 – exhibition of finalists’ work. Date and venue TBA.
The Spectrum Art Award – eligibility and art forms
- The Spectrum Art Award is open to all UK autistic artists or collaborative groups over the age of 18, whether they have an official diagnosis or not.
- Your individual or collective work can come in any form. The prize is open to all media, e.g. ceramic, painting, drawing, animation, sculpture, web-based, digital, video, performance, publication, textile, proposal, print, collage and photograph.
- The aim is to exhibit the most exciting and compelling work being made by autistic artists.
- The award is a selection process open to all autistic adults and encourages you to use a broad range of material and approach in its search for artistic innovation and excellence.
- Your submission will be selected by a panel of art experts. The Spectrum Art Award has been established in the full knowledge that the range and scope of work will be exciting, unusual and unique. Therefore, there are no restrictions on the form your art can take, there is also room for a short paragraph if you wish to explain your work.
The Art Award is open to all levels and ranges of experience.
Celebration of previous entries
The award organisers have created a publication, Spectrum, to celebrate the award, the finalists and their amazing work, and the panel of judges. Click here to view it.
Click here to visit the Spectrum Art Award website to enter
