THE AMPERSAND FOUNDATION AWARD

In 2019, the Ampersand Foundation launched the Ampersand Foundation Award, a biennial UK prize offering an organisation the funds to produce their dream exhibition or visual art project. We aim to let curators and directors realise a project that they have always wanted to do but have been unable to achieve due to funding constraints.

The Award will be given to any visual arts project in the format of an exhibition, new artwork commission, public space intervention, or any other kind of visual art project. There are no restrictions on the subject or format of the proposal except that it must be delivered by a curator, director or a team of curators working within the organisation.

The Award is currently open only to organisations that are members of Plus Tate, a network of 45 UK visual arts organisations facilitated by Tate.

The winner is chosen from a shortlist of five proposals. The winning organisation is awarded £125,000 to realise their proposed project plus an additional £25,000 to produce a related publication. The remaining shortlisted organisations receive £5,000 to cover the costs of preparing the proposal.

2025 TAF Award

Projects from the following 5 institutions have been shortlisted for the fourth edition of the Award. The winner will be announced in May 2025:

The five shortlisted organisations are:                                                                                                                                                      Camden Arts Centre / Gina Buenfeld-Murley (Exhibitions Curator) Grizedale Arts / Adam Sutherland (Director)
MIMA / Dr. Laura Sillars (Director/Dean) & Dr. Claire Louise Staunton (Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow)
MK Gallery / Anthony Spira (Director)
Towner Eastbourne / Joe Hill (Director)

Judging panel:                                                                                                                                                                                                 Alastair Sooke, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation                                                                                                                          Clarrie Wallis, Director, Turner Contemporary (winner of the Award in 2023)                                                                                Jack Kirkland, Chairman, The Ampersand Foundation                                                                                                                      Mark Wallinger, Artist Sam Thorne, Trustee, The Ampersand Foundation

Please note Turner Contemporary, as the winner of the 2023 Award, did not enter the 2025 edition of the Award.