Funding

I must have a strong belief in myself and my abilities to be at this point now. I started this Master’s course knowing I wasn’t eligible for a government grant or loan, because I’d already gained a Master’s degree over 20 years ago ( not funded by the government then either )

This course is a full-time course so I only manage to fit in working one day a week, there’s stacks of reading along with preparation for weekly seminars and of course assignment writing to take up the rest of the time.

I am completely out of my comfort zone, have lots of art history, and I’m a science girl really, and possibly a little bit dyslexic, however, I’m so glad I returned to learning. It was 100% the right decision, despite now living hand to mouth. I’m the first to put my hand up and say it was a financially unsensible thing to do but I’ve had some great support so far, although with a 12-week unpaid placement this summer and second-year course fees to think about the search for funding is a constant task.

I’m extremely lucky to be able to take this risk and I keep a gratitude jar in my workshop and often scrawl little successes onto bits of paper and pop them in, it’s full that’s for sure.

I hope the following might be helpful to someone else, so I’ve had a very generous Award this academic year from the Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars and our Course Director Prof. Sarah Brown has very kindly managed to secure some small funds for us to support us during our placement and next academic year towards our course fees from the Headley Trust Fund and The Radcliffe Trust Fund. I’ve applied to the Yorkshire Ladies Council of Education, The Yorkshire Consortium for Conservation and Craftsmanship, and the Bradford Producing Hub Spare Bob Fund. I have my eye on a few other funding bodies, I’ll let you know how I get on and if you see anything you think might be helpful please drop me an email.