The New Support Pro­gramme for Young Artists

Bank Austria has a long tradition of supporting art and culture. And we have had a special focus on young artists from the very start, because we regard such support as a sustainable investment in the future of a society.

This is precisely the position of the Bank Austria Studios: Their objective is to offer young artists a comprehensive programme of support that smoothes the path along which they take their first steps towards their artistic future.

The period immediately after leaving university is a particularly challenging one for many. In particular, the problem of finding affordable working space is often very hard to solve. This is only one of the areas where the Bank Austria Studios intervene in order to offer concrete help. The programme supports and accompanies students after they complete their academic training in a number of ways:

• Financing of working space.
• Development of a sustainable national and international network in the artistic and cultural sector.
• Practice-oriented support from people from outside the university sector.
• Financial training from Bank Austria.

The Bank Austria Studios have an international outlook. This is why not only Austrian but also international graduates of Austria’s art academies are invited to apply.

Members of the Jury

• Ingried Brugger, Director, Bank Austria Kunstforum Vienna
• Lilli Hollein, Director, Vienna Design Week
• Hedwig Kainberger, Head of the Culture Section, Salzburger Nachrichten
• Hemma Schmutz, Artistic Director, Lentos Kunstmuseum and Nordico Stadtmuseum Linz
• Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, General Director & Artistic Director, MAK

Submission

Support Services

• The use of the studios allocated as a result of the first selection process runs from March 2021 to August 2023. During this period, a total of five studios in the Vienna Region will be placed at the disposal of artists and artists’ collectives, rent-free. Ongoing operating costs such as the costs of gas, electricity and insurance must be met by the programme participants.
• The next selection process for a further five studios in Vienna and Linz will apply to a period of 24 months and take place in early 2021. These studios will then be occupied from September 2021.
• An offer of practice-related workshops, which can be selected from a pool of experts.
• An offer to participate in financial training sessions provided by the bank.

Application Requirements

• The artists are resident in Austria.
• They have been awarded a diploma by an art academy in an area of the visual arts
• Artists may already apply during their diploma year (the diploma must have been awarded by the time they occupy the studio) or if they have been awarded their diploma during the previous twelve months.
• The programme has no age restrictions.

Selection Criteria

• Artistic quality of the submitted application
• Artistic career to date
• Accompanying letter of motivation (maximum one page DIN A4, font size 12)

Application Process in Detail

• Submission of the application in digital form via the website studios.artphalanx.at
• Verification of all the formal criteria of the application
• Forwarding of the application to the five-person jury
• Each jury member nominates their personal shortlist, from which the final participants for the Bank Austria Studios will be selected at a jury meeting.
• The Bank Austria Studios Programme reserves the right to divide up studios.
• Appeals against the final selection are not permitted. The decision of the jury is final.

Submission Documents:

The application can only be made in digital form.

Organisational Documents

• Diploma certificate from a course in the visual arts
• Residency registration certificate
• Curriculum vitae

Content-related Documents

• Portfolio with a maximum of five works
• Accompanying letter of motivation, maximum one page DIN A4, font size 12

Please subject the documents, exclusively in digital from and saved as five individual PDF-files, as follows:

• Diploma certificate
• Residency registration certificate
• Curriculum vitae
• Portfolio
• Accompanying letter of motivation

Submission Deadline: 15.1. 2021

Timetable

KW 6/2021: Jury meeting
KW 6/2021: Notification of the artists
KW 9/2021: Occupation of the studios
KW 13/2021: Prospective date for the first meeting of the artists

Conditions of Participation

• Participants must be registered as Austrian residents
• Participants must hold the copyright to their work as set out in § 10, Paragraph 1 of the Law on Copyright. At the same time, participants confirm that they hold all necessary rights and authorisations regarding the submitted documents and that they indemnify UniCredit Bank Austria AG against all related claims from third parties.
• UniCredit Bank Austria AG offers the prospect of publishing – fully or partially – the participating cultural projects and of inviting participants to deliver a lecture on the subject of their cultural project.
• By deciding to accept support from Bank Austria, each participant agrees to the publication and dissemination of all documents (and, in particular, the texts, photos, videos and graphic images contained therein) by UniCredit Bank Austria AG.
• Each participant agrees that the decision of the jury is final.

Questions & Contact

The Bank Austria Studios Programme would be delighted to answer any questions. Please send these to the following mailbox: studios@artphalanx.at

The questions and responses (FAQ) will be anonymised and published at studios.artphalanx.at for the information of all interested applicants.