In 2014 we launched our new Microgrant scheme offering up to £500 (inc VAT) with the aim of supporting artists in the development of their practice and increasing public access and engagement with their work.

In 2015, Peter Griffiths was one of four artists awarded a Microgrant. Griffiths has been producing drawings from photographs of Sheffield’s architecture for the past four years. He proposed to use the Microgrant to develop this work further; to create four large scale pencil-drawn collages of Sheffield’s Castlegate area plus an additional collaborative work entitled A Picture of Sheffield. To develop the work, Griffiths issued a public call out for photos which capture the architecture of Sheffield.

We asked Peter how the Microgrant facilitated this project.

“The web based part of the project was a success with a number of people taking part and I felt that it was an interesting activity to creatively engage the public. I had positive feedback from people who found the process of collecting photographs and translating into drawings really interesting.

I learnt a lot from the experience of asking for open submission of images; I would like to be able to use this activity again in the future. The Microgrant also enabled me to develop some of the theoretical thinking behind my image making as I was trying out new ideas and subjects.”

Applications for Microgrants will reopen in early 2016. Notification will be sent out via our website and E-News mailing list which you can sign up for by clicking on the newsletter tab at the top of the page.