Impart Awards open call: Visual artists and curators stand chance to win $20,000 prize

The annual award, open to people aged 18 to 35, is now in its third year. Submissions will close on Oct 31, ahead of an awards gala on Jan 18. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM ART OUTREACH SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE - Young artists and curators in Singapore stand a chance to win a $20,000 award in support of their practice.

Non-profit group Art Outreach has launched an open call for the Impart Awards 2020, which will present each of the winners - two visual artists and a curator - with a $15,000 cash prize and $5,000 towards the cost of a four-day exchange programme in New York City.

The latter includes a tour of the Asia Society Museum as well as trips to the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art and Frieze New York art fair.

The annual award, open to people aged 18 to 35, is now in its third edition. Submissions will close on Oct 31, ahead of an awards gala on Jan 18.

Last year's winners, curator Kimberly Shen and artists Priyageetha Dia and Yanyun Chen, were chosen from more than 250 applicants.

Another event under the Impart ambit is a collectors' show, held at the School of the Arts from Jan 11 to 19, which will feature works from private collectors in South-east Asia.

Art Outreach chairman Mae Anderson says the group launched the Impart Awards and Impart Collectors' Show to support their "longer-term goal of seeing local artists and curators incorporated into the canon of art that Singaporeans frequently encounter and study".

"To truly realise this, it was important to engage with various players in the art ecosystem: the creators, curators and collectors. The Impart Programmes were conceived to not only nurture local talents, but also inspire art collectors and the public to rally behind and support our local visual art community," she adds.

Art Outreach made the news earlier this year for its role in organising The ARTery, a pop-up fair that displayed works from galleries stranded by the sudden cancellation of Art Stage Singapore.

Priyageetha, 27, behind the goldfoiled staircase in Jalan Rajah which went viral two years ago, says she relished meeting other artists, collectors, curators and gallery owners in New York and has already put part of the prize money to use. "I got myself a stash of real gold leaves which could potentially be used in future works."

While the award is open to only Singapore citizens and permanent residents, awards chairman Jackson See says the 2021 edition will accept submissions from the wider South-east Asian region.

For more information, go to www.artoutreachsingapore.org/impartawards

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