Professional Development Award

The Textile Society supports the development of professional practitioners and researchers.

The Society’s Professional Development Awards of up to £2,000 support the further development of professional practitioners within their chosen textile discipline, whether art, craft, design, curatorial, scientific or any other textile related field.

The Awards are intended for professionals working within a recognised field of textiles, including PhD candidates in the later stages of their research.

Applications are assessed annually, and the award is given on the strength of the applicant meeting the professional criteria within their discipline and chosen textile field.

Please note that BA and MA students are not eligible for these awards but are invited to submit applications for Student Bursaries.

Deadline details

  • Closing date: 1 September 2024
  • New members: To submit your application by the closing date, please join by 18 August 2024 for your membership number to be activated.
  • This working period is determined by the banks, and is outside the control of the Textile Society.
  • We regret that no refunds can be issued as a result of late submissions.

Award criteria

Applicants must be institutional or individual members of the Textile Society.

Applicants must complete the online form, submitted through your institutional or individual Textile Society membership number. You must complete all sections of the application form.

The Textile Society welcomes innovative and ambitious projects showing energy and originality.

The Society is looking for creative projects that are viable and have vision.

Application Process

You may make one application only. This should include:

  1. Your project proposal in PDF format (do not exceed four sides of A4. Max. file size 8MB), including an outline of how the Textile Society funding would be spent, with costings. Please include an indication of how your project will further the aims of the Textile Society and benefit its members. The inclusion in the application of living expenses and studio overheads will not be considered.
  2. 4-6 good quality visuals, fully referenced (max. file size 4MB). Images are an important element in support of the application and must include explanatory titles and dates.
  3. A short CV in PDF format (max. file size 4MB).
Submission

Please submit your completed application online through your membership login page.

Important
  1. Applicants will be notified of the outcome within two months of the closing date.
  2. Applications that have not adhered to the above criteria may not be considered.
  3. The Textile Society Committee decision is final.
  4. A working liaison with successful applicants in receipt of an award is encouraged.
    As such, the Textile Society should be appropriately acknowledged and the Textile Society logo should be displayed on all written material.
    The Society should be provided with a report which may be published in Text (the Textile Society journal) and/or a study day or other educational event at an appropriate venue.
  5. By submitting images to the Textile Society the applicant grants permission for all images to be used by the Textile Society for the purposes of publicity, including, but not limited to, use on the public website and social media channels, and all other publicity material such as the Textile Society journal Text, News, posters, etc.
    It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that all material is fully cleared for these purposes.
  6. The Textile Society journal Text is archived by the British Library.
    By submitting images to the Textile Society it is deemed that the applicant grants permission for all material to be archived.
  7. Enquiries: bursaries@textilesociety.org.uk

Previous Winners