NOW in its 12th year, the Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Awards has a proud tradition of recognising and investing in East Anglia’s most exciting creative talents. In 2025, the scheme has identified twelve up-and-coming artists to highlight and support.
This year’s winners are: Emily Cannell (from Ipswich, Suffolk), Daniel and Clara (West Mersea, Essex), Tilly Hawkins AKA Nukleopatra (Ipswich, Suffolk), Rose Jones (Colchester, Essex), David Kefford (Milton, Cambridgeshire), Sarah Milne (Colchester, Essex), Rebecca Riess (Sudbury, Suffolk), Suzie Silk (Sudbury, Suffolk), Taylor Jack Smith (Hockley, Essex), Jane Stewart (Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex), Lucy Rose Shaftain-Fenner (Colchester, Essex) and Mark Tamer (Lowestoft, Suffolk).
Having invested nearly £50,000 since the awards opened back in 2013, this is the first time that the Awards were opened to artists living and working in Cambridgeshire and saw David Kefford from Milton successfully applying. The Bursary Awards are now seen as a vital source of funding for artists working in a variety of disciplines and media that over 56 applications were achieved from throughout East Anglia.
Working across various mediums, such as sculpture, painting, drawing, stitching, Suffolk’s Rebecca Riess says that her work “vibrates in a corrupted space of playfulness and disgust, seduction and subversion.” Riess says the Collectors’ Group Bursary Award will be put towards “materials and mentoring for professional development to explore new ideas by painting and drawing.”
The bursary funding has come at a crucial time to help Riess restock her art materials following a large painting show last year, where she was facing the possibility of pausing her practice because she simply did not have the materials to create new work. Now with the money made available, Rebecca says: “This is now a crucial time to lay low and develop new ideas to keep my practice moving forward.”
Following her selection by the judges, Rebecca was invited to take part in Firstsite’s 2026 exhibition programme, reflecting the gallery’s commitment to supporting artists’ continued development.
Introducing his creative style and influences, David Kefford says: “My sculptural practice explores queer bodies and their environments as sites of transformation. Using found objects and discarded materials, I create hybrid, bodily entities that respond to weather, decay, and time. Recently, my practice has shifted outdoors, using my garden as a living studio where natural processes and wildlife shape each artwork beyond my control. This approach reimagines sculpture in co-creation with the environment, engaging with material and ecological systems.”
Kefford’s successful funding application will now support the development of his outdoor sculptural work and help him to build connections with experts in ecology, permaculture, and environmental art. He intends to use the money to fund site visits, mentoring with specialists working across these fields and have a professional photographer document his activities.
David says: “This bursary will help me consolidate a new direction in my practice; one that connects art, ecology, and sustainable making. This support comes at a crucial stage, as I move beyond the interior studio into outdoor contexts, preparing to develop future collaborations, exhibitions and public engagement projects across the region and beyond.”
Hockley and Southend may never seem quite the same again, when viewed through the eyes of South Essex-based Taylor Jack Smith. Trained at the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art, Smith says: “My work occupies itself with narrative moments, often fleeting and uneasy, they preside in small private worlds. Mundane commuter belt suburbs host grotesque horrors, ghosts and lonely strangers. Through writing, printmaking and animations these stories clamber to offer something sincere in the detail.”
Since graduating in 2018, he has built a successful early career, exhibiting his work at shows and screenings in London, Southend and Vienna, including the Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the BBC New Creatives and the Estuary Festival.
Smith now intends to put the funding towards researching, creating and ultimately exhibiting a new series of etchings based on The Peregrine by J. A. Baker. A classic of British nature writing, the book explores the impact of humans on the natural world, with its poetic descriptions of encounters with peregrine falcons echoing geo-political tensions, themes that remain relevant today. The Peregrine describes Baker’s ten-year obsession with the birds of prey that wintered near his home in Chelmsford.
“The bursary will fund print sessions, framing, and exhibition space. I also intend to visit the Chelmer Valley to explore and make drawings of the landscapes and wildlife that will provide a foundation for the subsequent etchings,” Taylor explains, adding: “This will be my most ambitious undertaking in etching. The Bursary will cover the costs of working on larger and multiple copper plates, enabling me to produce a substantial series of etchings. I would look to experiment with different etching techniques and plate sizes to create a body of work both representational and more experimental than my previous etchings. It is crucial to me now, as it would also allow me to solo curate an exhibition and undertake site-specific research. Both would be firsts for me, and both would help develop the research aspect of my practice.”
Jane Hindley, Chair of Firstsite Collectors’ Group said: “It’s always a pleasure to see such an inspiring range of applications, and this year was no exception. The standard of submissions to the Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Awards continues to be incredibly high, making the selection process both exciting and wonderfully challenging.
This year’s recipients reflect the breadth and energy of contemporary practice in the region, working across everything from painting and sculpture to textiles, moving image, and digital media. Artists have been selected from across Essex and Suffolk, and for the first time Cambridgeshire, with Milton-based artist David Kefford among those receiving an award.
We’re delighted to support these artists at such an important point in their development and look forward to seeing how their ideas and practices continue to grow and enrich the cultural life of the region.”
Sally Shaw MBE, Director of Firstsite says: “The Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Awards give artists the support and freedom to take bold next steps at exciting moments in their careers. This year’s recipients are doing just that – using the bursary to explore new directions, take on ambitious projects, and achieve important ‘firsts’ – from new collaborations and exhibitions to expanding the ways they work.
It’s inspiring to see the creativity, energy, and ambition these artists bring, and how the Firstsite Collectors’ Group Bursary Awards help artists across the region make real progress and push creativity forward. We’re incredibly grateful to the Collectors for their generosity, which makes this vital support possible and helps shape the future of art in our region.”
If you would like to find out more information about the Firstsite Collectors’ Group and how to join, visit https://firstsite.uk/join-support/firstsite-collectors-group/ or call George Karaiskou on 01206 713700.
