Creative Bursaries Scheme: Government Launches £600,000 Arts Bursaries Pilot

Graduates from deprived backgrounds will be able to apply for paid internships with established arts companies from this summer, as part of a £600,000 government pilot scheme launched today.

The Creative Bursaries Scheme aims to provide at least 40 internships of up to a year with arts organisations to graduates who would not be able to put themselves through training or unpaid internships. The graduates will each be paid a bursary at the rate £15,000 per annum. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England have put up the funding for the scheme, which is due to start in September this year. The Jerwood Foundation will manage the programme.

Through the scheme, a minimum of 20 internships will be available in the first and second year of the pilot. Graduates wishing to work in both creative and managerial roles in arts organisations will be eligible for the scheme to gain experience in their first year after university. More: www.thestage.co.uk