Weston Jerwood Creative Bursary – Appointment
Through Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries, Touchstones are excited to welcome our new Curatorial & Community Engagement Assistant (Contemporary Forward), Bryan Beresford to the gallery team at Touchstones, Rochdale. Bryan started in February and will be assisting in the production of the Contemporary Forward programme as well as working on new and existing community engagement projects in and around the local community of Rochdale.
“My background is in photography and I studied at Norwich University of the Arts. I have been working in at several arts organisations in research, writing, digital communications and gallery assisting since graduating. This new role will provide me with the opportunity to fully immerse myself in curation and community engagement projects and I am excited to get involved in this exciting chapter at Touchstones.
I enjoy visiting exhibitions, cinema, photography and collecting hand-coloured photographs. With the position being funded by Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries I look forward to participating in the programme to aid my own professional development as well as bringing my own experiences and ideas to the future of Touchstones.”
Alongside these paid year-long placements, a development programme for all participants ground their on-the-job experience with valuable training, seeding a strong peer network and legacy for the programme, alongside a new international strand, including 15 international placements for selected participants, and an international training trip for all 40 participants. Thanks to Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries’ partnership with the British Council, we are also delighted to announce that Bryan will be spending on month as the Venice Architecture Biennale to carry out a Research Fellowship.
The Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries programme provides talent development opportunities for recent graduates from low-income backgrounds. Through it, Jerwood Charitable Foundation and its partners seek to change the socio-economic barriers that skilled graduates entering the arts workplace are facing. The programme provides paid entry-level jobs at leading UK arts organisations, supported by a structured programme of ambitious professional development and peer mentoring.
Find out more here.