encouraging art inspired by music
An annual prize of £10,000 launching in London 2021
Open to all in the uk
Free to enter
SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED!
It is no secret that great art comes from great art.
That is why we want to create a new opportunity as part of that process. By encouraging visual artists at any stage in their careers, we hope that music will be a part of their futures.
We have chosen 10 of the greatest pieces of music from our catalogue - from Mark Ronson to Stravinsky, Krept & Konan to Pink Floyd to act as inspiration for visual artists to create their own works.
Whether a painting, sculpture, installation, video or piece of photography - whoever you are and whatever the music moves you to make, we would love to see it.
Here’s how you do it…
Step 1 - Choose the song that inspires you the most…
Step 2 - The rules…
Step 3 - Submit your proposal before April 30th 2021
Step 4 - We’ll be in touch!
The finalists will be announced on June 1st 2021 and granted a £1,000 bursary to create their artwork.
Those final works will be exhibited at a London gallery in September 2021.
On opening night, the winner will be announced and awarded the £10,000 prize.
"Art and music have always intertwined – that’s why I'm excited that my music can help to interpret an aspect of the art that Concord is bringing to the public."
FULL PLAYLIST
"You may certainly use Music for 18 Musicians as a stimulus for art works in your Concord Art Prize project. Over the years I have heard from several artists, including Gerhard Richter, saying they have used this piece while painting, sculpting or working with media."
THE RULES
1. Artists must submit a proposal that describes their vision.
a. The proposal can be a voice note, written text, a letter or an explanation to camera
b. The proposal must be accompanied by a visual representation of the proposed work.
c. This visual component can be a sketch, a filmed work in progress of the idea, a model or a photographic image if the proposal falls in the photographic or film medium.
b. The proposal must be accompanied by a visual representation of the proposed work.
c. This visual component can be a sketch, a filmed work in progress of the idea, a model or a photographic image if the proposal falls in the photographic or film medium.
2. We will accept proposals for painting, sculpture, installation, video and photography.
3. If the artwork incorporates the original piece of music, the visual artist cannot make any changes or edits to the track or lyrics.
4. The artwork cannot exceed two meters in height and three metres in length.
5. Materials must be listed within the proposal. Artworks cannot include fire hazards or anything that might be deemed potentially at odds with public safety.
6. Your submission will be accompanied by images of previous work, even if unrelated to the proposal to give a sense of your artistic background.
7. Only one proposal may be submitted per entrant.
Once submissions close on April 30th 2021, the expert panel of judges will decide on the ten finalists – one representing each piece of music.
On June 1st 2021, the finalists will be announced and each finalist given a bursary of £1,000 to create their piece within 8 weeks.
The winner will receive a £10, 000 cash prize and retain ownership of the winning artwork. The winning artwork will be displayed at Concord’s head office.
Every selection process is influenced by multiple factors, from the variety of submissions entered to the coherence of the finalists.
If you weren’t selected for this year, please consider applying next year and good luck!
“The most enjoyable part of my job here at Concord Music Publishing is delving into our incredible catalogues and sharing it with others who create. By encouraging visual artists at whatever stage of their career to let loose with a song or piece of music that moves them – felt like a no brainer. Music and art – what more could you ask for?"
JUDGES
Pamela Golden
Royal College of Art
Pamela Golden is a Senior Tutor in Painting in the School of Arts & Humanities at the Royal College of Art. As an artist, she has exhibited for over 35 years throughout Europe and America.
JULIE LOMAX
a-n
CEO of a-n: Julie Lomax’s previous roles include director of visual arts at Australia Council for the Arts, and director of visual arts for Arts Council England. She is currently chair of The Showroom, on the Executive Committee of the Association of Women in the Arts, and CEO of a-n - the biggest visual arts membership organisation in the UK.
Mark Ronson
Musician/Producer
We are extremely privileged to have seven-time-Grammy-Award winning and Golden Globe-winning artist and producer Mark Ronson on the 2020 judging panel. As one of the most commercially successful producers in the world, he has worked with stars such as Amy Winehouse, Queens of the Stone Age, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Minogue – the list goes on. His most recent album ‘Late Night Feelings’ is a total masterpiece, featuring a diverse suite of female vocalists including YEBBA on ‘Don’t Leave Me Lonely’ – one of the 10 songs selected for The Concord Art Prize this year.
Alex Schady
Alex has a broad interdisciplinary practice that includes drawing, video, sculpture and performance. His recent work considers the relationship between sculpture and video and how seemingly incompatible media might coexist. Alex is also co-founder of Five Years Gallery, an artist-run space that establishes a direct relationship between programming, curation and practice. Some of his recent projects include an exhibition at Camden Arts Centre (Rulers 2011), a series of performances within the Oil Tanks at Tate Modern (Misguided 2012) and a solo show at Five Years Gallery (Besame Mucho 2013).
Sara Lord
Concord Music Publishing
I started making the tea at Sony Music way back – then went on to managing some incredible artists and bands with a bit of music supervision thrown in. For the last three years I’ve been at Concord as SVP of International Synchronisation and Project Development which is a very long way of saying I try and make sure that lots of people who make visual content pay us lots of money to use our wonderful music.
Ali Hillman
Friday Trampoline
Ali is delighted to curate the Concord Art Prize, working alongside a formidable team of judges. The prize is a launchpad for creative talent that will continue to build for years to come. An exciting new addition to the contemporary art field.
For more than twelve years Ali has been responsible for the public art programme at Microsoft founder Paul Allen’s sites in London and Los Angeles. Producing six to eight public exhibitions each year, more than one hundred artist residencies and developing cultural strategy alongside institutions; including public museums, commercial galleries and leading art and design fairs.
At the heart of Ali’s programming is infinite gratitude for the contemporary artists and their unending creativity.
Hillman's curated exhibitions have been reviewed by The Guardian, Creative Review, Wallpaper Magazine, as well as BBC Breakfast and ITV News.
Project highlights include staging installations in international train stations for Eurostar. For over four years Ali has also been responsible for commissioning art installations for Eurostar business lounges in London St Pancras, Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi, sourcing contemporary artwork from artists local to those cities.
Whitney Hintz
Hiscox
Whitney Hintz is an independent advisor and Curator of the Hiscox Collection. The Hiscox Collection comprises approximately 1000 works on display across the company’s 35 offices in the UK, Europe and USA. In addition to overseeing the Hiscox Collection and advising private collections, Whitney is a board member of the Crossrail Arts Programme and Sculpture in the City, an annual outdoor public sculpture exhibition located within the City’s Square Mile. She is also a consultant for the Kenneth Armitage Foundation and on the board of Platform Earth, an environmental initiative bringing together artists and scientists to produce outdoor public works. Whitney previously worked at Frith Street Gallery and formerly held positions in Development at the Whitechapel Gallery and Outset Contemporary Art Fund. She is a graduate of History of Art from Columbia University.
Robert Yates
The Observer
Robert Yates is Assistant Editor at The Observer newspaper, where his duties include editing Comment & Analysis. He has held a series of senior executive roles at the ‘paper, after specialising, as a writer, in long-form pieces (for newspapers and magazines). He has also worked in television production, and served as a presenter/interviewer/judge at a wide range of cultural and political events. Yates was educated at a comprehensive school in Liverpool and read modern languages at King’s College, London. He is a board member of The Baillie Gifford Prize (previously the Samuel Johnson Prize), the country’s most prestigious non-fiction prize.
Mat Collishaw
Artist
Mat Collishaw is a key figure in the generation of British artists who emerged from Goldsmiths’ College in the late 1980s. He participated in Freeze (1988) and since his first solo exhibition in 1990 has exhibited widely internationally. Collishaw makes work that envelops the viewer in a twilight world poised between the alluring and the revolting, the familiar and the shocking, the poetic and the morbid. With a visual language that embraces diverse media, the beauty of Collishaw’s work is compelling – seductive, captivating, hypnotic – yet repelling as we perceive the darker fantasies within. A repulsion triggered not by what we see, but by our innate response to it. Something between beautiful and abject. Collishaw’s work can be found in public collections globally, including; Tate Gallery, london; Arter Foundation, Istanbul; British Council Collection, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Torino; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Museum of Old and New Art, New South Wales; Olbricht Collection, Berlin.
Joan Armatrading
Artist/Songwriter
Joan Armatrading’s music has touched millions all over the world, with a song writing career spanning five decades. She is three times Grammy nominated, two times Brit nominated, and has won accolade after accolade, including an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Awards. In 2021 she was made a CBE having been given the MBE in 2001. Joan was the very first British female singer songwriter to gain international success. Her music has always remained true to itself, never buckling to current trends, and her incredible hit “Love and Affection” is one of the Concord Art Prize song choices. We are honoured to have her join the judging panel.
SUBMISSIONS NOW CLOSED
“The submissions showed an extraordinary wealth of visual voices presenting a huge wide range of possibilities of imagining each of the songs"
MEET OUR 10 FINALISTS…
JACOB LOVE - ‘MY FAVORITE THINGS’
WEBSITE
Jacob has taught at Goldsmiths in London for the past 12 years. He has exhibited consistently in the UK and globally, including a solo show at the Leslie Lohman Museum in 2013.
MICHAL RAZ – ‘NEW DAY’
Born in Jerusalem, currently living and working in London, Michal’s works is underlined by continued research of ethnology, pattern making, ornamentation, abstract art, pop culture and digital aesthetics, avoiding any final definition or a linear narrative, nor imposing any fixed idea or absolute conclusion. She graduated from the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL in 2018.
ANNA KERMAN – ‘DON’T LEAVE ME LONELY’
Anna Kerman is a Swedish born (b.1980) abstract artist who graduated with a BA from Kent Institute of Art and Design and later received an MA from University of Arts London (2007). Her paintings are characterised by her thick handling of acrylic paint in a fevered and immediate manner.
SAM TAHMASSEBI – ‘THE RITE OF SPRING’
Sam is a London based visual artist working in a range of media including photography, sculpture, paint and installation. Societal issues, and their interconnectedness with psychology and philosophy influence his practice.
BECKY HOGHTON – ‘THE GREAT GIG IN THE SKY’
WEBSITE
A self-taught ceramic artist based in Bristol, UK. Predominantly working in porcelain, she hand-builds elaborate sculptures and dioramas that explore the rituals and symbols humans create to reconcile our existence.
OLIVIA MARTIN-SNOWSILL – ‘BROSKI’
Studying fine at in London at the Royal Drawing School in Trinity Buoy Wharf, since a young age Olivia has been absorbed in the world of art; carrying a sketchbook everywhere to capture everything, and always using my creativity as a significant form of self-expression.
DEBORAH HOBSON – ‘A DEEPER SHADE OF SOUL’
WEBSITE
Deborah studied at the University of Arts London. As a political activist, Deborah creates work which is socially engaged, provokes radical dialogue or disturbs the status quo. The focus of her practice is mainly portraiture and expanded interpretations, where she uses multimedia including graphite pencil, charcoal, watercolour, acrylic, oil paints, photography and film
ANGELA FUNG – ‘MUSIC FOR 18 MUSICIANS’
WEBSITE
Jacob has taught at Goldsmiths in London for the past 12 years. He has exhibited consistently in the UK and globally, including a solo show at the Leslie Lohman Museum in 2013.
NINA MIRANDA – ‘LOVE AND AFFECTION’
WEBSITE
Nina is a multi-media artist based in London and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. She is both a musician and a soundscape artist.
OLLY FATHERS – ‘PURE IMAGINATION’
Olly studied Art at Byam Shaw St Martins and then Wimbledon College of Art, graduating in 2010. He's now based in Brixton where he's had a studio for 10 years. His work explores the relations between abstract shapes, different materials, and forms.
