Clyde & Co LLP Art Award 2015
The Clyde & Co LLP Art Award encourages emerging talent in the visual arts by introducing final year art undergraduates to the corporate sector and showcasing their work. The project aims to ease the transition from art school to the commercial art world – a stepping stone to a professional career.
The fifth year of this major Arts and Education Awards initiative included for the first time City & Guilds of London Art School, as well as final year undergraduates from Central St Martins, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon.
A selection of work selected from degree shows are displayed in the offices for one year. Every student receives a cash prize, pro bono legal advice and business mentoring by staff volunteers. Each year the firm facilitates an auction sale of the current works, and a new collection is installed, selected from the following year’s degree shows. Feedback from the art students and the art schools is extremely positive. Students gain confidence in their work, business awareness, career focus and an understanding of corporates as prospective purchasers.
As part of the award, Clyde & Co facilitates the sale of the art works through a silent auction. The artists receive the full value of successful bids, and Clyde & Co covers all transport costs. Any unsold work is returned to the artists.
Since the launch of the Art Award at the London office in 2010, this project has been replicated in other Clyde & Co offices including Dubai, Singapore, Sydney, Perth, San Francisco and Newport Beach. Each of these offices support and display the works of art students from their local art schools.
The 2015 Clyde & Co LLP Art Prize was awarded by an independent panel of judges to Millie Kelly of Wimbledon College of Art and the Staff Award was presented to Steven John Atkinson of City & Guilds London Art School.