Glasgow VACMA 2026/27: £500 or £1,000 bursaries for visual and moving-image artists — 20 October deadline
Glasgow artists: the VACMA autumn round is open
Glasgow Life, working with Creative Scotland, is accepting applications for the 2026/27 Visual Artist and Craft Maker Awards (VACMA). The scheme offers two fixed bursary levels — £500 and £1,000 — to support the creative and professional development of individual visual artists and craft makers based in Glasgow. The autumn application deadline is Tuesday 20 October 2026 at 5pm UK local time, and a second round is scheduled for 2 February 2027. This is a locally administered Scottish opportunity, not an unrestricted global grant.
For Aion Laboratory readers working in artistic film, experimental moving image, photographic installations or other digitally produced visual art, VACMA may be worth investigating. The eligibility test is whether the applicant has an established independent visual art practice, not whether their work is produced with a computer. The official guidance expressly permits moving-image work when it belongs to a visual arts practice, while excluding filmmaking that falls outside visual art.
Who can apply in Glasgow?
The Glasgow scheme is for practising visual artists and craft makers who live in Glasgow or maintain a studio space within the Glasgow local authority area. Applicants must demonstrate relevant experience, public presentation of their work and a continuing commitment to their practice. Artists who only show work through social media are specifically excluded by the national VACMA guidance. A studio or home elsewhere in Scotland does not automatically qualify someone for the Glasgow scheme: other areas have their own local administrators and may have different deadlines.
Full-time students are ineligible. Part-time students can apply only if they provide evidence of their part-time status and show that the proposed funded activity does not contribute to their academic studies. Previous VACMA recipients must have submitted the required End of Project Report before applying again. Check with Glasgow Life if your residency, studio arrangement or creative field is unclear.
What the £500 and £1,000 awards can support
VACMA is intended to help artists develop their practice. The guidance includes training and professional workshops, mentoring, research into a new body of work, exploring new techniques and materials, skills development, residencies, essential equipment that enables experimentation, and making work for public exhibition or presentation. Both bursary amounts are fixed, so applicants should choose the one that suits a feasible, well-defined activity rather than treating £1,000 as an automatic entitlement.
For an artist-led digital or moving-image practice, a potentially suitable plan could involve exploring a new projection technique, learning a specific creative tool, researching a new digital image process, working with a visual-art mentor, or obtaining equipment essential to an experimental body of art. These are illustrative ideas, not a separate VACMA digital-arts category or a promise of eligibility. The proposed activity must clearly grow the applicant's visual-art practice and satisfy all rules.
Digital media: what is and is not eligible
The published guidance draws a crucial line between artistic moving-image practice and general filmmaking. Filmmaking is not supported unless moving images form part of the applicant's visual arts practice. Commercial production, graphic design services and business development are not eligible merely because they involve digital skills. Graphic designers are excluded; illustrators may be considered only if they can show an independent practice beyond client-based work. Applicants should explain the creative research question and the artistic context, rather than submitting a general commercial game, branding or video-production budget.
Costs and activities that VACMA does not cover
VACMA does not support a project starting less than eight weeks after the application deadline; accredited courses leading to formal qualifications; start-up and business development; applications mainly for marketing or website creation; community or educational projects with a teaching focus; studio building or renovation; framing and presentation costs alone; or activities already supported through another VACMA or Creative Scotland funding programme in a prohibited duplicate-funding arrangement. The official guidance includes further details on these exclusions and should be read in full.
Application material and selection criteria
Applicants should use the Glasgow Life application form and include a current artist CV, six examples of recent work and an Equalities Monitoring Form, following the local checklist and submission instructions. The application should make three things clear: an established commitment to independent visual-art or craft practice, how the bursary will develop that practice, and a realistic plan for the proposed activity. Good examples of prior work are important because panel members assess what is submitted rather than relying on their previous knowledge of the artist.
The 2026/27 guidance does not require a separate detailed budget document for the fixed bursaries, but the plan must be achievable with the funding requested and any other clearly explained contributions. Applicants should provide an appropriate timeline and consider practical risks. Where the activity depends on a residency or a venue, the guidance recommends including confirmation from the host. The selection panel considers artistic development, commitment to practice, feasibility, inclusion and environmental sustainability.
Accessibility and additional costs
Glasgow Life states that additional Personal Access Costs may be considered separately from the core £500 or £1,000 bursary. The national guidelines explain that disabled applicants and those with caring responsibilities can apply for support needed to participate in the proposed activity, subject to the relevant criteria. These costs should not be assumed to reduce the fixed development bursary.
Autumn and winter deadlines — check your local scheme
For the Glasgow scheme, the autumn round closes on Tuesday 20 October 2026 at 5:00pm. Glasgow Life also lists Tuesday 2 February 2027 at 5:00pm as the winter deadline. Not all Scottish VACMA partners operate both rounds. Anyone outside Glasgow should identify the correct local authority programme before applying, rather than emailing the Glasgow submission address.
How to submit in Glasgow
Download the local application form, the 2026/27 guidance, the Equalities Monitoring Form and the artist checklist from Glasgow Life. Complete the materials and submit them by email to gl.learningteam@glasgowlife.org.uk by the appropriate closing time. Since email delivery, supporting image files and other attachments can cause last-minute problems, prepare and send the complete package well ahead of the deadline. The 20 October closing time is 5pm in the United Kingdom (British Summer Time on that date).