ARTES accepts applications for a number of awards each year, including:

• The ARTES Travel Scholarship for Artists (NEW!)
• The Juan Facundo Riaño Essay Prize
• CEEH travel scholarships of up to £1000
• One CEEH scholarship for a UK PhD student who is working on Spanish art-historical subjects
• One CEEH scholarship for a PhD or early career student who needs to travel to the UK to research Spanish visual culture

For further information click on the links above, or scroll down this page.

The ARTES Travel Scholarship for Artists

ARTES is delighted to announce a new annual scholarship of £1000 to enable artists to travel to Spain, Portugal or Hispano/Lusophone regions. Priority will be given to artists whose own work engages creatively with the rich and distinctive visual cultures of Iberia and Latin America, and we are looking especially for candidates who have curiosity, think widely and are prepared to explore. Artists should be based in the UK and may be at any stage of their career, but preference may be given to candidates who can show a track record of producing artworks in response to similar opportunities.

The deadline for all applications is 30th April, and winners are invited to attend a special awards ceremony at the ARTES AGM in the summer. Please read the guidelines below.

Scholarship application guidelines.

1. Applications should be made in English as a single MS Word or PDF file and sent to artesscholarships@gmail.com. Applicants are requested to include ‘Travel Scholarship for Artists’ in the email subject, but should not expect acknowledgement of receipt.
2. All applications should include: a) a max 600-word explanation of the project and how it engages with Iberian or Latin American visual culture; b) a portfolio of 3-6 illustrative artworks, with brief explanatory text (these may be completed works made in response to similar opportunities, or sketches/drafts in relation to the planned travel); c) a max 150-word proposal as to how the fruits of the travel might be shared within 18 months of its completion (this might be a brief illustrated talk to ARTES, an informal demonstration of sketchbooks/photos, or any other means deemed appropriate); d) a short breakdown of how the money will be spent,  together with details of any other funding received; e) a CV. Shortlisted artists will be invited to an interview and to show their portfolio in London.
3. Candidates may apply for any other scholarship or award offered by ARTES, but are unlikely to be successful in more than one category in any one year.
4. Applications are open to any artist based in the UK for more than 6 months in the year, other than committee members of ARTES or their immediate families. Travel should be made within 9 months of the receipt of the scholarship.
5. Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria: quality of artworks, depth of engagement with Iberian/Latin American visual culture, track-record of producing artworks in response to similar opportunities, value for money, necessity of travel.
6. Successful scholarship winners are invited to attend a presentation at the ARTES AGM in the Summer. They are required to send an illustrated 600-word report on their travels to artesscholarships@gmail.comwithin 9 months of their travels, and invited to share the fruits of their travels within 18 months (see item 2, above).
7. The scholarships come with no institutional affiliation or support for exhibitions, and ARTES cannot take responsibility for the support or welfare of scholarship holders.
8. The decision of the Scholarship Committee shall be final. The Committee reserves the right to make no awards in cases where it deems that applications are not of satisfactory quality. ARTES accepts no legal responsibility to any applicant or third party arising from this notice, or the award or otherwise of a scholarship.  The Scholarship Committee will not enter into correspondence with unsuccessful applicants regarding its decisions.

The Juan Facundo Riaño Essay Medal

To encourage emerging scholars that are based in the UK, ARTES, in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain, awards an annual essay medal to the author of the best art-historical essay or study on a Hispanic theme, which must be submitted in competition and judged by a reading Sub-Committee. The medal is named after Juan Facundo Riaño (1829-1901), the distinguished art historian who was partly responsible for a growing interest in Spanish culture in late nineteenth-century Britain. The winner is also awarded a cash prize of £400, and the runner-up is awarded a certificate and prize of £100 – both prizes are generously sponsored by the Office for Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the Embassy of Spain. Prize-winners also receive a year’s free membership to ARTES, and the winning essays are considered for publication in the annual visual arts issue of Hispanic Research Journal. See the information about eligibility and rules of competition. The deadline is 30th April each year. 

Entering the Essay Competition

The judges will be looking for evidence of originality of thought and high academic quality. Submissions must focus on the production, reception or impact of Spanish art, architecture or visual culture, defined in the broadest possible terms, whether locally or globally. Alternative contributions in the form of photo or video essays will also be considered, provided that they demonstrate originality, high academic quality and high production standards.

As a permanent reminder of the winner’s achievement, an essay medal is awarded, together with a cash prize of £400. The winning essay will be considered for publication in the annual visual arts issue of Hispanic Research Journal. The runner-up receives a prize of £100, and an essay so commended may also be considered for publication in Hispanic Research Journal. Both prize-winners also receive a year’s free membership to ARTES.

Essays are submitted by 30th April each year, and are read by the Essay Medal Committee, appointed by ARTES. The decision of the Committee shall be final. Presentation of the medal is usually made at a special ceremony in the Summer of the same year, at which winners are invited to give a 30-minute presentation, based on their essay. The result is announced on the websites of of ARTES and the Spanish Embassy.

Previous Winners

2023: Isabelle Kent, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University, for ‘Becoming Actaeon: Titian and the Conceptual Gaze in Velázquez’s Las Hilanderas‘.

2022: Patricia Manzano Rodríguez, a PhD candidate at the University of Durham, for ‘The Upper half of Las Meninas‘.

2021: Diana Bularca, formerly a MA student at the Courtauld, for ‘Wilfredo Lam’s Strategic Language’

2020: Dr Simon Park, an early career scholar at the University of Oxford, for ‘Chasing Wild Men (in Silver)’.

2019: No award

2018: Javier Vicente Arenas, a Masters student at the Warburg Institute, for ‘Constructing a “Transmediterranean” Identity: Rodrigo de Borgia’s Italian Angels in Valencia Cathedral (1472-81)’.

2017: David Cambronero, a MA student at The Courtauld, for ‘Lighting the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the Caliphal Period’.

2016: Leah McBride, a PhD student at Glasgow University, for ‘‘The grave is only half full; who will help us fill it?’: The Politics of Trauma in Alfredo Jaar’s Rwanda Project‘.

2015: Rebekah Lee, a PhD student at the University of York, for ‘Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal and the Courtly Portrayal of Middle Age’.

2014: Lesley Thornton-Cronin, a first year PhD student at Glasgow University, for ‘Image-Making by Means of Metaphoric Transposition in the Work of Joan Miró’.

2013: Maite Usoz, a third year PhD student at King’s College, London, for  ‘Sex and the City: Urban Eroticism in Rodrigo Muñoz Ballester’s Manuel Series’.

Regulations for the Essay Medal

1. Entrants should ideally be resident or studying in the UK, but exceptions may be made if entrants can demonstrate sustained engagement with students, scholars, objects or materials in the UK.

2. There is no age limit for entrants, but the Essay Medal Committee reserves the right to give preference to entrants who have not previously published in the field of Hispanic visual arts. We welcome submissions from researchers in a variety of circumstances, but envisage that most essays will be submitted from early career scholars, post-graduate students or undergraduates with exceptionally good end-of-degree dissertations. Details of degrees or qualifications, as well as previous publications, must be submitted together with the submission (ie in the email, but not on the essay).

3. Visual arts are defined in their broadest sense to include all material and visual culture, including film and photography, but our collaboration with the Spanish Embassy means that essays must focus on the production, reception or impact of Spanish art, architecture or visual culture, defined in the broadest possible terms, whether locally or globally. 

4. The essay must not have been previously published and must not have been awarded any national or international prize. A note of any departmental prizes awarded to it should accompany the email by which the submission is sent.

5. Essays may be up to 10,000 words in length, including bibliography (though this is not not necessary if full footnotes are given), all notes and appendices. Shorter submissions will not be penalised on grounds of length, but overlength essays will be refused. A word count and a summary of up to 250 words (additional to the work total) must be included. Submissions in the form of photo essays or videos (up to 25 minutes in length) will also be considered.

6. The submission should demonstrate original thinking. It may be based on a dissertation, and may involve original research, although submissions based on a survey of secondary material will also be considered if they are of suitable quality. However, the submission should be self-contained and especially prepared for this competition. Essays that engage with Spanish-language scholarship are especially encouraged.

7. Entries must be written in English and double-spaced. Diagrams or illustrations should be included and captioned. Sources of information and images must be acknowledged, together with information about image rights.

8. The winning essay may be  considered for publication in the visual arts issue of Hispanic Research Journal, subject to the usual process of refereeing, and to acceptance by the Editors, whose decision on this is final. In the event of the essay being accepted for publication, some reworking may be required. Essays may not be offered for publication elsewhere while they are sub judice.

9. In the case of any dispute about the award, the decision of the ARTES Essay Medal Committee shall be final. ARTES regrets that it cannot provide feedback on essays submitted.

10. ARTES reserves the right to make no award if none of the entries is considered worthy.

11. The closing date for entries is 30th April each year. Essays received after this date will not be considered.

12. A PDF of the essay, including images, should be sent to tom.nickson@courtauld.ac.uk  To ensure anonymity please do not put your name on the essay, and please omit any acknowledgements.

13. Any queries should be directed to tom.nickson@courtauld.ac.uk

ARTES CEEH Scholarships

Thanks to the generous support of CEEH (Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica), ARTES, awards a number of scholarships each year to students working on any aspect of Spanish visual culture before 1900. The deadline for all applications is 30th April each year and the Scholarship Committee usually informs successful applicants by 1st March. Scholarship winners are normally invited to an awards ceremony at the ARTES AGM in June. Please read the guidelines for each scholarship, as well as the general guidelines below.

Travel scholarships

Final year undergraduates and postgraduate students registered for a full or part-time degree course at a UK university may apply for up to £1000 towards the costs of travel to Spain for research purposes (which may include field work, attendance at a conference, or other recognised forms of research).

£3000 scholarship for PhD students at a UK university 

ARTES offers one scholarship each year to a student registered for a full- or part-time doctoral degree at a UK university. The scholarship is intended to contribute towards the costs of tuition, living and/or research, and therefore students with full funding are not eligible.

£3000 scholarship for PhD students or post-doctoral scholars who wish to conduct research in the UK 

Doctoral students or those who received their doctorate less than four years before the application deadline may apply for this scholarship provided that they are that they were or are registered for doctoral study at a university in Spain. 

Scholarship application guidelines.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. In all cases applications should be made in English as a single MS Word or PDF file and sent to artesscholarships@gmail.com. References for students from Spain may, however, be sent in Spanish. Applicants should not expect acknowledgement of receipt.
            2. All applications should clearly indicate for which scholarship they are directed and include: a) a project title, b) a max 100-word project summary, c) a max 600-word explanation of the research to be conducted (including, where relevant, explanation of the necessity of travel); d) a short breakdown of how the money will be spent, together with details of any other funding received; e) an academic CV. Applicants should ensure that an academic advisor sends a reference to the same email address by the 30th April deadline. Applications without a reference will not be considered
            3. Candidates may apply for more than one category of scholarship, but are unlikely to be successful in more than one category in any one year.
            4. Application is open to any student or scholar who can demonstrate compliance with the criteria set out above, other than employees of CEEH,  ARTES Scholarship Committee members, or their immediate families. Scholarships are not awarded to students who have not yet begun their programme of study, are valid for one year only, and are not renewable. Travel scholarship applications may be submitted for travel conducted in the 12 months prior to the submission deadline, though funding for such trips is likely to be considered less urgent than for forthcoming trips that would not be possible without funding.
            5. Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria: Originality of research, significance of research, feasibility of successful completion, academic rigour (command of the field, spelling, fluency etc), potential of the applicant (an assessment of the strength of the CV, taking into account the student’s current status), financial need, value for money (where relevant), strength of reference, necessity of travel (where relevant).
            6. Successful scholarship winners are normally informed by 1st March, and are normally required to attend a presentation ceremony in the Summer. They are required to write a 600-word report on their funded research project, to be sent to artesscholarships@gmail.com within nine months of receipt of the scholarship.
            7. Any publications arising from research supported by these scholarships should include acknowledgement of ARTES and CEEH.
            8. The scholarships come with no institutional affiliation, and ARTES and CEEH cannot take responsibility for the support or welfare of scholarship holders.
            9. The decision of the Scholarship Committee is final. The Committee reserves the right to make no awards in cases where it deems that applications are not of satisfactory quality. CEEH and ARTES accept no legal responsibility to any applicant or third party arising from this notice, or the award or otherwise of a scholarship.  The Scholarship Committee will not enter into correspondence with unsuccessful applicants or their academic advisors regarding its decisions.