The Artist Prize by Firstsite will make more artists visible says Director Sally Shaw
- Sally Shaw
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The Artist Prize is a new £30,000 art award launched by Colchester’s Firstsite gallery, with the aim of bringing a broader range of artists into view — regardless of background, training or representation. Here, Firstsite’s director Sally Shaw explains what’s driving her passion for the project.
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Galleries are places where we make things or people more visible. But it’s not so straightforward as to who or what gets made more visible.
Historically it’s been a narrow funnel through which most people or artworks just don’t fit, unless they contort themselves out of shape. This means the story that some of us get to tell lots of other people about culture (in ‘our’ place) can be pretty skewed — and not as full and vibrant and complicated as it is in reality.
It can also often be nothing like what it looks like when you walk out of your front door — or perhaps what you might be making at home behind that front door.
Everything we do at Firstsite is about changing the shape of this funnel. To enable many more — and more diverse — people to get seen.
The Artist Prize is no different. Anyone over 18 years old, living and working in the UK, can enter. Everyone who does enter will get seen by at least two professional judges. I estimate that that’s approximately a whole YEAR of looking, which is an awful lot more work being seen than previously available in Britain. That has to be a good thing in the first instance.
Personally speaking, I’m also very excited about seeing all those works. I don’t get out much. I mean that in all sincerity. It’s not a brilliant declaration for a gallery director. But I am a single parent, running an art gallery, and I have very little time. My ability to get out there and see every show, studio, artwork is really limited.
I wish it was more. But I’m also perimenopausal so I have less than zero energy and my knees are beginning to fail. I get semi-shamed for this on frequent occasions. So this is also a massive opportunity for me to see a lot of artworks and people that I would never, ever have the chance to see.
I am also very excited about getting all the final round judges together to take a look at the top scoring 200 works. I am looking forward to a great conversation about who is doing what, what we think is great, and why it matters right now. And maybe, just maybe, having the opportunity to momentarily open a window into contemporary art across the whole of the UK.
People have asked me on repeat since launching the Artist Prize “what sort of artists do you think you will see?” My answer is that I don’t know. That’s why I’m doing it.
They also ask me “will there be a ‘theme’?” Everyone loves a theme. It helps us tidy up the world a bit. But we will just see what emerges and do our best to present that.
Visitors can make up their own themes in the show. That’s usually a lot more interesting than me imposing mine, which would inevitably lead us all back to square one. And where’s the fun in that?
— Submissions for the Artist Prize close on 08 July 2026, and judges include artist Jeremy Deller and former Tate director Maria Balshaw. The Prize’s group exhibition will open at Firstsite in January 2027. The winner will get a solo exhibition in 2028.
— Sally Shaw has been Director of Firstsite in Colchester since April 2026