2011–13 Genesis Scholarship Recipient Announced

Following interviews this week, five first-year students were shortlisted for the Genesis Photography Scholarship at the RCA. The prize, worth £20,000 in total, and paid over the course of the two-year MA programme, is awarded to a first-year MA student alternate years. The funds are used for making work. The candidates gave a short presentation to the panel that comprised Greta Alfaro, artist and Genesis Scholarship recipient 2009 – 2011; image maker Chris Levine; Harriet Capaldi, Managing Director of the Genesis Foundation; Professor Olivier Richon, Acting Dean of Fine Art, RCA and 2002 Turner Prize shortlisted artist Catherine Yass.

This year’s Genesis Scholarship was awarded to Joanna Piotrowska, a 2009 graduate from the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, Poland. Her work focuses on cultural memory through evocative use of portraiture and landscape.

The young artist stressed how important support from the Genesis Foundation will be for the development of her work, adding: “This scholarship will give me the opportunity to focus on my project wholly and will help me take my practice to the next level and mature as an independent artist.

Dr Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal College of Art expressed his deep appreciation of the Genesis Photography Scholarship at the Royal College of Art, saying: “Externally funded scholarships allow us to attract talented students from around the world regardless of their financial backgrounds. Philanthropic support like this can make all the difference between a student being able to take up an offered place at the College and having to decline it for purely financial reasons.”

Mr Studzinski said that the awards are helping dedicated artists to raise their skill levels, stating that, “We have awarded our second Genesis Foundation Scholarship at the RCA to a talented photographer, Joanna Piotrowska, who we feel will thrive in the RCA environment and will be able to develop an exciting body of work. We were blessed with Greta’s energy and creative enthusiasm and I am certain the potential for Joanna is great within the Genesis network. The RCA remains an important source of creativity and innovation in the UK.”

The Genesis Foundation is a UK-based charity set up by American financier John Studzinski in 2001 to find creative talents of the future. It aims to nurture emerging artists in the early stages of their professional careers. The Foundation does this by providing supportive environments in which they can develop and grow to their full potential. Mentoring by established professionals is an important part of the process. To date, 24 artists in four different areas of creative excellence – photography (2), acting (19: LAMDA), ballet (2) and theatre (1) - have received scholarships from the Genesis Foundation. Also, hundreds of young directors, composers, librettists and playwrights have received support through its larger process programmes such as Genesis Sixteen, International Playwrights at the Royal Court Theatre, HighTide Festival Theatre, and the Genesis Directors Project at the Young Vic.

More about the Genesis Foundation.