English Folk Dance and Song Society

Four bursaries for 2022 have now been awarded.

Applications for our latest round of Alan James Creative Bursaries closed on 1 June 2022.

Bursaries to be completed by 28 February 2023.

The EFDSS Creative Bursary and Residency Programme, now in its tenth year, aims to support artists in exploring new creative ideas inspired by and sourced from traditional English folk music. This programme provides artists with an opportunity to undertake creative exploration without the pressure of a final product.

Alan James was the former Chair of EFDSS who died suddenly in April 2019. In the spirit of Alan’s eclectic musical tastes and his ability to foster exciting artistic collaborations, we are particularly interested in receiving applications which explore English folk music in the context of cross-genre or cross-art form collaborations and explorations and welcome applications from all. English folk music must be the core element of the proposal. Four awards have now been offered to artists for 2022.

All these bursaries are funded by individual donations, and grants from PRS for Music Foundation Talent Development Partner scheme and Arts Council England. They come under the umbrella of EFDSS’ Artists’ Development Programme, which provides professional development support, both creative and business, to artists at all levels of their career.

Each bursary is worth up to £2,000, and supports artists’ creative research and development together with use of rehearsal space at Cecil Sharp House and access to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.

Katy Spicer, EFDSS Chief Executive and Artistic Director, said: ‘Our bursaries are designed to kick-start projects, giving artists time to bring their ideas to life. We are delighted to pay tribute to Alan James with these exciting and eclectic projects.’

Bursaries for 2022 have been awarded to:

Tamsin Elliott & Tarek Elazhary

Tamsin is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and film-maker based in Bristol, UK. With roots in the folk music of the British Isles, her interests and playing styles extend to European and Middle Eastern musics as well as experimental and ambient sounds. Her critically acclaimed debut solo album ‘FREY’, which features the playing of Sid Goldsmith and Rowan Rheingans, is out now on Penny Fiddle Records.

Egyptian educator and composer Tarek Elazhary seeks to preserve the musical heritage of the Middle East, while exploring its place within a contemporary context. He is the co-founder of instrumental band Dokkan, which blends eastern influences with contemporary western instrumentation.

Lisa Knapp

Lisa is a London-based singer, fiddle player/multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, who has previously received the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award and appeared at the BBC Electric Proms celebration.

In constant demand as a performer she has toured the UK numerous times solo, with her band and in collaboration with other artists and projects. Her work is steeped in traditional song and music, folklore and mysterious customs of old England yet her refreshing experimental and often unconventional approach to interpretations, arrangements, songwriting and modern manipulation of sound across three lauded records has made her a unique and much in demand artist in the folk realm.

Lunatraktors

Lunatraktors are choreographer and percussionist Carli Jefferson (she/her), and vocalist and researcher Clair Le Couteur (they/them). They began in 2017 with the post-apocalyptic question: what's left when we've lost everything? Stripping folk song down to bare bones, Lunatraktors’ 'broken folk' blends Le Couteur’s self-taught overtones and four-octave range with a hybrid of tap dance, flamenco and body percussion, which Jefferson developed after touring with STOMP (2001-2004). The pair turned heads when their percussion-and-vocals debut This Is Broken Folk made MOJO’s Top Ten Folk Albums of 2019, and again when second studio album The Missing Star reached MOJO’s #2 in 2021.

Reimagining British folk through a shared love of drum’n’bass, triphop, art rock and post-punk, Lunatraktors have gathered passionate fans at festivals, galleries, museums, theatres and queer cabarets.

Hazel Askew

Hazel Askew is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and composer from London. She is a respected performer on the folk scene, most notably with BBC Radio 2 Folk Award nominated trio Lady Maisery and traditional duo The Askew Sisters. She won Best Album at the 2017 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards as part of 10 piece supergroup Songs of Separation.

As a composer and musical director, Hazel has worked on productions such as on Darren Ellis Dance’s shows ‘The Long Walk Home’ and ‘Running World’, Ben Crystal’s Shakespeare Ensemble’s Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Henry V, and Shakespeare in Styria’s King Lear.

Past Bursary recipients have included

2021/22

2020/21

2019/20

2018/19

2017/18

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Bursaries