Up to four jazz artists will be commissioned to create an outdoor site-specific or digital work for presentation at festivals in 2021 including the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Each fellowship is worth £7,000 and will include R&D funding, in-depth mentoring, a two-day Creative Lab hosted by Birmingham City University and specialist support from digital partner The Space.

Applications are open to UK-based jazz artists who have been working as a professional musician, composer or artist for between three and 10 years.

Dave Gaydon, Head of Programming at Cheltenham Jazz Festival said: “Festivals are ideal spaces to take risks and try out ideas.

“For the last five years, Cheltenham Jazz Festival has been pushing the boundaries of presenting jazz in non-traditional spaces. By giving artists the chance to experiment, we can present jazz in new ways and draw in new audiences.”

Jerwood Arts is a leading independent funder dedicated to supporting UK artists, curators and producers.

Lilli Geissendorfer, Director, Jerwood Arts said: “Jerwood Arts is delighted to be supporting the Jazz Encounters Fellowship.

“This was the strongest jazz-focused application in a very strong field: it looked to the future of jazz breaking out of backrooms and basements, to location responsive work, meeting the needs of festivals and artists developing innovative new work and ways of working for these audiences.”

The deadline for applications is Friday 24th January 2020 and full brief is available on the Cheltenham Festivals website.