Tour Art Competition
2021’s Tour Art Competition challenges new artists to submit an artwork based on the theme of 'Forces of Nature’
New artists, aged 16+ with less than five years’ experience of showing their work, are invited to submit one artwork by midnight (UK GMT) on Sunday 4 July 2021. The artwork should either be presented in a square format or be able to be successfully cropped to a square format when reproduced. A panel of judges will consider the creativity and technical execution of the artworks and how well each piece interprets the brief, before selecting a shortlist and the eventual winning entry.
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The winning artist will see their artwork on the cover of the Glyndebourne Tour Programme and their work will also be part of a digital exhibition with all shortlisted works, hosted by Glyndebourne this autumn. Works can be offered for sale during the exhibition with an upper price limit of £1,500. If Covid-19 restrictions allow, we may also be able to hold a physical exhibition of the artworks in Glyndebourne’s onsite Gallery 94.
As part of the prize, the winner will receive four free tickets to a world-class opera production at Glyndebourne during the Tour 2021. All shortlisted entrants will win two free tickets.
Forces of Nature: our theme for 2021
The theme for this year’s competition is ‘Forces of Nature’. We are looking for artworks that celebrate, represent and question our insoluble relationship to nature and you can either take opera as your inspiration or interpret the theme through ideas of cultivated gardens and celebrated landscape views or wild, complicated natural phenomena and threatened environments.
Tour Art Competition 2021
View our online exhibition showcasing the winning entry alongside all shortlisted artworks.
Previous winners
We were unable to run the competition in 2020 but Tom Faber, a graduate of Chelsea College of Arts and University of Cambridge, was our 2019 competition winner with a digital collage, Composition After Saint Anthony. Tom took the relationship between painting and digital media as part of his interpretation of the competition theme ‘Lost and Found’. Tom’s work was part of an impressive shortlist of original artworks, submitted from 19 different countries.
London-based artist, Sam Creasey, won 2018’s competition with For Love Nor Money. Chief Judge and Glyndebourne’s Executive Chairman Gus Christie said it was ‘a brilliant execution of a topical theme, it feels modern and unique.’
Illustrator Katie Ponder won 2017’s competition with her piece Deception, and Katie has continued to work with Glyndebourne since winning, going on to design the artwork for 2019’s new opera Agreed and exhibiting her work in Gallery 94 at Glyndebourne.
We welcome all artists to follow the art programme at Glyndebourne via Instagram – @artatglyndebourne and on our website.