THE CLIVE PARKINSON FILM ENDOWMENT - A GRANT OF $20,000 TO A LUCKY FILMMAKER

 

THE CLIVE PARKINSON FILM ENDOWMENT   The Clive Parkinson Film Endowment offers one grant each year of £10,000 / A$20,000 which is available to filmmakers in Australia and the United Kingdom to produce a film of 30 to 45 minutes duration which the panel considers the best example of a genre of filmmaking bearing witness to the importance of landscape and social environment in people’s lives - themes which infused all of Clive’s best work.  The film can take any form, verite, narrative, experimental, poetic, or anything else which might suit this broad theme, but must be set and produced in Australia or the United Kingdom. The film will be shown simultaneously at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney and the Manchester Museum / Whitworth Gallery on or around Clive’s birthday each year, and the artist(s) should also organise a screening for the local community or region represented in the film.   Submissions should comprise a short one-page description, production schedule and working plan of the proposed film, along with links to examples of the filmmaker’s work produced in recent years.    Closing date for the first award will be 25 January 2027 (Clive’s birthday), and the recipient will be announced shortly thereafter.  The film must be locked and ready for screening 12 months later on January 25th the following year.  Closing date for submissions in subsequent years will be on December 31st.   SEND ALL SUBMISSIONS TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS info@parkinsonendowment.co.site CLOSING DATE IS 25 JANUARY 2027 WE ENCOURAGE ALL RECIPIENTS OF THIS INFORMATION  TO CIRCULATE THE DETAILS TO ANYONE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED Professor Clive Parkinson was a distinguished academic, psychologist, writer and non-commercial photographer and filmmaker who made a huge contribution to the field of Arts For Health around the world.  He was Director of Arts for Health and Reader in Arts, Health and Social Justice at Manchester Metropolitan University until July 2021 when, after 20 years there, he left to explore work which was more amenable to his recent diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma, a bone marrow cancer which he described as an ‘inconsiderate lodger’.   Addressing social inequities has been central to his thinking and practice, and his work has always had a strong focus on mental health and living well across the life-course, regardless of any diagnoses or labels. After leaving school at sixteen with few qualifications, he attended the local art college and began working at a large Victorian hospital for adults with learning disabilities where he established an artists’ studio alongside residents of this closed community. He describes this period as being the most formative in his life, where he learned and grew as an artist alongside the people living in the hospital. During his time there completed a degree in Independent Studies and Visual Art at Lancaster University where his research focused on the relationship between creativity, culture, the arts and health and he subsequently completed research for a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Subsequently employed across the NHS and voluntary sector, in these early years he led mental health promotion for an NHS Trust and managed day services for people affected by schizophrenia in the seaside town of Morecambe. Before taking up a position at Manchester Metropolitan University, he lived in Cornwall and was development director of Arts for Health Cornwall & Isles of Scilly. Once employed in the tertiary education sector, he became closely involved with arts and health developments in the UK, Europe, Australia and Japan and proved central to strategic developments and practical activity in this field over decades. In 2011 he facilitated a series of participatory workshops across the North West UK exploring the impact of the arts on wider society and developing the Manifesto for Arts & Health. Between 2009 and 2023 he wrote a regular blog which garnered a large international readership and offered opportunities to access funding, training and networking, while holding up a critical lens to its own community. Between 2012 and 2018 he was director of the National Alliance for Arts, Health and Wellbeing and was closely involved with the development of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health & Wellbeing for which the Alliance provided the secretariat. From its inception, he was the North West regional champion for arts and health in the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance. Clive worked closely with Socialiniai Meno Projektai in Lithuania to develop culturally focused research, advocacy and policy. In the UK, Italy and Turkey he worked with people in recovery, reframing thinking about substance misuse from a cultural perspective. He wrote the Recoverist Manifesto in 2014 after working collectively with people affected by substance misuse and collaborated with the groundbreaking Portraits of Recovery. The Manifesto is available in Dutch, English, Gaelic, Italian, Lithuanian and Turkish. A regular speaker at international conferences, between 2009 and 2016 he supported the development of the Australian Centre for Arts and Health, speaking at their conference regularly. He spoke at MoMA in New York, TATE Liverpool, the V&A in London and the MCA in Sydney, and at numerous international events including conferences and seminars in Japan, Estonia, Ireland, China and Cambodia. In Australia he was keynote speaker at Artlands Dubbo in 2016 and in 2017 he was a commissioned artist at The Big Anxiety Festival. Between 2014 and 2017 he worked in collaboration with Australian artist Vic McEwan on an artists’ residency at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where he wrote the book Critical Care as a response to McEwan’s practice and the unfolding relationships that took place within the clinical environment. He convened the Manchester Institute for Arts, Health & Social Change (MIAHSC) and in 2019 compiled and published The Manchester Declaration from workshops and conversations with citizens and workers across Greater Manchester - people who are unified in their belief that the arts, in all their forms, offer a collective force for social change. In 2021 he wrote A Social Glue, a report for Greater Manchester Combined Authority which explores the potential of culture and the arts across the city region and setting out some tangible recommendations informing The Greater Manchester Creative Health Strategy published in November 2022. Also in 2022 the University of Manchester made him honorary chair of Creative Health & Social Change. In June 2024 he formally closed MIAHSC. His keynote for the Culture, Health & Wellbeing International Conference 2021 explored his ruminations on power, inequality and sustainability through the experience of his own treatment. Increasingly after his diagnosis - and regardless of a difficult prognosis - he found his curiosity and imagination piqued by the increased awareness of his own mortality.  He met the writer Jenn Ashworth and with her explored the tricky space between nature writing, the cult of wellbeing, friendship and mortality. In July 2025 her new book - The Parallel Path - was published, describing their interactions investigating these subjects.  At the time of his death, he was also exploring an extensive and unpublished archive relating to the writer and artist Denton Welch and was experimenting with found Super 8 home cine film, reimagining the unknown narratives of strangers.   Many of Clive’s short films can be viewed here:  https://cliveparkinson.org/film   There will be a signed agreement between the donors and the recipient confirming the commitment to deliver a finished film by the agreed date. If the recipient fails to deliver the film on time as prescribed, they must repay 50% of the award which may then be awarded to another submission. The committee may not make an award in a given year if they do not receive any submissions deserving of the funds. The grant is awarded to a single project but may be shared between multiple recipients if those recipients are joint producers/co-directors of the film. The use of Artificial Intelligence is not permitted in any aspect of the film’s production, and use of any AI software will result in the immediate forfeit of the grant. Note that if the film incorporates any visual or audio material from another source, the recipient is responsible for all permissions and clearances for the use of that material in the film. With respect to First Nations cultural material, grant applicants will also need to affirm that they will obtain cultural consent from the custodians of any cultural knowledge or material that is portrayed in their film for them to exhibit the film at the screening and into the future. You should be able to request written proof of same at any time. Note also that upon completion of the film, all copyright will be with the artist(s); the Endowment will have no financial interest in whatever life the film may have beyond these initial screenings (we will retain exhibition rights in perpetuity, but if any revenue is realised through exhibition in whatever form by the Endowment, 100% of that revenue will be paid to the artist(s)). NOTE: The views of the Clive Parkinson Film Endowment and film makers are their own and do not reflect the views of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the NSW Government, or the Manchester Museum.