Young artist can follow her dreams thanks to grant

The 22-year-old from Bradford on Avon is in the third year of a fine art degree at Central Saint Martins University of the Arts in London and says the £1,500 a year she has received has made all the difference.

“Without the grant I wouldn’t have been able to have even considered going to London,” said the former Corsham School and Wiltshire College student.

”It’s so valuable having that comfort blanket where you don’t worry about money so much. It really makes all the difference.”

She found out about St Martins while studying an art foundation course at Wiltshire College’s Trowbridge campus and set her heart on studying there.

“I’ve always been really creative so I knew I wanted to do some kind of art degree. Central Saint Martins is such a well-known arts uni, I thought I would get more opportunities, more experience and a higher likelihood of earning money through art there,” she said.

“But I come from a low income single parent background so I was panicking about going to London. The expense felt really daunting, especially when you added everything up on paper. My family were the guarantors of my flat so it was on their head if I couldn’t pay my rent.”

The grant was paid in two instalments over the course of the year.

“I just divided it up by however many weeks it was until the next payment and that came to about £50 a week, which is obviously a lot. It was amazing because that covered my food shop for the week and I also used it to buy a travel pass because the tube fare was draining my bank account, so it is nice not to have to worry.”

Students at Saint Martins are expected to buy their own art materials so Daisy, who works in analogue photography and chemical experimentation, was able to use some of the grant to keep working and experimenting, especially when she had to work at home during lockdown.

She said the majority of peers on her course are from privileged backgrounds but having the grant helped her establish herself and overcome any feelings of inferiority.

“Being able to have access to the opportunities at university is really important to me and having a level playing field with my peers, who have better financial advantages, has been good,” she said.

“Everyone I know there is either home educated or privately educated so the difference was really extreme. It was nice not to have to worry as much about that.”

Her work at university has helped her apply for two successful third year placements in Italy and Iceland and she is also helping a community development art project in Gloucester this spring. She has worked for an event company for the last two summers to save for the trips.

She said: “It’s such a good way of building connections for when I finish uni. I definitely want to do something with accessing the arts or something that helps other people when I leave because I love talking about it.

“I’m very grateful that the grant has opened up these opportunities for me.”

Wiltshire Community Foundation Fiona Oliver said: “It’s fantastic to hear stories like Daisy’s because this is exactly why we run our University Bursary programme. Why should someone with Daisy’s talent and drive be denied the chance to fulfil her promise just because of the financial barrier?

“Our generous donors who support this programme are giving dozens of young people like Daisy the chance to literally change their lives.”

Wiltshire Community Foundation has awarded more than £1.6 million in education bursaries since their launch in 2008. Last year it awarded more than £300,000 to 62 young people.

Applications for bursaries, now increased to £1,600 for each year of the course, are open until March 31 to students aged under 25 whose parents are in receipt of two benefits or two elements of Universal Credit. Full details of eligibility and how to apply are at wiltshirecf.org.uk. To see Daisy’s work find her on Instagram at @_daisybrownart.

Visit Instagram @_daisybrownart