Clio Barnard, Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Kent, is one of only two artists who are the first to recieve funding from a new £1m commissioning arts fund. The Jerwood/Artangel Open, in association with Channel 4 and Arts Council England, was launched last summer and recieved almost 1000 proposals by artists working in sculpture, film and performance who imagined transformations of sites and situations across the UK.

Professor Jill Davis, Head of the School of Drama, Film and VIsual Arts at Kent said; "This is great news. It is a most prestigious award for an exciting project, and coming a year after Clio was awarded the Hamlyn prize confirms her as one of Britain's major young film artists."

Clio Barnard's singular talent as a filmaker was revealed in her Road Race video installation about gypsies racing horses on the M2, the acclaimed Random Acts of Intimacy and her 35mm film Flood. Barnard's new project will see her working with contrasting communities in Britain on an ambitious live performance and feature-length film.

[Pascale Blackburn]

Links

• For further information about Clio and The University of Kent Film Studies course see http://www.kent.ac.uk/sdfva/film/staff/c_barnard.html
• For more information on the Jerwood Prize see www.jerwood.org