Since Watershed opened its doors in 1982, support of artists and development of artistic practice has always been central to its aims.

The Clark’s Bursary scheme, which ran for 10 years from 1998 - 2007, played a major part in Watershed’s history and its continued dedication to supporting development of new, experimental, digital works, within flexible environments.

Artists supported through the Clark’s Bursary scheme included, amongst others, Mongrel, Simon Poulter, Joe Magee, Luke Jerram, Stanza and Duncan Speakman. The legacy of the bursary is still very much apparent, with recipient artists continuing to develop and flourish in their respective fields.

The impact of Clark’s Bursary on Watershed’s approach to digital was also significant and very much informed its creative ethos. One of the results for Watershed is the evolution of the Pervasive Media Studio.

So, to further build on the success of both the Studio and the Clark’s Bursary programme, we’re pleased to this year receive support from the Arts Council of England through the Digital Opportunities programme 2008-2011, to develop two new projects at the Studio.

Maintaining the ethos of the Bursary, the aim of the research residencies is to provide artists with the space to be creative and develop digital practice in an unpressured environment, without the demands of producing a finalised piece of work. The focus is squarely on development, but we have as usual, tasked the artists with exposing their process and engaging the public throughout.

So to kick-off today, we were pleased to welcome Jay Kerry, Becca Gill and Hazel Grian, who’ll be working with us over the next two months.

This event offered an opportunity to find out more about the artists, their practice and their residency projects.

It was a chance to hear short presentations from both projects, followed by questions, advice, suggestions and reflections.

The ethos of the Studio is around shared practice and experience, so we were pleased that people were able to share their thoughts and ideas with our artists today.

To find out more about the projects, next events and to follow their progress through online journals, please visit: http://www.pmstudio.co.uk/project/artists-residencies