Residencies
Our Residency Programmes are a way to explore new ideas, create work and contribute to our creative community. Residencies are awarded by application only. See below for a list of our current residency opportunities. Jelly is a diverse collective of practising artists at different stages of their creative development covering varied artforms. We work with many different communities from our central studio space in Reading town centre.
A residency at Jelly offers artists an experimental and supportive space to develop their creative practice and professional development.
Applications for residencies are now OPEN - Click here to apply
The deadline for applications is
9pm Wednesday 10th December 2025
For our next round of artist residencies we are opening applications specifically for artists who live in Reading or are members of Jelly’s associate artist scheme.
Artists are invited to consider responses to the idea of Play.
How does play influence your creativity?
How can play create connection?
How can you inspire others to play in your town?
What role does play have in the local and global arts community?
We encourage you to explore the joy, experimentation, and possibilities that emerge through play in all its forms. Whether through playful processes, reimagining spaces for play, or exploring the deeper meanings of playfulness, we welcome proposals that reflect on the power of play in creating meaningful art.
These residencies will take place between March 2026 and May 2026. Residencies are for a two week period, starting on a Wednesday and finishing on a Tuesday.
Residency includes:
Stipend: £300
Additionally you will have free use of a studio space for two weeks (which is equivalent to £75 studio rent).
The money will be a contribution towards your time, and Jelly will separately support materials for public engagement where appropriate.
Space: You will be given your own space to work within the Jelly studios.
Access to this space is 24 hours. This space is yours to create in.
Support: The Jelly team will support you in the development of your public engagement activities and considering how these can most benefit your own arts practice.
Promotion: Your practice and residency will be promoted through our social media channels.
Associate Artist scheme: You will receive one year of free membership to our Associate Artist scheme in order to receive continued support and development from Jelly (which is equivalent to £72). You can see more about the scheme here https://www.jelly.org.uk/associate-artists
2025/2026 Open for Art ‘Play’ Residencies:
Our residencies have public workshops where our space is open for you to learn about the resident artist and their practice. Click here for all current residency events
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Catherine Paiano is an illustrator and lecturer. She specialises in illustration for editorial, publishing, advertising and site-specific installations. She has produced work for clients such as US Vogue, The Covent Gardener Magazine, The Big Issue, Bob Dylan, Sir Paul McCartney.
Instagram: @catherinepaiano
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Laurence Tidy is an artist based in Brighton and Hove. He is a final year undergraduate student in Fine Art Painting at the University of Brighton. His current artistic practice is focussed on assemblage, intervening in found objects and combining materials, photographs, and paint.
Instagram: @laurencetidy
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David’s work blends abstract expressionism with figurative elements, drawing from a life shaped by global movement and cultural diversity. Influenced by cartoons, anime, and raw emotion, he uses vibrant colour, geometry, and layered storytelling to explore identity, memory, and self-reclamation. His practice is deeply personal yet universally resonant—rooted in introspection, shaped by lived experience, and committed to creating spaces where people feel seen.
Instagram: @davelightlytoasted
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George Bull is a photographer and teacher based in Reading. His practice mixes portraiture and documentary styles to tell stories. He recently completed an MA in Photography with Falmouth University and is continuing to produce work with asylum seekers, refugees and mirgated people to document their experiences in the UK.
Instagram: @george_c_bull
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Ruby is a multidisciplinary artist specialising in installation, performance, and sculpture.
Instagram: @gluemuseum
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Lewis is a multidisciplinary artist and illustrator based in London. He is passionate about play and observation as a means to make art and live life. He’ll share how a simple prompt helped shift how he sees the world - and made him a happier person.
Instagram: @odditycraft
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Emma Denby is an artist who works within the public realm to collaborate with others, exploring playful artworks and environments which inspire curiosity and wonder.
Instagram: @emmadenbyart
2024/2025 Open for Art ‘Impact’ Residencies:
Our residencies have public workshops where our space is open for you to learn about the resident artist and their practice. Click here for all current residency events
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Polite Extinction, aka Issa, trained in Textile Fine Art. She works in museums and theatres, researching the connection between embroidery and drawing. She will give a brief introduction to how embroidery influences her research practice and will you share examples of her 3D work.
Instagram: @politeextinction
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Dezeta Fantie is a Black British Caribbean interdisciplinary artist that predominantly works with textiles, collage and text. Recently graduating from a BA in Fine Art, she enjoys finding new ways to share her practise and further exploring how traditional textile processes can be used to tell stories. Exploring history and reflecting on her own heritage, her process begins with collecting, collaging and reading. Fantie’s practice concerns creating a visual language and textile landscape that preserves, reimagines and celebrates the lives of black women, past, present or imagined.
Instagram: @dezzartzz
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Emaan Pirzada (b. Hyderabad, Pakistan) graduated with honours in miniature painting from the National College of Arts (2021). Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally, including solo shows and prestigious projects like representing Pakistan in Cairo (2019). Recently, she received a residency sponsorship in France. Based in Islamabad, Pirzada actively promotes South Asian art as Coordinator at Foundation Art Divvy. Her art practice, inspired by place and environment (topophilia), has evolved from traditional miniature to mixed media over the years. Drawn to the emotive and detailed aspects of each new location, she captures them through compositions, transforming her observations into imaginary mind palaces. Her experimentation includes tea washes, inks, collage, and more, however, graphite remains a constant.
Instagram: @emaanpirzada__
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Jessica Brauner is a Fine Arts graduate from UAL Camberwell College of Art. She is an emerging mixed-media artist specialising in video and performance.
Instagram: @jessicabraunerartist
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Charlotte Hollis is a neurodivergent textile artist, exploring historic embroidery techniques through modern materials, imagery and sensibilities. She has been a lifelong ‘maker’, but only began to accept ‘artist’ or ‘artist-maker’ since the ‘unstitched coif..’ project in 2023. Her contribution to this project has recently been accepted into the ‘Fashion before 1800’ collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which has encouraged her to follow her artistic ambitions.
Her work is full of heart and humour, and seeks to bring textile history to the forefront whilst soothing herself and others through turbulent modernity.
Website: https://blackworkembroidery.org/an-unstitched-coif-stitchers/charlotte-hollis/
Instagram: anewlystitchedcoif
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Areej Abdi is a multidisciplinary artist/printmaker educator that works with various mediums depending on the subject. Her work is intertwined with nature, the environment and world issues. Her practice invites viewers to challenge their thoughts and ideas. She believes that all should have the opportunity to use art as a voice for emotive release. Her current work is focusing on automatic drawing as a means to help with mental health and wellbeing.
Instagram: areejabdi
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Dr. Michael Day is an artist, researcher, lecturer, and occasional curator. He is interested in the ways that external factors can structure individual experience, and produces artworks that explore relationships between technology, class, and agency. His practice is interdisciplinary and uses a range of media and technologies, including digital media, sound, installation, drawing and print. He has exhibited and screened work in venues across the UK, in Europe, and internationally.
Website: www.michaelday.uk Instagram: @michaelday.uk
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Jim predominantly makes sculptural work, creating forms in diverse media particularly stone, metal and glass. His practice is highly process-driven and he enjoys experimenting with techniques and combining materials in novel ways.
He is a board member of the Engine Room, an arts and mental health project that creates a space for individuals to access creative opportunities that will support empowerment, recovery and creative development
During this residency, while carving wax masters for bronze casting, he will record an aesthetic diary to assess the emotional impact of various aspects of the creative journey.
Website: Instagram:
Past Residencies
Studio Space
