Awards and bursaries

The Award aims to assist two basketmakers to start up and grow as independent makers and business owners. We look for applicants who demonstrates entrepreneurial spirit, creative excellence and developed craft skills. The Company, in addition to supporting the Award financially, will be involved with the promotion and the selection of the recipient.

• Subsidised shared studio space for one year within the creative community at Cockpit,  with an anticipated start date between January – March 2027
• Business support services and professional development including one-to-one coaching and  workshops
• Selling and promotional opportunities, including two annual Cockpit Open Studios events

Required maker contribution: £1,000 per year (approx. £85/month)

• This Award is offered to basketmakers working in any craft discipline
• Makers who can demonstrate dedication to developing and nurturing their craft to a level of excellence and an interest in passing on their craft. 
• Please note: We only accept one application per applicant for each award round. If you are unsure of which award to apply for, please contact Kanny Morgan, Awards & Admissions Coordinator at kanny@cockpitstudios.org.  

Cockpit is committed to inclusion, diversity, and equity in all our activities, recognising that creativity and innovation are fuelled by diversity.  

Read our full statement and see our aims here.  

We particularly encourage applications from those who are underrepresented in craft including non-graduates, disabled, D/deaf, and neurodiverse people, LGBTQ+ people, and people from Black, Asian, and Global Majority* backgrounds. We welcome applicants from a range of educational backgrounds, and there is no minimum formal qualification for this programme.  

*Global Majority is a collective term that refers to people who are Black, Asian, dual-heritage, mixed-heritage, indigenous to the global South, and/or have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’.  

As part of our commitment to increasing diversity, we offer a guaranteed first round interview scheme for applicants who meet Cockpit’s eligibility criteria, the award criteria, and identify as being from a Global Majority background and/or as D/deaf and/or disabled. This scheme recognises under-representation and that structural injustices mean that currently there is not a ‘level-playing field’ in our sector or society.   

If you identify as having one or more of these protected characteristics and meet the eligibility and award criteria, please indicate in your application that you would like to be considered under our guaranteed interview scheme for a first round interview.   

If you have any questions, check our FAQs page or contact us.  

The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers was constituted by the Court of Aldermen in 1569, granted a livery of thirty in 1825 and received its Royal Charter from George VI in 1937. The Company was formed to regulate the basketmaking trade in the City of London and in 1463 trade was concentrated in the manor of Blanche Appleton, in the area of the present Guild Church of St. Margaret Pattens. The Company not only possesses a superb collection, extending more than three centuries, of plate, regalia and records, but many examples of basketwork, including some miniature Madeira baskets presented by the late Princess Royal when she became an honorary Freeman as was the late Queen Mary. HRH the Duchess of Gloucester is currently an honorary Liveryman of the Company.