Witter-Johnson is among five composers and five visual artists to receive a no-strings-attached grant of £75,000
The Paul Hamlyn Foundation has announced the ten recipients of its 2026 Awards for Artists. Established in 1994, the Awards for Artists supports visual artists and composers at a critical time in their careers.
Five composers and five visual artists were selected and each receive £75,000. Artists are free to use the money as they wish with no strings attached, providing time and space to develop their ideas and alleviating the pressures they are facing.
Artists and composers are nominated by a wide network of peers and the final decisions are made by a panel of four new judges each year.
Among the composer recipients is cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, alongside Olivia Chaney, Bushra El-Turk, Charlotte Keeffe and Daudi Matsiko.
Witter-Johnson is a composer, singer and cellist creating genre-fluid work that bridges classical composition, jazz improvisation and Afro-diasporic musical traditions. Her music explores identity, heritage and storytelling, often placing the voice and cello at the centre of richly textured sound worlds. Alongside her compositional work, she performs internationally and presents classical music on radio and stage.
The five visual artists to receive awards are Linda Bell, Racheal Crowther, Rory Pilgrim, Georgina Starr and Hayley Tompkins.
The awards were announced at an event on Wednesday 4 November in central London.
Kevin Le Gendre, writer, broadcaster, journalist and chair of composers judging panel, said: ’There is often a barrier to who has the chance to become a composer and who doesn’t.
’The “no strings attached” nature of our Awards for Artists aims to help overcome some of these barriers and encourage as much diversity, originality and risk in composing as possible.’
Read: ‘The cello is another storyteller’: Ayanna Witter-Johnson on her new album
Read: Giving voice: how three Levantine female singers inspired composer Bushra El-Turk
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