Spike Island is excited to launch the second edition of the Lingua Franca Award in partnership with artist and writer Phil Toy – an opportunity for artists whose work explores the relationship between visual art, language and writing. 

Lingua Franca: a language used for communications between groups of people who do not share a mother tongue. 

In the spirit of a lingua franca, this award is dedicated to supporting artists whose works bridge the gap between visual and verbal languages, exploring poetic expression through visual art and writing. 

We are proud to offer this opportunity to support an artist’s development at a key point in their career. The award will include a fund paid directly to the artist – whether for the realisation of a new work, or to fund a period of artistic research and exploration. 

The successful applicant will be granted: 

• A £2,000 award 
• Three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Phil Toy, offering a chance to discuss ideas, approaches and artistic direction in depth 

Though there is no requirement for an outcome at the end of the award, the recipient will have the opportunity to share their work at the end of the year, should they desire to do so. This could be a formal or informal sharing of work or process with the Spike Island community, through our regular community talks series, the Spike Island Associates programme, or a display in one of our internal spaces.

ELIGIBILITY 

The Lingua Franca Award is offered by open call to Spike Island’s studio holders and Associate members.  

We invite applications from artists working in any medium whose practice engages with language, writing, or text in a meaningful way. 

APPLICATION
Applicants should submit: 

• A short artist statement (max 250 words) 
• A proposal outlining how they would use the award and why this is a timely opportunity for their practice (max 400 words) 
• 6–10 images or examples of recent work 
• A current CV (max 2 pages) 

Deadline for applications: Sunday 4 October 2026, 11.59pm

ABOUT PHIL TOY 

Phil Toy is a visual artist and writer of literary fiction and poetry. He is interested in the relationship of beliefs/science; reason/irrationality; two/three-dimensional worlds.      

He is a conceptual, experimental artist who takes a multidisciplinary and multimedia approach to his work. He is now focusing on the relationship of visual art and linguistic expression. This has been influenced by his recent studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.  

He has exhibited work widely, nationally and internationally, as well as organising and taking part in international exchanges. He has had a long association with Spike Island as a former studio holder and committee member. He is based in Bristol.  

philtoywriterartist.com