Equity is delighted to announce the recipients of the 2025 Student and Young Member Bursaries.
Congratulations to this year’s awardees:
Young Member Bursary recipients:
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Spike Padley
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Lish Adam
Student Bursary recipients:
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Ellie Alcock
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Jahnavi Chaturvedi
Each bursary, worth £500, is designed to support Student and Young Members with the costs of starting out in their professional careers within the entertainment industry.
The Student and Young Member Bursaries are made possible through the generous contributions of Equity Life Members, whose donations reflect their continued solidarity with the next generation of creative professionals.
This bursary means a lot for me, now I have graduated I need to move back to Dorset to spend some time with my Mum, who during my final year got diagnosed with a terminal illness. So this money will go towards my travel for auditions and jobs, so I am feeling incredibly grateful
Ellie Alcock
I firmly believe that everything unfolds for our ultimate benefit, so I am happy. Thank you so much for this. I'm planning to use this money to hire an agency for myself.
Jahnavi Chaturvedi
With joy and thanks to Equity / For this award of bursary / Which helps produce a new showreel / And train more too, I can reveal / Now setting out in my career / Held by these hands, I need not fear
Spike Padley
Each year, bursaries are awarded to two Equity Student Members in their final year of study on a course lasting one year or more, and to two members of Equity aged 18–30. You can read more about Equity’s Student Membership and join here and keep up to date with everything the Student Deputies Committee is doing on Instagram here.
Applications for the 2026 Bursaries will open next spring.
Break Down Barriers: Abolish Audition Fees
Equity is campaigning to abolish audition fees and hidden course costs for performing arts students. Performing arts students are struggling to pay course costs, with two-thirds of working-class students put off from entering the industry.
We believe no one should have to pay to train and everyone should have the chance to pursue their talents no matter their background. The performing arts should be for all, reflecting the diversity of voices and experiences that make up society. Sign the petition below to call on institutions with creative and performing arts courses to scrap audition fees.
Find out more about the Break Down Barriers: Abolish Audition Fees campaign.
Sign the petition
