The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is proud to announce that Dr Ally Zlatar, a Master of Letters (MLitt) in Curatorial Practice Contemporary Art graduate, has won the ‘Culture and Creativity’ category at the British Council Study UK Alumni Awards 2025 in the United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday, 14 May 2025. Co-ordinated by The British Council, and now in their eleventh year, these prestigious awards aim to celebrate and recognise the achievements of UK alumni in their home countries across the fields of Culture and Creativity, Science and Sustainability, Business and Innovation, and Social Action.
Dr Zlatar was nominated earlier this year alongside fellow GSA graduate Postdoctoral Research Fellow Danilo Baraúna (PhD Fine Art 2022), who was announced as a national finalist for Brazil. Her remarkable achievement follows that of GSA graduate Jaxton Su (Masters in Fine Art 2018), who won the Culture and Creativity award for Singapore in 2022.
The Culture and Creativity Award recognises alumni who have made significant contributions to the arts and culture, demonstrating artistic ingenuity, influence, and creativity that have shaped the cultural landscape.
Dr. Ally Zlatar is an artist, scholar, and activist. Founder of The Starving Artist and its Scholarship Fund, she advocates for systemic reform through creative voices. Her This Body of Mine project supports migrant artists globally. A recipient of awards including the Commonwealth Innovation Award (2023), she studied in the UK, including securing an MLitt from the Glasgow School of Art (GSA), shaping her work at the intersection of art, mental health, and social justice. Since the inception of the The Starving Artist fund, Ally has taken her platform to institutions such as the British Museum, Smithsonian Institution, TEDx, and hosted over 40 artist talks and 20+ exhibitions, attended by more than 2,000 individuals.
“On behalf of everyone at The Glasgow School of Art, it gives me great pleasure to offer huge congratulations to Dr. Ally Zlater for receiving the UK Study Alumni Award for Culture and Creativity in the United Arab Emirates.” says Professor Rachel Dickson, Deputy Director and Vice Principal (Academic) at The Glasgow School of Art.
“Since graduating in 2019 with a Master of Letters in Curatorial Practice Contemporary Art, Ally has gone on to have a significant and lasting impact on the lives of many through her initiative ‘The Starving Artist.’ Using art as a tool to navigate through her own past experiences, Ally has a firm belief, as we at The Glasgow School of Art do, in the transformative and profound impact the arts and creative education can have in changing lives, improving communities, and empowering others. What Ally has achieved to date is truly remarkable, and we are delighted that her work has been recognised at these prestigious awards.”
For further information please contact press@gsa.ac.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About The Glasgow School of Art (GSA)
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA) is internationally recognised as one of Europe’s leading independent university-level institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines. Our studio-based, specialist, practice-led teaching, learning and research draw talented individuals with a shared passion for visual culture and creative production from all over the world. Originally founded in 1845 as one of the first Government Schools of Design, the School’s history can be traced back to 1753 and the establishment of the Foulis Academy delivering a European-style art education. Today, the GSA is an international community of over 3500 students and staff across architecture, design, fine art, innovation and technology in our campuses in Glasgow and Altyre (in the Scottish Highlands) and a thriving Open Studio programme delivering non-degree provision to over 1500 students annually.
About Dr Ally Zlatar
Ally Zlatar is an artist, scholar, and activist. She is the founder of The Starving Artist; an artist initiative that utilises creative voices as a way to create advocacy and systemic reform. She also founded The Starving Artist Scholarship Fund, which helps people access inpatient mental health treatment. Her “This Body of Mine” campaign explores migrant experiences through creative voices and has helped support individuals and artists from refugee-seeking backgrounds globally.
Ally Zlatar has received numerous accolades for humanitarian work, such as the Commonwealth Innovation Awards (2023), UNWomen 30 for 2030 (2024), winner of The Princess Diana Legacy Award (2021), King Hamad Award for Youth Empowerment (2022), the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award from the Ontario Government of Canada (2023), and also special recognition from the British Citizen Award (2022).
She holds a BFA in Visual Art & Art History from Queen’s University & an MLitt Curatorial Practice and Contemporary Art from the Glasgow School of Art. Her Doctorate in Creative Arts was completed at the University of Southern Queensland, focusing on embodied experiences of mental illness in contemporary art. Zlatar is a Lecturer at the University of Sharjah and has taught at the University of Glasgow, KICL London, and the University of Essex (UEIC).
Zlatar uses art as a tool to delve into the complexity of the human experience, particularly focusing on illness, vulnerability, and authenticity. Her work draws from personal experiences & auto-ethnography to drive change. She recognises the power in examining the unwell body and utilises art as a means of activism, aiming to spark dialogue and create societal impact.
About Study UK
Study UK is a global campaign that promotes the UK as the first-choice study destination to international students and their influencers. It is the UK’s only national-level campaign that showcases the UK’s outstanding higher education offering and the life-changing opportunities it brings. Study UK is led and delivered by the British Council in partnership with the UK government’s GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Campaign. For more information visit https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/ . You can also keep in touch with Study UK through https://x.com/StudyUKBritish and https://study-uk.britishcouncil.org/blog.
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education, and the English language. We work with people in more than 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2022-23 we reached 600 million people. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through https://x.com/britishcouncil and http://blog.britishcouncil.org.
