PAOTY 2021 Heats Closed to the Public

Sky Arts have announced that the upcoming Heats of Portrait Artist of the Year 2021 will be closed to the public. The Heats are due to start filming at Battersea Arts Centre next week.

You can see the email which was sent out last night above. This followed the early evening announcement by the Government of the escalation and toughening of the advice about social distancing and social isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic.

So:

• the Heats are still taking place
• the only people there will be the sitters, artists, production team (and I expect they might be stripped back to the minimum required) plus the Judges and Presenters
• Dame Joan Bakewell will not be present as she is currently in "social isolation" at home due to a recent problem with a cough (unrelated to coronavirus) - as she announced on television this morning - and has cancelled all upcoming work commitments.
• IGNORE my blog post How to watch heats of Portrait Artist of the Year 2021

Which means absolutely nobody is going to know who won each Heat - except the people who were there - before we see it on television this time next year.

PS Don't forget the Semi Final is tonight. 

I'll leave you with my photo of the lineup of their Heat Portraits. See if you can guess which ones get through to the Final!

Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 - Heat Portraits at the semi-final.