Editorial

News

12.02.21

#ArtIsEssential

It is a particularly uncertain time as we continue to understand the long-term effects of the pandemic on our lives, and the impact of Brexit on how we live and work. The #ArtIsEssential campaign has been set up to unite us as one voice. As a sector, we need to come together to be visible throughout 2021 and the run-up to the Government Comprehensive Spending Review.

Whether you are an artist, arts freelancer, arts educator, arts professional, venue, organisation, network or anyone in between – you can make a difference by being part of this campaign. Let us unite to influence policy and decision-makers to do the right thing by our sector.

Media

09.11.20

CVAN Webinars – The Power of Art: Creating an equitable and inclusive society

Responding to data collected via the recent impact survey on the affect of COVID-19 on the sector, the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) of which we are part, organised a series of webinars designed to bring the visual arts together, provide confidence, celebrate innovation and foster interconnectedness as we all move into the next phase of response and recovery to the pandemic. The discussions address pressing questions for the sector over the coming months and years.

News

31.07.20

The Contemporary Art Society acquires 106 works by 16 artists for museums and communities across the UK through its Rapid Response Fund

The Contemporary Art Society’s Rapid Response Fund has bought 106 works of art for 16 museums across the UK, financially supporting artists and helping museums reach out to new audiences as they beginning their re-opening programmes as coronavirus-based restrictions ease. This includes acquisitions for The Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and The New Art Gallery Walsall.

News

09.07.20

Grand Union celebrates Jamie Crewe receiving £10,000 Turner Bursary

Grand Union is celebrating artist Jamie Crewe’s selection for a Turner Bursary, having been nominated for their sister exhibitions: ‘Love & Solidarity’ and ‘Solidarity & Love’ at Grand Union, Birmingham, and Humber Street Gallery, Hull. Earlier in the year Tate announced that it would award one-off bursaries of £10,000 to 10 artists in place of this year’s Turner Prize, as a way to support a large selection of artists through this precarious and uncertain time.

News

17.06.20

Shropshire Council emergency arts grants 2020

In response to the current crisis Shropshire Council have provided emergency grant funding to 23 arts organisations, venues and festivals in the county. The funding is supporting a huge amount of high-quality arts activity. Over the next six months, communities from across Shropshire will have the opportunity to get involved in a range of exciting online and digital arts activities. It’s estimated that over 23,000 people will benefit, as either participants or audience members.

News

19.05.20

Artists Make Change: “Artists need to be more involved in policy decisions”

a-n Artists Council has initiated a 12-month research and development project that will explore the role of the artist in society and advocate for how artists and art organisers can effectively work for change. Glen Stoker, a visual artist and Director of Stoke-on-Trent-based artist-led project AirSpace Gallery, and Rachel Dobbs, an artist and educator based in Plymouth speak to Jack Hutchinson about the project and how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their plans – via a-n.

Media Review

20.04.20

Jamie Crewe: Love & Solidarity at Grand Union reviewed

The term ‘community’ conjures images of disparate individuals joined by shared interests, experiences, cultures, or religion. But the term also groups unquestioningly, disregarding an acknowledgement that frictions can – and do – exist. Jamie Crewe’s ‘Love & Solidarity’ at Grand Union, Birmingham, offers a conflictual understanding of kinship, and parameters for queer love and disdain. Review by Ryan Kearney – via this is tomorrow

News

02.04.20

Calling all artists & visual arts freelancers …

Last week, Arts Council England and HM Treasury announced emergency sector support measures to help visual arts workers affected by COVID-19. We are keen to develop our understanding of the impact of these measures upon the visual arts sector. The Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN) has built a survey with Earthen Lamp + other partners and are looking for your help.

The research will inform our approach to sector support collaboration moving forward.

News

06.03.20

The University of Worcester & New Art West Midlands present Matías Serra Delmar exhibition

New Art West Midlands x Coventry Biennial alumnus Matías Serra Delmar is currently exhibiting his work No Particular Order in the windows of University of Worcester’s Art House building. It is a University of Worcester exhibition, presented by New Art West Midlands in association with curator Sylvia Theuri, currently New Art West Midlands and International Curators Forum Curator in Residence.

News

28.02.20

Ambition, challenges and slaughtering sacred cows, a year in the life of DASH’s first Curator-in-Residence

Anna Berry’s year-long residency at Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) is the first instalment of DASH’s Curatorial Commissions Programme, pairing disabled curators with mainstream arts organisations. Berry’s residency has culminated in the Art and Social Change exhibition at MAC 11 January – 22 March. Berry along with Deborah Kermode, CEO and Artistic Director, MAC, and curator and mentor Jess Litherland spoke to Disability Arts Online about the process.

Media

09.12.19

The Row – Axisweb Vacant Space, Coventry

The Row is a former NHS building located in the centre of Coventry. The space is currently being used by Coventry Artspace, a charity supporting the development of artists and the visual arts in Coventry. Most recently it was a venue for Coventry Biennial 2019.

In their film, Axisweb talk to Mindy Chillery, Executive Director of Coventry Artspace; Ryan Hughes, Founder and Artistic Director of Coventry Biennial and Mousethings (artists Adelaida Antúnez Egurbide and Alfie Gibbs) who were the recipients of the Axisweb commission to show work at the Coventry Biennial.

News

05.08.19

New Art West Midlands x Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art: Artists announced for new look New Art West Midlands 2019 exhibition

We are excited to announce the New Art West Midlands 2019 artists, selected by International Curators Forum:

Betsy Bradley, Hira Butt, Sarah Byrne, Gemma Costin, Anna Katarzyna Domejko, Andreana Fatta, Matt Gale, Amy Guo, Ewan Johnston, Navi Kaur, Shiyi Li, Mengxia Liu, Farwa Moledina, Tayyibah Mota, Laura Onions, Ameera Sadiq, Matías Serra Delmar, Rosie Piercy, Georgia Tucker and Lily Wales.

Media News

05.07.19

Socio-Economic Diversity and Inclusion in the Arts: A Toolkit for Employers

Fair access to working in the arts remains one of the most urgent issues facing the sector today, with those from lower socio-economic backgrounds still vastly underrepresented amongst the artists and employees of UK theatres, festivals, galleries and arts organisations of all kinds.

Jerwood Arts and the Bridge Group have joined forces for this Toolkit with a mission to look to the future: to support long-term change across the arts sector by sharing knowledge, providing expert support, and encouraging take-up of an intersectional approach to equality, diversity and inclusion. – via Jerwood Arts

Interview

24.05.19

Interview with Ryan Kearney: The Club’s Conception (or How the Egg Was Cracked)

The Club’s Conception (or How the Egg Was Cracked), currently on show at Recent Activity in Digbeth, retraces the demolished past venues of Birmingham’s The Nightingale Club, the city’s longest-running queer space. In collaboration with those who attended its three preceding venues, Ryan Kearney and Intervention Architecture map these spaces from recollections, replacing absent photographs and creating an archival presence.

We talked to Ryan about the exhibition.

News

22.05.19

Blast! – a festival of photography, talks and walks

Blast! is a new festival from Multistory made with and for the people of Sandwell which runs from Friday 24 May to Saturday 29 June.

The festival has invited 40 outstanding artists, photographers and curators to showcase work, develop projects and collaborate with communities to present stories about everyday life. With exhibitions, film screenings, events, talks and walks across Sandwell, Blast! will be presented on the streets, the Metro line, in shops, libraries and pubs, on historic buildings and in the community halls and venues of Sandwell.
Ort Gallery. Image credit: Marcin Sz

News

12.04.19

Ort Gallery selected to be part of GUILD programme

Ort Gallery in Birmingham is one of 20 artist-led spaces up and down the country selected to be part of East Street Arts’ four-year GUILD programme.

The programme will explore new approaches to business modelling, to embed groups within their localities and advocate their impact on social and political environments. It will seek to address the challenges faced by these groups, such as limited funding, resource and their tendency to experience burnout.

News

11.03.19

Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre’s Sculpture Production Award 2019

Supported by New Art West Midlands, the Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre inaugural Sculpture Production Award 2019 is open to emerging artists working in 3D, based within the UK but outside of London. The Award will provide six sculptors with skills mentoring and a £1,000 production grant towards the realisation of a new work. One of the six artists will also be invited to exhibit at the Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art 2019.

04.07.18

Walking Over Coals

Friction Arts’ CPPPD (continuing personal, practice and professional development) programme for emerging, post-emerging and submerging artists of all disciplines, ages and backgrounds. Over the course of a year a diverse group of arts practitioners will work together to make new, risk-taking work and create a group show from the ground up – including fundraising, developing and managing the project, while working with each other and a wide range of professionals from across the artistic spectrum.

Engine Travel

14.06.18

Laurie Ramsell reports on his trip to Edinburgh, developing a greater knowledge of bioart communities working within the UK

Exploring what it means to be human, Laurie Ramsell’s cross-disciplinary practice investigates themes of the perceived natural and unnatural experience through the use of biological material, often using his own body. In our latest round of opportunities Ramsell was awarded an Engine Micro Bursary to visit ASCUS Art & Science in Edinburgh to develop a greater knowledge of bioart communities working within the UK. He reports back on his trip.

Interview

01.06.18

Eastside Projects reopening: “A lot of positives have come out of what at first seemed a very bad situation”

Last June, Birmingham-based Eastside Projects unexpectedly closed its gallery space, with rumours circulating as to the reasons why. In this piece for a-n, Director Gavin Wade speaks to Jack Hutchinson about the real reasons for the closure, how it highlighted the support for Eastside Projects from Birmingham’s art scene and the organisation’s plans for the future.