About a-n

Some news from a-n, brought to you by our Head of programmes, Gillian Nicol.

Dear reader,
I'm writing to let you know that the last print edition of a-n Magazine will be the June issue. After that, you will continue to be able to reach our audience of artists and art professionals via the a-n website and our events.

Our decision comes after considerable consultation, and careful review of changing reader and advertiser habits. It is informed by steady growth in use of our website and engagement through events along with increased costs of print production within a continuing difficult economic environment. To continue providing good things for artists and the visual arts community in the future, we've got to ensure a-n is light-weight and nimble and that we use all our resources wisely.

a-n's always been about embracing and adapting to change, so over the years we've worked to build up a diverse range of ways for artists to converse with each other and engage with the debates about visual arts practice. As a result, AIR is fully-fledged, acting as a substantial force and 'voice' for artists, becoming very influential in arts policy and forging strong relationships with artists' organisations in the UK and internationally. Our online Jobs and Opportunities service, celebrating its fourth birthday, has promoted over £66m worth of work and is the top landing page for visitors to www.a-n.co.uk.

Whilst there is a genuine fondness and attachment to the printed a-n Magazine - and we're proud of what it has achieved over its thirty-two years - a-n's core purpose is to strive for a healthy environment for the visual arts and artists. And while for many years a printed magazine was the best way to do this, the challenges of a rapidly changing world and the constraints of the economic environment call for new and decisive approaches.

We'll continue to offer our valued advertisers cost-effective methods of reaching our large and growing membership of 18,000+ and want to work increasingly closely with you to ensure we're best meeting your needs and making the most of mutual overlap in our programmes and areas of interest. At your request, we have started to develop promotion through e-bulletins, as well as extensive online features such as Spotlight.

Keep in touch so that you can make the most of the programmes we will be rolling out over coming months. Here are some highlights:

- A brand new website for our niche professional community, providing tools for collaboration, development, and for making and finding work.

- Granted: a timely professional development and networking programme, working in partnership to bring your services and ours to artists and arts freelancers with an established practice who want to improve their fund-raising, collaborative and social media skills.

- New benefits for subscribing art organisers and artists - supporting artistic development and working relationships by granting access to essential products and services

We're all very excited to be moving onto the next phase of development and look forward to travelling into the future together.

Gillian Nicol
Head of Programmes

First published: a-n.co.uk March 2012