AIR

It’s great to see a number of AIR members amongst the 152 people recently appointed by Arts Council England to write assessments on the artistic work of its regularly funded organisations.

Assessors include artists, arts managers, academics and journalists. Their artistic assessments will feed into the Arts Council's evaluation of regularly funded organisations, providing a basis for discussions about artistic quality and a broad evidence base to inform the Arts Council's funding decisions. Assessments will be shared with arts organisations and may provide a useful context for organisations' own conversations about artistic quality. The assessors have been awarded a two-year contract for services to write between ten and fourteen reports annually for a fee of £1,000 a year plus expenses.

Mike Golding is Associate Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Contemporary Photographic Practice course at Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne. He gained an MA in Fine Art at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic in 1989. In 1994 he began his career in higher education after over 20 years of working with photography in a variety of fields. He uses still photography and digital video to make work about the past, memory and photography and the role they play in social, political and psychological formation. Mike's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and he has completed residencies in both Australia and Finland as part of academic exchange programmes. In September 2008 he completed a PhD at Sunderland University.

Barbara Gunter-Jones is a consultant for the creative industries and textile artist. From 2000-2008, she managed Crafts Council projects and events including Chelsea Crafts Fair, trade missions for designer-makers to New York, Tokyo and Philadelphia, and Origin: The London Craft Fair at Somerset House. She has researched extensively into craft practice, including evaluation of the Japanese market for UK designer-makers and, in 2009, investigation into opportunities for mid-career makers for Designer Maker West Midlands. Prior to employment with the Crafts Council, she worked as a textile designer running a successful print studio in London for four years. During this time she also worked as Interiors Editor for The Mix trend-forecasting publications.

Kai-Oi Jay Yung is an interdisciplinary artist, whose making spans video installation, documentary to live performance. Her socially engaged practice triggers exchange, with chance, dark humour and shamanistic play interweaving glue. She was one of a-n's first bloggers with her contribution to www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited in 2006. Residencies include La Friche La Belle De Mai, Libya with British Council and in China with Grizedale Arts and Vitamin Creative Space. Exhibitions include Sock Exchange, FACT, Far West, Arnolfini, Istanbul Biennial, Tart Gallery, San Francisco and Whitechapel Gallery. A lecturer and critical writer for a-n and Liverpool John Moores, Kai-Oi Jay also devises education/outreach programmes for Tate and Cornerhouse, such as 'Art of Social Engagement' and Zaha Hadid, Manchester International Festival. She was highlighted as Observer Magazine Top 50, following Guardian/Courvoisier Future 500 selection in 2009.
www.jay-yung.com

David Trigg is an art writer based in Bristol. He is a regular contributor to Art Monthly, a-n Magazine, MAP, Art Papers, frieze.com and Art Review and has also written for Untitled, Circa, Flash Art International, Metro and Proof. David gained his degree in Fine Art Painting from Bath School of Art and Design, where he was also awarded a Postgraduate Fellowship in 2001. He has since worked as Reviews Editor for the Bristol arts publication Decode Magazine as well as holding positions at Arnolfini Gallery and University of Bristol. In 2006, he receives the Situations New Writing Bursary. He was mentored by Craig Burnett and the resulting text was published by Art in General, New York.

First published: a-n.co.uk January 2010