Knowledge bank

How a partnership with their local university helped FusionARTS secure studio premises.

Introduction

Like many artists’ studios projects, FusionARTS follows a ‘self-help’ model. Janie Harland describes how one artist’s need for workspace started a process which has enabled artists in Kingston-upon-Thames to secure a prime town centre site through a partnership with the local university.

This profile forms part of a portfolio of material around studios including the studios toolkit ' designed especially for artists thinking of setting up some kind of workspace facility ' case studies of studio organisations at different stages of development and more.

Starting out

I was looking for a studio myself and decided to put an advert in a-n: ‘help – anyone else in the Kingston area as frustrated as me’. I got a deluge of calls. Six of us arranged to meet up; that was the start of an approach to the local council to see if there were any spare buildings we could occupy. The cultural strategy for the borough includes a commitment to providing space for artists, so we were optimistic that they could help out. Our optimism melted away when we discovered that they had no buildings and no money to offer us. We did, however, build up a relationship with key people at the council, such as the Arts and Publicity Officer Colin Bloxham and, crucially, Roger Hayes, who at that time was Chief Executive of the borough. Roger, who knew all the influential players locally, put us in touch with, David Miles, the Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of External Affairs at Kingston University. We saw this introduction as a chance to make a pitch to provide space for Kingston graduates. If we could offer subsidised space, perhaps we could do a deal with the university? We didn’t know at that time that the university was looking for an off-campus location to house its MA course in Art and Space. Our group had identified a building that we thought could meet our need for studios and have space to spare. A financial partner, or some form of subsidy, would be needed though to make it viable. Following detailed discussions, we were able to work out a deal whereby we would offer the university part of the building for the MA and they would pay their contribution up front to help us set the space up.

We’ve spent the best part of a year negotiating to secure the building. The landlord is a huge national property developer, so it was a bit of a David and Goliath situation. We were first offered the building in January 2004 and it has taken us since then to set up the deal. It has been worth the wait, however, as we have managed to agree a contract that gives us less liability than the landlord initially proposed. We stuck firm in refusing to take on the responsibility for repairing the whole building. We are now at the point of signing a five-year lease, which we hope might be extended, which will give us the upper four floors of a building in a prime location in Kingston town centre – above Heals department store. The building will eventually have to come down, due to major regeneration plans for the town centre, hence the reluctance of the landlord to refurbish it for commercial rent.

We were able to negotiate a good deal because no one else wanted it in the short term in the condition that it’s in. Two floors have been occupied recently and are in good order, but the upper two floors are more dilapidated. We plan to take up three floors as studio space initially and, by doing so, we should be able to raise enough surplus rent to be able to refurbish the top floor. In the meantime we hope to use this floor as a ‘messy space’.

Negotiations

This has been my first experience of setting up studios and it’s been a steep learning curve. I do however have previous management experience in the world of advertising, which has helped enormously. We have also had the support of an excellent board of trustees, most of whom have business or management experience.

The development of our group identity, as FusionARTS, happened remarkably quickly. We first came together as a core group of six people about eighteen months ago, following the advert in a-n. We decided to put a further ad in a couple of months later inviting people to join us. 50 people signed up. There is room in the building for about forty artists, but not all members want studio space; we promote ourselves as a networking and support group too. We have monthly group meetings, which have helped to form alliances between artists. Some have done shows together already.

FusionARTS managed to gain charitable status, at the first time of asking, in Spring 2004. It was worth spending the time to get our application to the Charities Commission watertight before we submitted it; the effort spent will have saved us a lot of time in the longer term. To get the information we needed, we looked at the websites of a lot of other studios who already had charitable status and called them for advice. As well as finding out how they had worded their Charities Commission application, we picked up good tips on things like where to get the best deal on buildings insurance. Most studios we approached, including Cockpit Arts and SPACE, were very supportive; a few others though were more guarded about sharing information.

We had to learn to write different kinds of text for different readers. Our mission statement and our aims and objectives are written in plain English for the benefit of general public, but we were advised to adopt a particular type of language for our dealings with the Charities Commission. We applied to be registered as an educational charity; our application was couched in exactly the same words and style as had been used by previous successful applicants.

As well as the studios block, we are negotiating to secure another space for exhibitions and seminars. We need to keep its identity under wraps until a deal is done, but it would involve a partnership with the local council and a town centre retailer. We feel we need a second, more public facing space, because our core building would allow public access for open studios event but not at other times.

Everyone involved in the project is still working on a strictly voluntary basis. Now that the building is about to go live though, we have applied to Arts Council England for a year’s project funding to help out with the costs of administration and equipment.

The project wouldn’t have been possible without the financial support of the university. Their money upfront was crucial to give us the necessary deposit and funds to carry out essential repairs. The link with the university should be mutually beneficial: a ‘win-win’ opportunity. Having young, scary students and recent graduates around will give a kick up the backside to some of our more established artists who may be a bit set in their ways. They in turn will benefit from the sharing space with artists who have been doing it professionally for years. The Art and Space MA is not just about arts practice, it involves curatorship too, so our project can benefit on all sorts of levels.

Aims and objectives

FusionARTS: Aims and objectives (as approved by the Charity Commission)

1. To promote, maintain, improve and advance education in the arts by the provision of facilities and training for artists.

2. To provide facilities to encourage knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the applied arts through exhibitions and education with the object of giving the widest possible access to all members of the public, in particular the inhabitants of the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey and London.

Contacts

FusionARTS
The Fuse
53 Eden Street
Kingston-upon-Thames
Surrey

fusionarts@blueyonder.co.uk

Charity Commission for England and Wales
www.charity-commission.gov.uk

Scotland:

Inland Revenue Charities Office
Meldrum House
15 Drumsheugh Gardens
Edinburgh EH3 7UL

0131 777 4147
www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/charities

Northern Ireland:

Department of Health and Social Services
Voluntary Activity Unit
Charities Branch
Annex 3, Castle Building
Stormont Estate
Belfast BT4 3RA

028 90522 780
www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/charities

The writer

Janie Harland, artist and founder of FusionARTS.

Janie Harland

Janie Harland, artist and founder of FusionARTS.

First published: a-n.co.uk March 2005