Knowledge bank

Artist, advisor and a-n Jobs and Opps editor Kate Brundrett draws on her knowledge of national and regional support schemes for artists. She reveals the range of business and professional development advice available. In addition, she suggests key questions and issues that an artist might consider in assessing the most relevant support at a particular point in their career.

Mechanisms of support

New knowledge and skills can greatly enhance your ability to earn a living. As an artist, maker or designer, we create our own mechanisms of support as part of what we do, be it peer support through a network of artists or studio group, useful resources we have identified, databases of contacts, clients or private view addresses, and sources of inspiration and aspiration to nurture critical direction.

Building on these mechanisms and finding gaps is a proactive way to forward your professional practice and increase your ability to deliver projects. Sometimes these gaps are obvious and appear naturally; otherwise a review or evaluation of practice can be useful to bring them to light. Common issues or hurdles that can hinder creative or professional development might be lack of time to focus and explore a certain aspect of work in more depth, or a gap in specific skills or knowledge on a business-related issue to take practice forward (for example finance, insurance requirements, or marketing).

Finding the right support to develop your practice at different stages of your career is important – taking part in a programme that is not appropriate to the kind of development you need could be a waste of time and resources. Establishing your own gaps is a first step. Identify what stage you are at, and what sorts of support you might be looking for. Do you need a quick overview of best ways to keep your accounts? Or a more in depth course on project management? Address your professional needs first, and then look at the support options available.

Question time

Here are some key questions that you might want to ask yourself:

• At what stage is your career and professional development?
• What have you already learned from past projects? Note down skills and factual information.
• From this list, are there any obvious gaps in your skill set/experience?
• Have you come across any recurring issues in projects you have worked on?
• Is there a reason that you didn't apply for a specific commission/project because of an area of expertise that you felt you could not offer?

It can be a useful exercise to spend twenty minutes writing down your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A SWOT test is used frequently as a business evaluation tool, and can be a straightforward, immediate way to establish development needs.

Having established if the gaps that you have identified are experiential or skill-based, you can then look at ways to best address your needs. Do you need: time; studio space; change of environment; structured critical support; further experience? Have you identified skills that need: polishing up; business knowledge; understanding of commercial markets; marketing or financial knowledge?

Different structures

Support schemes differ considerably in their approach, from economically driven 'creative business' support to more personal mentoring schemes. The kind of support scheme you look for will depend on establishing the right need, and the stage you are at in your career, whether a new or emerging artist, mid-career or professional.

Here are three examples of artists in different schemes:

A work-place residency at Tate Britain helped to get one artist into the best environment to make important contacts. As well as building up experience in a professional company, the residency led to this artist's most desired outcome: paid work. He had spent time analysing his needs; although experience was high on the list, paid work was the most desired outcome.

A business start up course fulfilled a different set of criteria, in supporting people who needed to learn new skills, testing if their ideas were viable, and how to best develop them. Artists who completed this programme now run businesses that are successful because they learned how to research their market, reach their market, promote their activity, compare pricing, manage their finances effectively and gain knowledge about legislation.

An artist I interviewed last year recently completed a mentoring programme with Business in the Arts as a way of helping to focus on her career direction. Working in a number of disciplines including illustration and design, she felt "overworked with a range of unsatisfactory jobs and lacking direction". The mentoring was spread naturally over six months with fortnightly meetings, with an aim to focus on career aspirations, skills, hurdles and needs. Initial sessions explored notions of career aspirations using simple exercises such as a list of likes/wants against dislikes, ideal situations for eighteen months' time (that transferred into realistic targets), a look at skills, short-term and long-term aspirations, issues and hurdles, and practicalities of reaching identified aims.

She commented "to meet regularly with a professional and use the entire time to look at my situation was invaluable. It helped me see clearly where I want to be and more importantly explore ways to get there, and I now feel that I am on the right track. The idea to funnel all the possibilities of jobs and projects down to just a few, according to well-thought-out personal and professional objectives, has really made me focus and have the ability to make confident choices."

Whether you are looking for business advice, residencies, grants, studio spaces, award schemes, mentoring, courses or networking, there are a host of different structures that can help focus and develop your professional practice. Good sources to find more information in your local area about support programmes are regional development agencies, local art development agencies, national arts councils, and smaller business support organisations.

Key support organisations in the UK

Below is a summary of some key support organisations and schemes around the UK. More information about specific and timely schemes and opportunities can be found on www.a-n.co.uk/jobs_and_opps

AA2A

Area: UK
www.aa2a.org
Artists Access to Art Colleges (AA2A) is a project run by Wendy Mason, hosted by the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design and funded by the Arts Council England through the National Lottery Grants for the Arts programme.

The AA2A project is a national set of schemes, providing visual artists and designer-makers with the opportunity to undertake a period of research or realise a project, using workshop and supporting facilities in fine art and design departments of Higher and Further Education institutions. Each participating institution offers places to four artists or makers. Each artist/maker has at least 100 hours' access, and a grant of £220 is available for materials or travel.

alias arts

Area: South West
www.aliasarts.org
The alias advisory service is run by artists for artists, offering consultation to artist-led groups, providing expertise pertinent to their needs, with a focus on the artist's creative practice. The service draws upon a pool of knowledge and experience already existing in the community of artists in the South West. The advisory service also employs specialist support when required and identified by the particular needs of a group.

APD Network

Area: UK
www.apd-network.info
UK-wide network of organisations providing professional development programmes in visual and applied arts.

Art Connections

Area: York and North Yorkshire
www.art-connections.org.uk
Art Connections is a Chrysalis Arts project that aims to support and promote professional artists, makers and other creative businesses based in York and North Yorkshire, providing a range of services for artists at different stages in their careers, including specialist training and mentoring, networking, advice, information and marketing services.

ArtsAdmin

Area: London
www.artsadmin.co.uk
ArtsAdmin produces, supports and promotes live art and time-based projects locally, nationally and internationally. ArtsAdmin is based at Toynbee Studios in East London, and describes itself as "a unique centre for the development and presentation of new work". It offers opportunities for artists at key points throughout their careers, including bursary and award schemes, mentoring and workshop programmes and an invaluable advisory service.

Arts Training Central (ATC)

Area: East Midlands
www.artstrainingcentral.co.uk
ATC is the regional training centre for the arts and creative industries in the East Midlands, with a range of facilities, advisory services, and training programmes in support of the professional development of artists, performers, and other creative practitioners. Much of ATC's work is targeted to the specific needs of individuals in the region, through one-to-one advice or coaching, or provision of facilities and resources.

Artquest

Area: London, UK and worldwide
www.artquest.org.uk
Artquest provides critical engagement and practical support to London's visual artists and craftspeople, working with practitioners in London throughout their careers. Its excellent online resources and listings are complemented by one-to-one advice sessions and professional practice initiatives. In addition it has set up Artelier advice for artists wishing to work and set up projects in France, and Artelier that facilitates international networking and studio exchanges.

CIBAS – Creative Industries Business Advisory Service

Area: Portsmouth and South East Hampshire
www.port.ac.uk/research/cibas
Cibas supports artists and creative enterprises by providing one-to-one creative business advice, professional development training, events and opportunities. Based within the University of Portsmouth's Purple Door information centre, Cibas continues to support individuals in self-employment and companies into commercial and social enterprise.

CIDA – Cultural Industries Development Agency

Area: London boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets and wider London area
www.cida.co.uk
A leading support organisation for the creative and cultural sector, CIDA helps creative individuals, businesses and arts organisations, by providing information, business support, professional development training, networking, showcasing opportunities and commissioning new work.

CIDA – Creative Industries Development Agency

Area: Yorkshire and the Humber
www.cida.org
CIDA specialises in helping to strengthen the contribution of the creative industries and provides business and professional development services for businesses and independent practitioners in the creative industries sector. The Artists Professional Development Scheme is open to independent artists across the Yorkshire & Humber region who wish to take time out to examine their work and their progress as a practising artist.

Cockpit Arts

Area: London
www.cockpitarts.com
Cockpit Arts is a creative business incubator for designer-makers that actively supports creative talent. The studios house 165 designer-makers working in fashion, jewellery and interior products. Artists benefit from affordable space, professional development support, one-to-one business mentoring and public selling opportunities.

Crafts Council

Area: UK
www.craftscouncil.org.uk
The Crafts Council is the national development agency for contemporary crafts in the UK, acting as an exchange for knowledge of, support for and expertise on contemporary crafts.

The Crafts Council also offers new creative opportunities for established and mid-career makers to develop new skills. A Craft Residency with the Victoria and Albert Museum is a new three-year scheme to create a series of annual six-month Craft Residencies in the V&A's new Sackler Education Centre for arts education.

CreativePeople

Area: UK
www.creativepeople.org.uk
CreativePeople is a national network providing information, advice and guidance to support all those who work in arts and craft industries in making the most of their careers. Website signposts other information-based resources.

Creative Skills

Area: Cornwall
www.creativeskills.org.uk
Creative Skills is the professional development organisation for all creative industries practitioners in Cornwall, offers business support and seminar programmes, as well as one-to-one advice. This service provides artists with the opportunity to look at their current situation in a systematic way with the benefit of an outside eye. It also provides access to information about training and continuing professional development opportunities within the arts.

Cultural Enterprise Office

Area: Scotland
www.culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk
Cultural Enterprise Office (CEO) is Scotland's specialist business support and development service for creative and cultural businesses and individuals. Cultural Enterprise Office operates in the middle ground between the arts and enterprise agencies. It works with a range of art forms, business and education partners to ensure they provide a breadth of additional and complementary services to the creative sector.

EMARAN

Area: East Midlands
www.emaran.org
East Midlands Arts in Rural Areas Network (EMARAN) is a regional voluntary network established in autumn 2006 with the aim of supporting arts in rural areas and rural regeneration through the arts. EMERAN create opportunities for artists, creative practitioners, creative industries and cultural organisations in the rural East Midlands to meet, build relationships, and share experience and knowledge.

ISIS Arts

Area: Northern Region
www.isisarts.org.uk
ISIS initiates and manages artist residencies, productions and exhibitions, and works with artists on collaborative projects and events. ISIS provides a bursary scheme for artists wishing to acquire new media skills, and currently runs the only dedicated training programme for artists in northern England. ISIS also run mentoring schemes for self-employed artists wanting to work in a formal education setting.

NAN

Area: UK
www .a-n.co.uk/nan
Launched in 2004 following extensive consultations and research, NAN (Networking Artists' Networks) initiative supports and advocates for artist-led professional and critical development. Steered by the NAN Artists' Advisory Group, activities include mapping UK artists' networks and collaboration on the development of events that raise issues around artists' development and status. It encourages artists' networks to develop links with other groups nationally and internationally through its small-scale bursary programme.

Wales Artists Resource Programme

Area: Wales
www.g39.org
Wales Artist Resource Programme is an artist-led professional development resource run by Cardiff-based artist group g39 to enable Welsh and Wales-based artists to receive mentoring, training and advice from arts professionals. The programme comprises a number of schemes delivered responsively, according to the ambition and needs of participants in relation to the arts sector, whether skills-based, entrepreneurial, business skills, and/or academic.

Yorkshire ArtSpace

Area: Yorkshire
www.artspace.org.uk
Yorkshire ArtSpace Society strives to be a centre of excellence for the support and nurturing of a broad range of visual artists and craftspeople in their diverse and innovatory professional practice through the provision of affordable and sustainable studio space, professional support, facilities and services. The Artist in Residence Programme offers selected artists access to space, time and money to develop new lines of enquiry or create new work. The artist has 24/7 access to a workspace and receives a fee and production budget.

Kate Gilman Brundrett

Kate Brundrett is an artist, advisor and Online editor of www.a-n.co.uk/jobs_and_opps

www.kateb.co.uk

First published: a-n.co.uk February 2009. Contacts last updated July 2010.