Publications

NAN: Networking Artists’ Networks

a-n The Artists Information Company has been proactive since 2001 in researching, championing and supporting artists’ networking, as a key element of their practical and professional development. a-n’s research in 2002 identified that “78% of UK artists surveyed recognised the value of networking and saw it as a vital aspect of progressing their careers”.¹

In developing the NAN (Networking Artists’ Networks) initiative, a-n’s intention has been to create an infrastructure and communications mechanism for visual artists across the UK that supports their professional activities and practices, enabling them to make meaningful contributions to the development and understanding of co ntemporary visual arts within national and international arenas.

NAN’s mission is to provide a ‘place’ for UK artists that supports and enhances artists’ networks and interest groups and by doing so:

•enables artists to feel part of a profession.
•generates and supports artists’ professional exchange in the UK and Internationally.
•provides a focus for the development of artists’ collaborative projects.
•raises awareness of the value of artists in society.

NAN has been researched and developed since 2003 by artists’ advisory groups in England and Scotland, that was drawn together to form a UK NAN advisory group in 2004. From the outset, artists have identified the initiative’s infrastructure and programme. The core programme now includes:

•Events and activities developed in collaboration with artists’ networks and groups across the UK.
•Peer assessed bursaries to support research, professional review and development of collaborations in practice.
•Mapping and networking UK and international artists’ initiatives to increase their visibility and highlight their value.
•Presentations and seminars at UK and international conferences, at artists’ events and within HE professional practice courses on the value and impact of artists’ networking.
•NAN publications and reports that provide evidence on the impact of artists’ networking through writing by artists concerned.

About the bursaries

NAN bursary strands are Go and See (offered since 2004), Artists’ new collaborations (first awards in 2006) and Re-View (first awards in 2006, the latter two strands enabled by a three-year grant from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Go and See – designed to support exchange between artists’ groups and networks, in the UK or elsewhere, in order to explore new projects and provide a focus for critical exchange.

Eligibility: Artists’ groups and networks with an ‘open’ approach to new members. Exclusions: individual artists, applications for production, training or mentoring.
Awards up to £500, bursary fund £11,000 in 2006, £10,000 in 2007.

Artists’ new collaborations – to enable two or more professional artists (or other professional collaborator) to spend time together to explore notions and issues around collaborative working and research the development of a specific project.

Eligibility: Artists with an existing interest in collaborative working who are permanently based in the UK. This bursary may be used for research time towards a larger grant application such as Arts Council England’s Grants for the Arts. Exclusions: Students undertaking an undergraduate course; artists within twenty-four months of graduation; artists who have received a substantial research bursary or award from another source in the last twelve months. Awards between £1,000-£2,000 to buy the artists’ time, at their chosen rate, to explore a collaborative project, including incidental travel or other expenses, bursary fund £11,000 in 2006, £11,000 in 2007.

RE-view – designed to support artist-to-artist or curatorial critique and professional development at strategic points in artists’ careers, providing opportunities to take stock, and feed the development of future work.

Eligibility: Emerging and mid-career visual artists proactively involved in an artists’ network(s) or collective activities, who are permanently based in the UK. Exclusions: students undertaking an undergraduate course, artists within twenty-four months of graduation, artists who have completed a mentoring scheme (or similar) in the previous twelve months; artists who have received a NAN Go and see bursary in the previous twelve months. Awards of £1,000 to enable an artist to contract a series of discussion/critique sessions, either all with the same designated artist, curator, adviser or other expert of their choice, or each with a different artist, curator, adviser or other expert of their choice, bursary fund £7,000 in 2006, £10,000 in 2007.

At the heart of NAN is an ethos of allowing creative thinking and openness to new approaches for artists to meet, exchange and develop experiences, information, ideas and action. NAN is not a membership body. It works in collaboration with artists’ networks and organisations that support artists professional development including Artquest, ALIAS, New Work Network, Perthshire Visual Arts Forum and SCAN. NAN has monthly coverage in a-n Magazine including listings of groups and networks, reports on events and announcements of bursary recipients. Publications and background to the NAN initiative is available on the About NAN pages.

NAN’s development as a UK-wide initiative has been enabled through a combination of Arts Council England revenue funding and earned income streams at a-n The Artists Information Company, where artists form the company’s major stakeholder group, contributing some £340K annually through subscriptions to a-n. During 2003-2006, the programme in Scotland was supported by Scottish Arts Council and the programme North East England by the programme North East England by the European Union (through the CSDI programme). The bursary programme is supported Esmée Fairbairn Foundation 2005-2008; in 2005/06 Northern Rock Foundation supported a feasibility study into Artists’ Day, a core element in NAN’s aim of raising awareness of the value of artists and their practice to society.

Note
¹ Networking the networks, a-n The Artists’ Information Company, April 2002 and Strengthening the artists’ infrastructure: strategies and mechanisms, commissioned from a-n by Scottish Arts Council, August 2002.

First published: a-n Collections July 2006