Artist and former teacher Henry Ward is head of education at the Freelands Foundation, founded last year by Elisabeth Murdoch. a-n Writer Development Programme participant Lydia Ashman finds out more about the foundation and its forthcoming Art Is… symposium at Tate Modern.
Picking up my case and running with it… looking for new adventures, new opportunities.
The Islington Mill Art Academy in Salford has been providing a free alternative to mainstream art education since 2007. Sara Jaspan speaks to its co-founder, Maurice Carlin, and gets the views of artists who’ve taken part in the Academy’s ever-evolving investigation of what art education can be.
Now in its fourth year, the New Art West Midlands exhibition showcases the work of 43 recent graduates from universities in the region, presented across four venues in Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton. Cathy Wade reports from mac and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
The Syllabus is a nomadic artist development programme billed as an alternative to formal art education. At its half-way stage, Anneka French speaks to the project’s organisers, artist Andy Holden and Wysing Arts Centre, and to two of the ten participating artists.
The artist and professor in Fine Arts, Sonia Boyce, is leading a three-year AHRC-funded research project into British Black artists and modernism in the 20th century. She talks to Laura Robertson about why the work needs to be done and what she hopes to achieve.
The Antiuniversity Now! festival is taking place in London and across the UK this weekend, offering an alternative to what its founders describe as ‘the creeping marketisation of education’. Co-organiser Shiri Shalmy explains why she believes traditional academia needs to be challenged.
Edinburgh Art Festival opens this weekend with a programme of new commissions and exhibitions taking place across the city. Richard Taylor takes a look at some of the exhibitions and artists’ talks and tours that offer an alternative take on this year’s festival commission theme, The Improbable City.
A recent symposium in Swansea, organised by Q-Art, brought together speakers from across the UK to explore the impact of location on art education and the art school. Rory Duckhouse reports.
Open exhibitions are becoming an increasingly common aspect of the visual arts landscape, with high-profile big hitters such as the BP Portrait Award and Royal Academy Summer Show joined by a growing number of smaller-scale shows. But with most charging an entry fee and with no guarantee of being included, are artists simply being asked to subsidise the sector with their own money? Jack Hutchinson investigates.
The Spa, Scarborough
23 November – 23 December 2013
Up to 3000 people are expected to descend on Scarborough for the Art Party Conference, instigated by the artist Bob and Roberta Smith.
As the degree show season gets into full swing, Professor Tom Davies from Staffordshire University responds to a-n’s recent report on approaches to professional practice in visual and applied arts courses.
Lincoln is developing a strong, artist-led art scene that is responding to the particularities of the area while presenting the work of local and international artists. We report from this historic East Midlands city.
A new research study identifies how visual arts courses are addressing graduate employability and preparing students for life after art school.
As an exhibition of works on paper opens in Southwark Park to celebrate three decades of the Bermondsey Artists’ Group, we talk to two members about the organisation’s thirty year commitment to art, community and learning.
Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries, recently stated that the UK’s cultural sector is in rude health. Graham Hitchen agrees, but argues that it has nothing to do with the Coalition’s policies – and that unless things change, in ten years time it will be a very sick patient indeed.
Latest Artist as leader interview published.
Wondering what 2013 has in store in terms of conferences and events, art fairs and festivals? We take a look ahead to provide a snapshot of things we think are worth noting in your diary.
31 January 2012. Soho, London. Recording Time: 56 minutes
As part of Joshua Sofaer’s Artist as Leader research, Kate Love, Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, interrogates the idea of the ‘artist as leader’ by considering both the meaning and use of the phrase: “If you are allied to the left you are far more likely to be sceptical of the idea of leadership.”
Presented as part of the Festival of Blackboards 2012 in Islington, the School for Change event explored the latest developments in policy affecting arts and cultural education in England’s schools.
A new public realm exhibition organised by CCA Derry-Londonderry provides an alternative path through the city.
Last week’s ‘Great British Art School Debate’ at University of the Arts, Camberwell, turned out to be nothing of the sort. But the lack of critical discussion only served to highlight the need for a far-reaching debate around the future of the art education.
Expect a heated and informative debate tonight, as a panel of professionals discusses the role of enterprise culture in art schools.
Book Review, Whitechapel Gallery Press
1 December 2011 – 15 February 2012
