You searched for good practice - Page 3 of 9 - a-n The Artists Information Company

Last month’s announcement that June would be the final copy of a-n Magazine in print has generated some questions which we’re responding to here for the benefit of all readers.

A good proposal is like a conversation. To begin a really good relationship, you’ve got to find out as much as you can about who you’re talking to and what they’re interested in. This is the basis of making a successful pitch.

Access to professional development is vital to artists’ careers, so here’s something we think will help.

Townley and Bradby have an ongoing collaborative practice. They also have two children. Here they discuss how they used an investigative project to allow their art practice and their parental commitments to inform one another, rather than remaining distinct entities. However, this feature does not look at the existing collaboration between the duo, it looks at the working relationship they initiated with a psychologist who specialises in families.

OpenAIR, the first annual members’forum of AIR: Artists Interaction and Representation, offers a unique platform for artists’ dialogue and debate, empowered and enabled through speakers drawn from very different disciplines and fields of work, all committed to campaigning for effective change.

The continued economic doldrums and uncertainty in public funding make it more important than ever for artists to find ways to make and save money. So here are some tips – old and new – from the a-n community.

A survey of commissioning projects and public art consultancies around the UK.

Ruth Ben-Tovim and Anne-Marie Culhane discuss two collaborative projects that focus on exchange, community and participation.

Andrew Bryant discusses a new series of events that take Artists talking ‘out of the virtual and into the actual’.

Is there enough funding going to individual artists and are the application processes user-friendly? These were questions a-n set out to answer in the fourth issue of what was then Artists Newsletter in 1980. Now, thirty one years later, we asked Dany Louise to do this research again, examining the current state of play for grants to individual artists as offered by Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales and Creative Scotland – including comparators of volumes of artists applying and success rates – and to ascertain whether a “fair share” has been getting into the hands of artists to develop their practice.

A selection of projects, residencies and exhibitions taking place outside the big cities this autumn.

Online editor Richard Taylor interviews artists Maria Bojanowska, Sarah Rowles, Alice Ladenburg and Andrew Maclean about their approach to professional development in the early stages of a career in the arts.

Highlights from this year’s degree show reviews.

A selection of post-graduate study routes on offer across the UK.

Directed by artist, curator and writer Sonya Dyer, the Artists and curators talking programme of practice-led discussions on hospitality, space and contemporary art making, provided much food for thought. Here, Sonya Dyer explores some of the issues and outcomes.

Profiling new courses and developments in postgraduate teaching across the UK.

A-n’s Collaborative relationships series exposes the working relationships between artists and the wide range of professionals they collaborate with. Running in its current format since 2008 we now have a rich archive of over thirty articles covering hugely varied projects. Here, some select quotes offer highlights and insights into the nature of collaboration.

On 30 March, Arts Council England announced the winners and losers in the new National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) for funding 2012-15. Here’s a-n’s take on what’s happened, the likely impact on artists, independent arts professionals and the arts ecology as well as highlights from some of the many comments and discussions that are in train.

The weeks and months after graduation can be a daunting time. After three years or more of support and guidance suddenly it’s time to go it alone. There are many different ways to pursue your career as a professional artist and no two people will follow the same path. Here, four recent art graduates describe their journeys: from joining a peer-led network to working as an artist’s assistant, they each have a different story to tell.

A-n’s Collaborative relationships series exposes the working relationships between artists and the wide range of professionals they choose to collaborate with. In this article, artists Yoke and Zoom and Susan Miles of ACORP give their accounts of a cultural regeneration project with a difference – converting a railway station’s disused toilets into an art gallery.

A-n’s Collaborative relationships series exposes the working relationships between artists and the wide range of professionals they choose to collaborate with. In this article, artist David Cotterrell and Projects Director Carolyn Black reflect on the realisation of a unique and demanding work for the Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail.

A selection of forthcoming open exhibition competitions, bursaries and prizes for artists.

Savage, I’m a Fraud, 2010.

In June 2010, Darlington-based photography collective Wideyed was granted a NAN Go and See bursary to travel to Belgrade for research and development. Emilia Telese talks to Lucy Carolan of Wideyed about the bursary and its impact on the group.

A-n and Axis are launching a new programme of dynamic, practice-led discussions on hospitality, space and contemporary art making, researched and directed by artist, curator and writer Sonya Dyer. Here, she sets out her thinking for the programme.