Feature - Page 4 of 32 - a-n The Artists Information Company

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

A tour around some of the UK’s open studios and artists’ open house events taking place this autumn.

Phoebe Cummings, Flora, detail from the floor of the residency studio, Victoria & Albert Museum, unfired clay, 2010. Photo: Sylvain Deleu

A look at current projects and commissions taking place in unconventional settings.

Approached by Modern Art Oxford to deliver art sessions at a Sure Start children’s centre in the Rose Hill area of Oxford, artist Jon Lockhart began a four-year residency at the centre as part of MAO’s ambitious Paul Hamlyn Foundation funded offsite programme.

Ian Robinson, Warburg Offprints, oil on canvas, 125x169cm, 2011.

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.

Ben Ashton, At Home with the Ashtons (detail), oil on board, wooden structural installation and mirror, 2011.

Funding for the arts has never been an easy sell – not with governments or the public. April Britski, Executive Director of CARFAC reports from Canada.

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

An overview of some of the most exciting open studio events across the UK this summer.

Heidi Parsons, Snapshot Plate, Blossom Edition (detail), 2010.

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.

In December 2010 the Arts Council of Wales announced its new portfolio of revenue clients. From 116 existing clients more than thirty were lost. Five months on we asked the sector what the impact has been and how the visual arts in Wales has reacted, and what England might anticipate following last month’s ACE announcements.

Launched in March, Creative Scotland’s first corporate plan presented an ambitious vision for the nation’s arts, culture and creative industries. This is backed by core Treasury financing of £35.5m with £14.5m of Scottish Government funds for specific initiatives, unspent reserves from the interim between Scottish Arts Council/Scottish Screen and Creative Scotland, some lottery funding back after diversion to the Olympics and reduced overheads due the merger that included a 30% staff cut.

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.

In March, AIR – Artists Interaction and Representation – put its weight behind calls for art education to be accessible to all, following a survey in which 95% of its members gave hearty support to the view that art education should be accessible “irrespective of background and financial status”. Here we outline AIR’s campaign and the survey’s key findings to provide evidence for artists to use.

Jack Strange, Zip and Zing

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.

Shan Hur, Forgotten / Broken pillar

Education and community projects engaging artists and audiences across the UK and Europe.

Curator Lauren A Wright discusses her ‘journey’ to Margate.

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.

Adam Dix, The Advocates, 2010.