What is a-n AIR?
a-n AIR has been established by a-n The Artists Information Company as an integral part of its Artist membership offer for the visual arts sector. Open to all practicing, professional visual and applied artists there are currently over 20,000 members who together make a diverse and extensive professional community of practicing artists working across all types of visual arts practice in the UK.
Direct feedback and input from our members means we keep artists’ views, needs and interests front of mind when taking our advocacy and campaign messages to key policy makers and influencers, commission research and develop professional support and training.
What is AIR membership?
As an AIR member you can be as active and engaged locally, regionally, nationally or internationally as you want to be online through a-n.co.uk, and offline through our ongoing events and activities.
You can:
- Contribute to and/or explore the issues that impact on artists’ today through our a-n news, members’ blog platform, online conversations and other collaborative spaces at www.a-n.co.uk.
- Communicate with a-n directly, or through an a-n AIR Council representative via [email protected], to influence the programmes we offer, the support we produce and directly input into our campaigns to enhance artists’ working lives and advance their professional status. Our current a-n AIR campaign is Paying Artists.
- Visit the Paying Artists website to pledge your support and receive campaign updates and download the Artists’ campaign pack to support your own campaign activities.
- Access all of our online and downloadable practical resources, guides, toolkits as well as 30 years of research and reporting on artists and the visual arts in the UK.
- Access and post into Jobs and Opportunities – the place to find work and opportunities within the visual arts.
- Post and share information about member events, openings and happenings to a receptive peer audience across the UK.
- Immediately benefit from £5m of Public and Products Liability insurance, with extensive discounts on other insurance packages, as part of Artist membership.
You can access our AIR page here, or if you have a query about membership contact [email protected]
Who can join a-n AIR?
Artist membership is open to all professional, practicing visual and applied artists.
What is AIR Council?
AIR Council is an advisory group to the management and Board of a-n The Artists Information Company.
AIR Council representatives are drawn from the Artist membership and aim to collectively embody and reflect the diversity of UK contemporary visual arts practitioners in terms of artform, career stage, gender, cultural background and geography.
AIR Council representative’s knowledge, professional reputation and proactive participation in contemporary visual arts practice make an invaluable contribution to the development of a-n’s campaigns, research and programmes. Their broad range of experience is vital in ensuring that what we do is genuinely in tune with our membership and broader audiences. This includes contributing to our research and evidence-gathering that underpins our vision and objectives.
To be eligible as members of AIR Council, artists must hold a current Artist membership. Selection of AIR Council members is by AIR Council peer nomination and open selection.
What is a-n The Artists Information Company?
Founded in 1980, a-n The Artists Information Company is the UK’s largest visual arts membership body representing a community of artists and creative freelancers. Its mission is to stimulate and support contemporary visual arts practice and affirm the value of artists in society.
We work with and support practitioners and creative freelancers working within fine art, applied art, live arts and moving image, sound and text-based practices, digital and animation, curatorial, participatory, public and community arts.
Find out about the membership packages, bursaries, events and resources that a-n offers here.
Our a-n offices are in London and Newcastle but our full a-n team are distributed across the UK and internationally.
We are an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation 2015-2018 and receive grant aid amounting to 25% of our income. The majority 75% of our income comes from sales of memberships or is self-generated through advertising and other professional services.
