Finding the Common Threads is a two-year study being conducted by the Centre for Creative Communities with support from Arts Council England, London and Deutsche Bank. With London as its focus, the project is investigating some of the issues funders […]
A-n Director of Programmes Susan Jones reviews artists jobs and opportunities over the years.
a-n’s Future forecast event (29-30 January) was attended by seventy participants despite particularly bad weather conditions and we’d like to thank everyone who took part. Angus Farquhar spoke of the philosophy behind his company, Nacionale Vitae Activa (NVA), […]
Organised by artists in east London,’Roman Road Revel’ was a village fête with a difference. Lucy Wilson reports on this and other artists-led projects that appropriate traditional community fairs and festivals.
A practical guide for artists on different payment options, sending invoices, chasing payments and dealing with debtors.
Artists and advisers identify key questions to ask to help sift the good opportunities from the mediocre, and the downright mendacious.
In the second part to ‘Selling your work: building relationships with clients and collectors’, consultant and curator Mark Doyle provides further recommendations for sales, aftercare, and maintaining relationships with clients and collectors.
Five Years is a collaborative artist-run project in London. Its activities include exhibitions, a reading group, publications and workshops in local libraries. This profile includes a video interview, recorded at Assembly Thamesmead, with Five Years member Phill Wilson-Perkin, who outlines the project’s aims and explains why its co-operative and collaborative nature has contributed to its longevity.
Turps Art School was founded in 2012 as a medium-specific art school providing year-long studio and distance learning programmes for painters. Co-founder Marcus Harvey talks to Michaela Nettell about the ideas and values behind the school.
Rhubaba is a studio provider and a project space in Edinburgh. Led by a volunteer committee, it presents an interdisciplinary programme of exhibitions, workshops and events. Lydia Ashman speaks to committee member Ben Callaghan about Learnin’ Broke my ?, Rhubaba’s research project on radical pedagogy and self-organisation, and the challenges and rewards of operating in an artist-led context.
As an artist or freelancer working (on a paid or voluntary basis) in certain environments – such as running workshops in schools or with vulnerable adults – requires you to undertake a check by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). Educator Sarah Blaszczok explains why a DBS check is needed, how to get one, and the costs involved.
If you are an artist or arts organisers who earns income from a variety of sources, self-employment is usually a good option as it enables you to work for many different people and perform more than one type of work. This guide by financial services experts Counterculture explains what self-employment means, how to register as self-employed, and how and when you will need to pay tax.
Getting paid a fair fee is not suggestive of a revolution. So why does it sometimes incur resistance, both from those who pay and from ourselves? This guide by Rod McIntosh introduces ideas towards getting paid what you want and indeed deserve.
Artists, gallerists and curators offer tips and guidance on how to price work when exhibiting in group shows, selling at open studios, or applying for open competitions.
This guide by Sheena Etches and Nicholas Sharp looks at how to handle contractual disputes, and how to terminate or re-negotiate contracts.
The following checklist by Sheena Etches and Nicholas Sharp covers many of the issues that arise when artists enter an arrangement with a private gallery, dealer or agent.
This checklist by Sheena Etches and Nicholas Sharp covers many issues relevant to small-scale private and public art commissions, with questions to consider and further explanation of issues arising in the notes.
Woolgather are Leeds-based artists John Slemensek Annie Nelson and Chris Woodward. They founded the Woolgather Art Prize in 2011 ‘from a need to explore the artist’s role in society and to celebrate the creative lifestyle’.
After his show for New Work Scotland Programme at Collective Gallery, Edinburgh and before his solo show at Liverpool’s Royal Standard, Oliver Braid shares some thoughts on his career as an artist so far, including ideas on how to make a self-made residency and how to organise your own ‘graduate diary’.
Becky Hunter is a freelance art writer whose blogs demistify, with honesty and intelligence, the processes of making art, writing about art, and finding a place in the wider world of art. Here she talks to Andrew Bryant about criticality and affect, the prickly subject of money, and why we need idealists.
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.
With a-n + AIR’s recent Big Artists Survey revealing that a third of both mid-career and established artists expect their incomes to go down this year when compared to a year ago, Artquest’s new development will strike a chord with many artists as they navigate the increasingly harsh economic environment for their practice in the months ahead.
Becky Shaw explores the dangers of the concept of ‘continuous practice’ and gives thought to the key factors that enable longevity if artists choose it.
Serial collaborators and Artists talking bloggers Alice Bradshaw and Bob Milner co-curate the Project Space at Westgate Studios, Wakefield. Here in the first of two interviews, Alice interviews Bob about DIY practice, collaboration and public funding. Next month, Bob interviews Alice.
Blogger Ann Shaw talks to Andrew Bryant about working in the virtual realm, her career development from journalist to artist, and current concerns.