AirSpace Gallery will be hosting former director of a-n Susan Jones as guest speaker at this Saturday’s Artist Soup Kitchen – the Stoke-on-Trent-based gallery’s convivial talks and workshops programme, run in partnership with B-arts community bread-making project Bread in Common.
Over a vitamin-rich lunch of spinach, watercress and broccoli soup, Jones will present her own research, alongside evidence gathered through a-n and AIR’s Paying Artists campaign. In Biting The Hand That Feeds she will highlight how undervaluing arts practice damages the wider arts ecosystem.
This culinary-referenced theme builds on Jones’ extensive research into the artist-led, artists’ livelihoods and her Art Party provocation: A feast for sore eyes. Presented at last November’s Scarborough Conference, the provocation saw Jones put forward a radical proposition for a re-distribution of funds within the art world.
High-profile support
Supported by a number of high-profile artists including Jeremy Deller and Yinka Shonibare, the Paying Artists campaign seeks to improve conditions for artists and increase transparency on artists fees within the publicly funded visual arts sector.
A number of Paying Artists presentations are taking place this autumn, and a-n and AIR Council representatives have recently attended meetings in Stockholm, Glasgow and Nottingham.
To book one of the limited places round the Artist Soup Kitchen table, visit the AirSpace website
For more information on the Paying Artists campaign, visit www.payingartists.org.uk
