a-n writer development programme - Page 3 of 4 - a-n The Artists Information Company

A new exhibition and free pop-up summer school from Create London and the William Morris Gallery celebrates the cultural and educational legacy of Walthamstow School of Art, which from 1957 to 1967 became a hotbed of artistic ideas and talent. Lydia Ashman talks to two of the people behind the ‘Be Magnificent’ project.

For the latest in our ongoing series looking at art scenes around the UK, Corby-based James Steventon takes a tour of Northamptonshire which also includes the former industrial towns of Northampton and Kettering in its borders.

As conflict and war continues across the world, artists are exploring ways to cut through the mainstream news narrative in order to highlight the ongoing refugee crisis. Lydia Ashman looks at current projects, artworks, and exhibitions that are tackling this urgent humanitarian and political issue.

With a solo show at ICA and as part of a group exhibition at Eastside Projects, Sonia Boyce is exploring ideas around play, improvisation and sculpture – including a collaborative project with ukuele-playing skateboarders. Anneka French talks to the artist during the first of two lively, nerve-wracking performances in Birmingham, as skaters fly by and instruments are played.

Having graduated from the Royal College of Art last year, London-based artist Holly Hendry has won numerous awards and just opened her first solo show in a UK public gallery at Baltic, Gateshead. Anneka French talks to her about her whirlwind career so far.

For her current show at The Showroom, London-based artist Laura Oldfield Ford has constructed a disorientating visual, textual and sonic journey that draws on her experiences of navigating the gallery’s surrounding area, weaving together multiple voices and alternative histories and futures. Lydia Ashman finds out more.

This year’s Compass Festival of live art features 18 events, many of which have walking at their heart as performers and participants infiltrate and interact with the city around them. Lydia Ashman finds out more from the festival’s director and some of the artists taking part.

Scottish artist Katie Paterson has recently published her first monograph, documenting almost 10 years of multidisciplinary projects that range from a 100-year artwork to streetlights powered by lightning. Anneka French finds out more.

For her Clipping the Church project in Erdington, Birmingham-based Czech artist Tereza Buskova has combined idiosyncratic customs and community workshops to create a public procession involving baked goods, live music, elaborate costume and the local church. Anneka French speaks to the artist and parish priest Reverend Freda Evans.

Inspired by ’60s radicalism yet rooted in the contemporary climate of austerity and the commercialisation of art school education, the second Antiuniversity Now! festival offers an alternative to mainstream models of learning through four days of free events, activities and lectures across the UK. Lydia Ashman reports.

Artist and former teacher Henry Ward is head of education at the Freelands Foundation, founded last year by Elisabeth Murdoch. a-n Writer Development Programme participant Lydia Ashman finds out more about the foundation and its forthcoming Art Is… symposium at Tate Modern.

AirSpace Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent is celebrating 10 years of artist-led activity amidst the shifting environment of the city’s post-industrial regeneration. a-n Writer Development Programme participant Anneka French talks to its directors and takes a look at the gallery’s ten-strong birthday show.

The Europarc Project has seen North East Lincolnshire-based artist Marc Renshaw researching the strangely detached world of the region’s ‘flagship’ business park. a-n Writer Development Programme participant James Steventon talks to him as an exhibition of his work goes on show at The Collection, Lincoln.

Out There: Our Post-War Public Art focuses on the period 1945-85 including 1972’s City Sculpture Project, which saw artworks temporarily sited in eight cities across the UK. After attending an event featuring Sculpture Project artists Garth Evans and Liliane Lijn, a-n Writer Development Programme participant James Steventon considers the notion of ‘shelf life’ in public art.

Irish artist Gerard Byrne is known for film installations that deal with the presentation, manipulation and perception of narratives. For his show at Warwick Arts Centre he’s premiering a new work filmed with one unbroken panning shot in Stockholm’s Biologiska Museet. He talks to Anneka French about location, light and methods of display.

The Syllabus is a nomadic artist development programme billed as an alternative to formal art education. At its half-way stage, Anneka French speaks to the project’s organisers, artist Andy Holden and Wysing Arts Centre, and to two of the ten participating artists.

The government’s plans for the English Baccalaureate, or EBacc, remains an ominous presence for art departments across England, with many describing it as hugely detrimental to the teaching of creative subjects in schools. With a Department for Education consultation on its implementation looming, Lydia Ashman talks about its impact to campaigners and those on the frontline of art education.