THE COMMISSIONING PROGRAMME 54
‘SOCIAL WORKS? GET TOGETHERS’
This was a series of commissioned artist-led network development
initiatives held across the UK. The research had shown
that a lack of studio space, gallery representation and exhibition
culture along with the fragmented nature of socially
engaged practice, meant that many socially engaged artists
face isolation from their peers in the UK. The brief was to bring
together like-minded practitioners and support the sharing of
experiences and best practice. There were 28 separate applications
for the available funding, giving a sense of the demand
for peer to peer artist-led support. We were able to fund four
of these proposals.¹
1 The blog posts commissioned for each event which
the following quotes are taken from can be found
under each event tab here https://www.axisweb.org/
social-works/
Socially Engaged Art Fair —
led by Sally Lemsford
Socially Engaged Art Fair was held in Bridport, Dorset and
provided a space for artists to share ideas about the kind of
support most needed by artists and how this might be achieved.
Participants were given a stall and invited to present their ideas,
questions and provocations.
It wasn’t going to be a day that put ‘art bollocks’
on a pedestal, but dealt with tangible issues that
you perhaps feel like you can’t talk about to ACE
or your peers.
Blog post, Megan Dunford
A Balancing Act: Precarity and
socially engaged arts practices
— led by Alex Wilde
A Balancing Act which took place at Kinning Park Complex
in Cornwall was an opportunity for creative practitioners
who define as socially engaged to meet and discuss the issue
of precarity within their projects and careers. The event was
recorded creatively by Josie Vallely who produced a ‘zine of
collected material, reflections on the event and contributions
from people attending.
Precarity tied together all the topics. It related
to the nature of our practice — in practical terms
such as unpredictable income, lack of security, and
ways in which we practice — balancing different
interests, agenda, expectations. Precarity is an
issue that affects many of the communities we work
with and is sometimes the subject matter which we
are tackling in our work.
Zine, Josie Vallely