Artist Spaces
A reflection on the current challenges, conflicts and opportunities for artists workspaces.

Friday 22 January, 11am – 5pm Saturday 23 January 10am-12noon

Key Speakers:

Joanna Hughes, Studio Manager, Mother Studios, London
Marcel Baettig, Trust Director, Bow Arts Trust
Mark Carlin, Islington Mill
Maurice Carlin, Islington Mill Arts Academy

A seminar funded by ALIAS

This seminar will be looking at the current opportunities, challenges and conflicts for artist studio groups and discussing how these issues are shaping new ways of thinking and the future perspectives of Artist workspaces.
 
Artists workspaces can play a critical, cultural and political role in the rural or urban environment in which they are based. They are often being set up by motivated individuals for a mixture of reasons, often starting with a frustration at the lack of support and opportunities for artists. Personal dissatisfaction combined with political motivation provide the initial ingredients for dreaming up inspired arts strategies to raise the profile of artists and create new spaces and places to do this.
 
The shift from frustration to inspiration is a very well known trajectory for any artist in their creative practice. We would like to look at how this links to the artistic strategies and programming of Artists workspaces, how they are responding to the current conflicts and challenges which are facing them and the new opportunities for different ways of working to create new perspectives for the future generation of studio space providers.

The key speakers will be:

Joanna Hughes, Studio Manager, Mother Studios, London
Marcel Baettig, Trust Director, Bow Arts Trust
Mark Carlin, Islington Mill
Maurice Carlin, Islington Mill Arts Academy

The aim of the seminar is to encourage a participative debate and discussion led by the key speakers which will look at some of the different strategies of artist studio spaces, how they work when put into practice and how both artists and the general public are engaged in their vision and ethos.
 
Questions will be asked to try to draw out some of the critical and current issues around in relation to studio provision.
 
What do artists get out of working in a group studio?  How have the needs of studios changed to meet the changing needs of artist practice?
What are the different models and dynamics of artists workspaces that we can look at for inspiration?
 
How can artist groups creatively meet local economic regeneration agendas? How do these agendas meet artists own creative and economic needs?
A special artist DJ curator event will be held at SVA on Friday evening for all to participate in and enjoy.