ArtSway

Symposium | Artist Associates: Beyond the Commission

Artist Associates: Beyond the Commission took place on Saturday 16 July 2011 at the Arts University College at Bournemouth, and was followed by a drinks reception for the opening of Beyond the Commission exhibition at The Gallery, the Arts University College at Bournemouth.

Artist Associates: Beyond the Commission was organised by ArtSway, hosted by The Gallery, the Arts University College at Bournemouth, and marked the conclusion of the ArtSway Associates programme as funded by The Leverhulme Trust. The Beyond the Commission exhibition was organised by The Gallery, the Arts University College at Bournemouth.

The one-day symposium focused on the practice of supporting artists within the contemporary visual arts beyond the traditional curatorial, exhibition and commissioning role of the public sector, including mentoring, advice, advocacy, and training. Should this duplicate or complement, for instance, commercial representation? Should this be limited in reach or accessible? What is the impact on audiences and organisations?

As publicly funded arts organisations begin to develop these new models and initiatives for ongoing support, this one-day symposium presented an introduction to existing programmes and models, modes of representation and questioned how long-term support of artists can be increased. A series of afternoon workshops offered a range of scenarios to test and discuss options.

The event explored whether emerging Associate programmes should duplicate or complement, for instance, commercial representation, whether these should be limited in reach or accessible, and what the impact of such programmes had on audiences, organisations, and artists. The symposium was attended by a number of national arts professionals, students, academics, and artists.

The symposium was chaired by Mark Segal and speakers included Simon Faithfull, Artist and ArtSway Associate; Alistair Gentry, Artist and Writer, Market Project and ArtSway Associate; Dany Louise, Strategic Arts Facilitator and Writer; Donna Lynas, Director, Wysing Arts Centre; Dida Tait, Head of Membership & Market Development, Contemporary Art Society.

Below are a series of images from the event, alongside a link to our ArtSway Vimeo Channel showing four short films taken of the breakout workshops from the day. In addition, the symposium pack is available to download which includes Speakers' Profiles and symposium outline and content. This PDF document can be found on the right-hand side of this page in the ‘Downloads’ section. Also available is a transcript of the conversation between ArtSway Mark Segal and artist Simon Faithfull from the workshop, NO MONEY BACK: Non-commercial relationships between galleries and artists.