It Takes A Region To Raise An Artist research launch

On Thursday 24th October at an event at Phoenix in Leicester, in partnership with CAMEo – the University of Leicester’s Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies – we launched the findings from the It Takes A Region To Raise An Artist research, and investigation into the East Midlands visual arts economy.

A group of 60 delegates – comprising artists, curators, producers, academics, art students, and employability leads – heard Dr Antoinette Burchill talk about her appointment as AHRC funded Creative Economy Engagement Fellow, her interest in the project and her research methodology. She took the group through the key headlines about the region’s infrastructure, provision and workforce. She highlighted particular findings about challenges and ambitions captured in a survey of the region’s practitioners, and gaps in engagement and support, which were notably within the 18-34 age range. She suggested priority areas.

CAMEo Co-Director Professor Mark Banks spoke of the place of the research with the context of the wider cultural economy and the creative industries. CVAN EM Director Elizabeth Hawley-Lingham talked about the original impetus for the research and its value now for the region’s visual arts sector, in respect of informing CVAN EM’s next steps and future programming.

Finally, panel members – Andrea Hadley Johnson (National Justice Museum), James Steventon (Fermynwoods Contemporary Art), Skinder Hundal MBE (New Art Exchange), and David John Scarborough (Modern Painters New Decorators) – spoke of their approach to working with artists and their understanding of artist support, and engaged in a conversation led by Antoinette about need: what the region needs, what artists need, what organisations need and what audiences need.

Panel contributors (left to right): Andrea Hadley Johnson, James Steventon, Skinder Hundal MBE, David John Scarborough.

The event was a very useful, lively and convivial one. Panel contributors generously shared their thoughts and experiences, inspiring the assembled group with their projects and motivations, and delegates received the information eagerly and interrogated the findings and enquired about the next steps with interest. The whole group networked enthusiastically over delicious refreshments.

 

It you would like a copy of the printed executive summary, please get in contact with us.

The full report can be downloaded here.

Find out about how the research unfolded, on Instagram and Twitter.