Augmented Reality Workshop
This free, hands-on workshop introduces artists to the creative potential of Augmented Reality (AR).
29 Jul 2026
Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands
CVAN EM celebrates and supports visual arts and culture in the region, fostering an inclusive long-term future for the sector, emphasising equity and access for all arts workers.
Latest Activity
Updates, features, and insights from the visual arts community.
Rita Pena Selected for CVAN EM's Bigger Bursary in Partnership with QUAD
CVAN EM and QUAD are delighted to announce that Rita Pena has been selected as the recipient of CVAN EM's Bigger Bursary, delivered in partnership with QUAD, supporting emerging lens-based artists living in the East Midlands.
20 Jul 2026
Weaving Light and Sound: A Music, Film & AI Hackjam
On 23 July we will bring colleagues from Music, Computer Science and the VIP Studio together for a single intensive day of making: treating AI as a collaborator to compose, devise and perform live music, and to build a visual environment that listens to that music and answers it as it unfolds.
17 Jul 2026
Events & Exhibitions
Discover exhibitions, workshops, talks, performances events and creative activity across the region.
Open Monday to Saturday during school holidays. Term time opening times: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 10am – 4:45pm. Closed on Sundays, Christmas and Bank Holidays.
Stories of Bassetlaw: Original Works by Christy Burdock
An exhibition of artworks by Christy Burdock, an RCA artist, created in response to Bassetlaw Museum's collection and the communities it serves. Burdock draws on the stories held within collections and the ways ideas move across time and place. Her deeply researched, immersive process was enriched by local voices and memories. Displayed throughout the museum near the objects that inspired them, the beechwood-panel works respond to history, offering new perspectives rather than direct illustration. https://www.christyburdock.com/
07 Apr 2026 - 12 Sep 2026
Bassetlaw Museum, 40 Grove Street, Retford, DN22 6LD
10am - 4pm one Saturday per month
From Type To Page: A Year In Letterpress
Leicester Print Workshop are delighted to offer a real exploration of type in all its formats across a huge range of projects that come together to create a comprehensive toolkit for any artist interested in beginning or developing their Letterpress practice. The course is designed to build understanding of the detailed nature of Letterpress through monthly sessions which will work best if extended by using the free membership that goes with this course.
18 Apr 2026 - 20 Mar 2027
Leicester Print Workshop, 50 St George Street, Leicester LE1 1QG
10am - 4pm
Matrika: She Who Makes Worlds by Saroj Patel
Matrika: She Who Makes Worlds by Saroj Patel is an exhibition exploring women’s strength, ancestral memory, and the future. In Hindu cosmology, Matrika refers to the divine mothers, a group of powerful feminine energies connected to creation, protection, and transformation. Drawing on mythology and intergenerational stories, the works reflect on how worlds are carried forward through courage, care, and transformation. Through material, gesture, and collective presence, the exhibition honours the power of women to shape the past, present, and future.
30 May 2026 - 12 Sep 2026
New Art Exchange, 39 - 41 Gregory Boulevard
Jobs & Opportunities
Funding opportunties, residencies, creative roles, commissions, open calls, and professional or creative development.
£250 per dayUrgent
Freelance Social Media Manager
Working closely with the Arts & Culture Manager, you will lead the creation and delivery of Story Tellers' social media activity, ensuring our content is engaging, inspiring and reaches a wide range of audiences. You will play a key role in capturing the energy and impact of our programme, bringing our projects, artists and communities to life through creative storytelling across our social media platforms. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who understands the arts and cultural sector and is passionate about using social media to connect people with creative opportunities. This contract is for 2 days per week on flexible working arrangements. Please email: • A CV. • A short covering statement (maximum two pages) explaining your relevant experience and why you are interested in working with Story Tellers. • Examples of previous social media campaigns, content creation or creative communications work you have delivered.
Deadline: 31 Jul 2026
N/A
SurfRes 2026 Call for Submissions
Applications are now open for a refreshed edition of Surface’s annual residency and exhibition project. We invite early- and mid-career creatives (with the exclusion of students) to take part in a free 4-week residency and 2-week exhibition. This opportunity in an independent contemporary art space aims to support the generation of new visual artwork. Eight artists will be selected to produce a new body of work for the subsequent exhibition. The residency will take place in our open-plan Project Space, enabling the artists to interact and develop their practice in a stimulating and mutually supportive environment. There will be in-house critical feedback, and opportunities for formal critique sessions with established artists and curators. Please note: this is an unpaid opportunity, providing access to space and resources for development in Nottingham.
Deadline: 10 Aug 2026
An artist fee of £2,500 and a production budget of £800
zero material Open Call
In an age of scarcity and excess, what forms of art making remain relevant? zero material recognises that each material, whether tangible or intangible, carries its own agency that awaits to be exercised creatively — informed by diasporic experience, it proposes unorthodox approaches like hacking, smuggling and piggybacking as artistic practice. The artwork may take the form of a gesture, a situation, an infrastructure, a digital trace, a collective action or even an administrative process — the materiality that already penetrates and accumulates in our everyday lives. We are looking for an artist with ESEA heritage whose practice engages with materials, systems, or processes — someone curious about working with what already exists, and interested in how diasporic experience shapes the way things are made. For more information about zero material, please visit our application brief here: https://www.kakilang.org.uk/2026-open-call-zero-material
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Deadline: 10 Aug 2026
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