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.
Updates, features, and insights from the visual arts community.
CVAN EM and CVAN WM are proud to announce the artist and organisation partnerships for Ode to the Midlands (OttM), a major new cross-regional programme investing in artists, organisations, and audiences across the Midlands through digital contemporary art.
for emerging lens-based artists living in the East Midlands
Unlock the secrets to a thriving creative career. This event is in partnership with CVAN EM, CVAN WM & Ode to the Midlands.
Discover exhibitions, workshops, talks, performances events and creative activity across the region.
Flat Earth is a solo exhibition by Bristol-based artist Phil Root, presenting new ceramic works. Working with foraged and industrial materials—unprocessed clay, wood ash, and brick dust— Root explores the limits of traditional ceramics through experimental casting, glazing and firing, inviting clay to behave on its own terms. Whether casting asphalt textures from outside his studio or firing slabs of raw clay dug from a Bristol building site, he lets materials shape themselves—altered by heat, pressure, and time.
A new Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition of screen-prints by Eduardo Paolozzi, open at the Usher Gallery as part of a national tour. Paolozzi's General Dynamic F.U.N is a series of fifty screenprints and photolithographs created between 1965 and 1970. Here Paolozzi employs the technologies of mass-reproduction and gorges on its idols – the household names of consumer advertising, high fashion and Hollywood. Image: Paolozzi Eduardo, Totems and Taboos of the Nine-to-Five Day © 2026 The Paolozzi Foundation, Licensed by DACS.
Expressive creatures tell a playful, other-worldly story in this sculptural series by Sofía Barbé. Working with mixed media, including discarded wood cuttings, wire, needle felting, and paint, Sofía creates tactile figures; characters defined by their distinctive poses and expressions. Alongside these are felted wall hangings that tell visual stories, with certain characters reappearing across the works.
Funding opportunties, residencies, creative roles, commissions, open calls, and professional or creative development.
Arts funding specialist, Mark Devereux will be leading an online talk for artists who are planning an application to Round 24 of Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) programme. Taking place on Thursday 28 May (6-7:30pm), this workshop will take a deep dive into the application process, breaking down the core questions and helping you to create a strong application. In this online workshop (via Zoom), Mark will pick apart the questions, what they mean and the detail the assessors are looking for. We will look at every aspect of the application process including: eligibility, structuring your project, budgeting, access support and the language you use. Mark will share top tips and advice that he has built up over 15-years receiving & helping other artists gain successful Arts Council England funding to help you in the writing of your application. This workshop is independent from Arts Council England.
We are seeking a Deputy Director to play a key role in implementing Primary’s strategic direction and strengthening the organisation’s skills, knowledge, and capacity. This is a pivotal role for someone with fundraising and financial expertise, and a genuine commitment to supporting the organisation’s future. The Deputy Director will take an active role in decision-making at regular staff meetings and lead on development, fundraising, finance, HR, and governance. This is an exciting moment to join Primary as it enters a new phase of development. Working closely with the Director, the Deputy Director will support financial and organisational sustainability, diversify income, and implement a purpose-driven business plan that advances our mission. The role offers space to shape strategy, contribute to organisational development, and grow within the position.
We are seeking to recruit a Collaborative Programme Curator to make an important contribution to our work and expand the range and depth of skills within our organisation. This is a key role responsible for implementing Primary’s Collaborative Programme, continuing and developing new relationships with communities. This role builds on a decade of programme at Primary that has embedded collaboration, socially just approaches and community-centred practice in the organisation’s work. It will suit someone with exemplary knowledge and practice in socially engaged arts as well as a genuine commitment to supporting the development of Primary’s future. They will be expected to take an active role in the decision-making processes of the organisation at regular staff meetings.
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