Contemporary Visual Arts Network East Midlands (CVAN EM) has been awarded funding from Art Fund’s Reimagine programme to help deliver an Art Technician Training Programme for the East Midlands, in partnership with ArtTechSpace and supported by organisations across the region.
The training programme will focus on both upskilling those already in the industry and training new technicians – creating a larger pool of skilled workers across the region. The programme has been devised by ArtTechSpace and developed in consultation with organisations and art technicians in the East Midlands over the last 18-months, with ‘surveys of need’ going out to establish where they feel the skill gaps are.
Training will support learners through a combination of theory and practical before introducing professional development provision surrounding pay rates, contracts, networking, and unions, with 78.3% of art technicians surveyed stating they are interested in support across these areas.
In addition to providing essential and advanced training the wider project will establish paid work shadowing opportunities, launch an arts worker online directory, and tackle concurrent exhibition install scheduling.
The project will be unique to the East Midlands and offer multiple means to access funded, free, and subsidised training opportunities. The training programme will prioritise Priority Places and access for arts technicians from backgrounds currently under-presented in this industry and the wider sector, with a focus on freelancers from the Global Ethnic Majority.
Colette Griffin, Regional Director of CVAN EM, said: “We are delighted that with Art Fund support we will be able to realise this project that has been a long time in the making and has been supported from the start by so many of those that we hope will benefit. This work is part of our investment in long-term projects that support and unite arts workers and organisations across the East Midlands. The aim of the project is to benefit both the region’s freelance workforce and its organisations. Long-term we hope to see a positive impact on the audiences who engage with the East Midland’s dynamic arts and culture offer.”
The grant was made as part of the Art Fund’s Reimagine programme, which has awarded £1.8m for “bold and experimental projects” to 45 museums and galleries. A total of 135 applications were received, with a total ask of £5.3m.
Art Fund’s Reimagine Grants have awarded a total of £6.25m since the programme was first launched in 2020 to support organisations deliver projects or activities or explore new ways of working in response to the Covid pandemic.
About ArtTechSpace:
After many years as art technicians ourselves, full-time and freelancing, hiring and being hired, fabricating to installing, we realised that there had to be a better way to connect people that make art happen.
So we created it: ArtTechSpace, an online community of art technicians and their employers.
It started as a way to connect those looking for and those offering work, but since then it’s grown into a bigger resource: a place to find art technical information, products and services to help you and your career and business with training and events.
Above all, this site is a community so we welcome contributions, feedback and suggestions from everywhere and would love to hear from you.
Click here to download the full press release.
