Call for Participants – Into the Wild 2020

We are now inviting applications for Into the Wild 2020 – an artist development programme for recent BA graduates and those with equivalent experience. Now in its 6th year, this free course supports and challenges artists in the early stages of their careers by offering opportunities for creative development and by providing practical advice on how to survive and thrive in the world beyond art school. Such as, how to create opportunities, get funding, write applications, work with galleries/curators, be critical of institutions, build and work with audiences, work collectively, make your own art world, juggle things, stay confident, find spaces, expand networks, be proactive, create alternatives and change things. Through talks, workshops and mentoring by artists and key industry professionals, participants will be empowered to explore their practices and better understand the diversity of ways to succeed and flourish in their lives and work.

The 14 artists selected for Into the Wild will be expected to participate fully, attending all scheduled sessions each Monday for eight weeks starting February 2020 and committing to involvement in events, research/learning activities and the final group show, through to late October 2020. There is no fee required to participate in or apply to Into the Wild.

Into the Wild is open to practicing artists based in England who have completed BA degree courses at least 1 year ago, but less than 4 years ago (2016, 2017 and 2018 graduates). We will also consider artists who don’t have an arts BA but have undertaken an equivalent level of training/education and are at the same stage in their careers. We will select artists on the basis of how much we think they will gain from and contribute to the programme. Into the Wild specifically seeks to address the inequality that exists within access to development opportunities in the arts. Therefore, there is an emphasis on underrepresented voices and those that feel they are facing barriers in access to the artworld. For example, this could be associated with race, disability, age, gender identity, sexuality or class, or other economic, social or geographic barriers. We would also like to address the historically London-centric focus of the programme, so this year we are aiming to recruit 50% of participants from outside of London.