Mother's Meeting

Fully booked at the Great Peter Street office, this month’s Visual Arts Practice Group (Arts Council England’s internal meeting of Visual Arts colleagues from across the organisation) took place over the road, at the Mothers’ Union.

I gave a brief update on progress across the Turning Point Network, as follows:

East: first meeting held, click here for more detail.

South East: three projects had been taken to the Venice Biennale this year from South East England, and this was the result of work undertaken by the Turning Point South East group: Ulrike and Eamon Compliant (Blast Theory & De Le Warr Pavilion), James Lee Byars (Milton Keynes Gallery) and New Forest Pavilion (ArtSway). The project had received very positive feedback. A more detailed update on progress in the South East can be downloaded here.

East Midlands: a detailed plan for the groups activity had been drawn together, and formed the basis of an application to Grants for the arts. A version of this will be posted on this blog in the coming days. Subscribe to the RSS feed to ensure you get updates.

Yorkshire: an Interim Steering Group had been formed with Roddy Hunter (Head of Contemporary Fine Art Practice, York St. John) as Chair. The group had outlined a programme of activities that aim to foster conversations across the region, about ways the sector can develop together, which will lead to the publication of a full strategy in December 2009. An invitation for the first region-wide event has now been sent: click here to review the invitation.

North East: a region-wide meeting had been held at Baltic Mill with a wide range of stakeholders in attendance including artists, artist-led organisations, public and commercial galleries etc. The discussion focussed on areas of shared concern and Julia Bell (the Baltic based Manager of Turning Point North East) has distilled the conversation down into a draft response, which has been circulated to all those who attended. Around 40 people have put their names forward to form a group for the North East, and a Steering Group is now being formed.

North West: an first meeting had been held between Visual Arts in Liverpool (VAiL) and Contemporary Visual Arts Manchester (CVAM) to discuss ways they could support and learn from one and other. VAiL has been operating for four years and CVAM is a fairly recent development but it was still apparent that their would be mutual benefit in a continued dialogue. One area for immediate action grew out of a discussion about how Marketing Departments from the two cities could work together to build on the success of Artupdate, a printed map with gallery listings published by VAiL. A next job is for me to make contact with the NorthxNorthWest group, covering Lancashire and Cumbria.

West Midlands: still awaiting dates for the groups next meeting. A detailed update will be posted once this has happened. Subscribe to the RSS feed to ensure you get updates.

South West: Audiences South West have been commissioned by Arts Council England, to scope the opportunities for visual arts development across the region with a focus on audience development, professional development and advocacy. The research is currently being collated and findings are due back soon. Click here for more information.

London: Progress with assessing the feasibility of a group for London had been slow. Simon was meeting with Ralph Rugoff at the Hayward Gallery the next day to discuss ways forward. An initial meeting, with high-level staff from a number of London's key organisations had been scheduled for 02 July 2009. A detailed update will be posted once this has happened. Subscribe to the RSS feed to ensure you get updates