British Art Show Fringe Meeting Minutes

Who’s co-ordinating it? About Nottingham Visual Arts

NVA is a Magazine, Newsletter and Listings website dedicated to the contemporary Nottingham art scene.  It provides comprehensive directory of information about artist led activity and things going on in museums and galleries in the city.  The impetus for forming the organisation led by Andrew Cooper, and myself was to recognise the cultural renaissance happening in Nottingham – particularly in the visual arts sector. New waves of studio groups who form with every graduating year are choosing to stay here and establish their practice. This perceived golden age we are entering into has its roots in the very foundations of every Nottingham arts institution, historically and emotionally linked to the days of the Midland Group and the Nottingham Festival. Nottingham Visual Arts will plot the natural trajectories that course through the veins of this ever-expanding creative city. We want to celebrate and record this blossoming as it happens, and talk to people about their own personal journeys as artists, writers, curators, educators and interested audiences.

With the launch of Nottingham Contemporary later in the year, and with the British Art Show launching here in 2010, Nottingham will be under the visual art spotlight more than ever before with many well-known household name artists engaging with Nottingham audiences, and the magazine website will be on hand to see how the city rises to the challenge.

What is the British Art Show? The British Art show surveys new and recent development in art in the UK every 5 years. Including sculpture, painting film and performance and public projects, the touring exhibition comprises 50 artists and artists groups.  This year it will be launching in Nottingham and the curators will be Lisa Le Feuvre and Tom Morton. The host venues for the tour will be Nottingham Contemporary, The New Art Exchange, and Nottingham Castle Museum and Art gallery. The British Art Show programme will most probably include alongside the exhibition – Site-specific projects, public programme talks and events, Education and learning projects as well as VIP events, and parties.

NVA is currently negotiating with the main BAS venues regarding areas in which to collaborate, share space and resources, understand each other’s promotional processes and also to liaise with the team at Hayward touring and the curators.

What is the Fringe? The overarching aims of the fringe will be to promote existing art activity in the city; to encourage collaboration and exchange; to foster relationships with places for new and original discussion and critique; to support the production and presentation of new work; to award prizes for excellence.

How is it different to Sideshow? Hilary Thorn’s evaluation of the Sideshow Fringe Festival, which accompanied the British Art Show in 2006, acknowledges there was a high expectation within the region to deliver an all-inclusive event. At the time, the steering committee and management of this operation felt it was more important to focus on and develop emerging talent. It could be argued that in 2009, many groups within the city have reached a level of maturity that would benefit from a very different approach – that of independent support and assistance to market what is already going on as apposed to an attempt to be selective and therefore potentially accused of bias.

Thorn worried an ‘inclusive’ approach would have an impact on quality and ongoing legacy whereas Nottingham Visual Arts has confidence that the city is now full of artists groups and individuals who have reached a level of skill and experience and display professionalism. We feel this merits a higher level of self organised projects and that we should leave the curation and organisation of each existing venue to the individuals who normally fulfil this role anyhow.  Investing confidence in smaller venues through supporting their suggestions and assisting them in achieving something they would not normally be able to afford – and go beyond what they are currently doing is far more constructive than piloting in a pre-curated programme from a small steering panel.

The Climate Change

Nottingham has changed considerably since 2006. At the time of Thorn’s report there was less going on in terms of support for mid career artists. This has changed in the interim with more focus from activities and workshop with Creative Collaborations, Nottingham Trent University, and through the support of initiatives which include Artist’s Newsletter’s NAN bursary scheme, grants from the Elephant Trust, a greater take up from ACE’s Grants for the Arts and a deeper understanding of how artists should present themselves in a mature manner. All of this has helped artists in the region to be able to understand application processes, how to gain support in kind from local businesses and organisations, and generally how to present themselves in a more professional light. Older artists groups tend to support the newer ones through internships and volunteer schemes and there seems to be a generally less parochial attitude all round. NVA acknowledges that Sideshow played an enormous part in rallying exciting groups and inspiring younger artists into forming a richer more vibrant community for visual arts in the city. This is a legacy which seems much more supported by municipal museums and galleries in the region who have continued to embrace and harness local talent within their programmes since 2006. There are also more high profile venues in the city, with New Art Exchange and Nottingham Contemporary (which will have recently opened,) and who on their staff possess enlightened individuals who are more equipped and able to present opportunities for collaboration and exchange through participation and learning, interaction through talks and events and more opportunities to share information.

It could be argued that the interim years in which Angel Row Gallery had closed, Bonington’s programme was reduced and Live Art programming seemed to take a back seat on the agenda of many – artists groups and individuals stepped up admirably to fill the gap in the market, thus becoming more self sufficient and experienced. Now that new venues are on the horizon and open for business, Nottingham’s art scene has never looked so good.

The success of the Fringe in 2007 is very much dependent on the support and willingness to participate from the BAS hosting venues, and other organisations and artist led spaces. To date, NVA’s Fringe Team have begun a series of meetings with these people to establish an environment where knowledge can be shared and opportunities to collaborate can be taken advantage of.

A Festival City

At the time or writing, Thorn identified the number of existing festivals, which already existed within the city, hinting this may have been a detractor from Sideshow. Since 2006, festivals such as NOW and Sensitive Skin etc. have ceased to exist or become biannual events. NVA feels the fringe will be able to enhance the existing festival structures and identifies these initiatives as potential collaborators – proposing to involve individuals involved with Screen Lit, Radiator, Nott Dance, Game City etc. by providing opportunities to represent a taster of what they do for the city. With an approach that incorporates and embraces other art forms this will only enrich and diversify a strong arts scene rather than dilute the appetite for festival-like presentations.

Through taking the comparison of Sideshow, which presented the following:

22 new commissions, 10 lead up events, works for sale, live webcasts, 6 talks, Closing seminar and 3 Publications; we hope to maximise potential for each artist group in the city to take the reins for themselves in order to present a rich and vibrant city. Through evidencing the directory compiled by NVA on its current website, this shows that well over 30 venues in the city will potentially be interested in participating in the event. Through taking the approach to support and enhance existing programmes, and through creating a longer period of time in which the festival will occur, we hope to present more ‘products’ that the general public and art going audience alike will be able to engage with. Through a broader approach, and a willingness to collaborate with other venues and art forms – we predict this will more than quadruple the amount of activity that there was for Sideshow

FRINGE HQ NVA’s HQ during the duration of the Fringe will hopefully be Beatties Toy Shop and/or Angel Row Gallery. Other sites are currently being looked at as alternatives and additions too. This will be a centralised bookings office and information point for the fringe, with a regularly changing project space or exhibitions performances, talks, and discussions and will be open to the public from September 2010.  NVA will invite the best of the fringe activities, and curate an ongoing programme throughout the fringe for lively contextual debates and highlights.

Printed Material: Magazine & Programme NVA aims to produce a monthly newspaper during Sept, Oct, Nov 2009 which will include reviews, new writing, criticism, artists profiles, interviews artists commissions, advertising and much, much more. If you are interested in being part of the writing team for this please get in touch.

 NVA will produce an extensive free listings directory programme to promote all fringe venues and events performances, talks discussions and happenings.

NVA Broadcasting NVA plans to team up with Tethervision to create TV programmes, podcasts and downloads throughout the Fringe festival. This will take the form of interviews, documentaries, performances and other shenanigans.

How will the Fringe support people? NVA proposes to promote all venues and projects by providing promotion through the magazine, the programme, the Fringe Office and through a national advertising and marketing campaign. There will be opportunities to apply to NVA for funding for things that would count as above and beyond what would normally be possible within your programme or organisation – for example extra funding for artists fees, materials or travel – or you may need help with finding a venue if you are an individual or a group without a studio. NVA will also extensively review and visually document as much of the fringe as is humanly possible. We actively are seeking ideas for events and performances in unusual places in the public realm.

Not in Nottingham? NVA will welcome ideas from other midlands based artists and artists groups providing proposed ideas take place in Nottingham. If you have events in your city or town happening we can look to ways of promoting a bus trip or exchange type activity too.

Not a visual artist? We would like to support ideas to create crossover events to promote Nottingham’s other vibrant cultural scenes in music, dance, and theatre, new writing, film making etc. And we proposed to do this through advertising opportunities, accepting proposals for events during the fringe, supporting collaborations with visual artists.

Fundraising and Budget issues Funders for this venture include Arts Council England (Pending – Application to Grants for the Arts currently in process), Igniting Ambitions Cultural Olympiad (confirmed), Local Authority Support (pending – details to be confirmed), Private investors and local businesses (pending – details to be confirmed.) 

Discussion summary

Start date: September start for the fringe in readiness for BAS beginning in October. The fringe will probably go on until the end of November.

Arguments for/against a curated programme – how otherwise will the Fringe engage with BAS?

Through collaboration with BAS organisers and curators and venues. Artists for BAS selected could potentially be on a similar peer level to what is already going on. Artist led venues should consider this within their programming.

What are our plans regarding involvement with City Council?

Currently in discussion regarding city centre window spaces and other opportunities. In discussion with county councils too – potential to do things with wider Nottinghamshire.

 * Proposals will be sought after Christmas when we will know more about what will be possible in terms of funding and support available.

* Funds for awards for excellence: A way of attracting sponsors to award for a prize schemes from businesses and private individual sponsors. The panel will be high profile artists and professionals. An exhibition of prize winners could happen too.

 Title? Can we use British Art Show Fringe as a title?

Last time there was a slight nervousness from Hayward Touring. NVA seeking advice on this. Does a fringe suggest this activity wouldn’t happen without the British Art Show? NVA welcomes suggestions for alternative titles.

How will people keep informed about the British Art Show Fringe?

A suggestion to meet every 3 months or so to keep people in the loop. A suggestion to include a forum area to the website was also suggested.

* NVA will announce a follow up general meeting in December 2009.