Visual arts

An independent art school is relocating to a new building adjacent to Tate Modern as part of plans to increase access to art education.

The Art Academy London has announced that it will be moving from its current home on Borough High Street to the new Triptych Bankside building in Southwark.

The new site designed by Squire and Partners architects will provide 13,940 square feet across two levels.

It will include nine studios, two galleries, an auditorium, and workshop spaces for local artists and communities.

There will also be a cafe and art supplies shop that will be open to the public.

Art Academy principal Rob Pepper said: "This move will enable us to create many more free places for local children on our Young Artists courses, to scale our support for art teachers nationwide through free professional development courses and to extend our open-access tuition to local charities working with disabled artists.

“On top of all this, we will be able to provide subsidised exhibition spaces and low-cost studios for artists in Zone 1.”

Dr Frances Morris, outgoing director of Tate Modern, added: "What Rob and the team have done with the Art Academy is to take the art school model, which has in many ways become tired and conventional, and create something with enormous potential for lifelong learning that is open and inclusive."

The University of Brighton is set to close the Brighton Centre for Contemporary Art (BCCA).

It has attributed the closure to “very significant challenges” impacting income and expenditure, such as frozen tuition fees, rising inflation and soaring energy costs.

The gallery opened in 2019 and is one of the only ones to focus on visual art in Brighton.

According to the Art Newspaper, BCCA Director Ben Roberts said the decision had “come out of the blue” following a “very positive” internal review a year ago.

A spokeswoman for the university says the review “explored the future of the BCCA and the need to grow income to ensure financial sustainability”. 

“However, the unprecedented inflationary pressures has meant that the university is no longer able to invest in the gallery,” the spokesperson added.

A former amusement arcade in Bournemouth will be turned into a new centre for art, food and wellness under plans unveiled this week.

The proposals for the Art Deco 'Happyland' building, which originally opened as a bathing station in 1939, have been put forward by Bournemouth-born artist Stuart Semple and architect Madeleine Kessler.

Semple, who in 2021 launched the 15,000 square foot artist-led gallery, Giant, in the town, intends to create two ground-floor art gallery spaces, a first-floor health and wellness centre, and a roof-top restaurant and bar.

Partners for the project include The Meyrick Estate – which already has two wellness retreats in The New Forest and Anglesea – and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council. 

Semple said: "Happyland is at its heart a beautiful building, but the beauty is hidden in plain sight. I love the idea of bringing it back to life, repurposing it and giving it a new use for the people of Bournemouth and our visitors.

"It’s incredible how the town has embraced art, and for Giant to be expanding into another space where we can take the art to more people is wonderful."

A community arts space in Coventry has reopened after being given a free use lease by the council.

LTB Showrooms (LTB) had occupied rooms over the Litten Tree since 2021, but when the pub closed in February it was forced to leave.

Coventry City Council is now allowing the space to be used by LTB until November, prior to the building being demolished to make way for new development.

Alan Denyer, who runs the venue along with other volunteers, said the venue had worked with 700 artists and musicians since 2021.

More than 15,000 people had visited the space in that time, he added.

Denyer said: "We’ve also now been able to include the ex-pub ground floor space too – which is really exciting as it gives us some great new exhibition areas, with disabled access."

A UK charity for young wheelchair users is creating the country's first step-free art trail this summer.

Whizz-Kidz will present Morph’s Epic Art Adventure, featuring more than 50 "super-sized sculptures" of the plasticine children’s TV character, who first appeared in 1977 in the BBC programme Take Hart.

Taking place from 19 June to 20 August 2023 in Central London, each Morph sculpture will be uniquely designed by well-known and emerging artists.

A series of ‘Mini Morph’ sculptures adopted and created by schools will also be displayed, and a trail map and app will help wheelchair users find their way.  

A statement from Whizz-Kidz said: "The Morph sculptures will be canvases for conversations about diversity and inclusion for wheelchair users.

"As part of Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in London, Whizz-Kidz will use the art trail to encourage the public, business community and young people to envision what a more inclusive world might look like for young wheelchair users, and what role they might wish to play in making this a reality."

A community arts programme in Eastbourne scheduled to coincide with the 2023 Turner Prize has been awarded £480,000 in funding from Arts Council England.

The funding will support Towner Eastbourne, the gallery set to host the Turner Prize later this year, along with a range of local partners, to boost creative and cultural opportunities in the seaside town.

The funding has been allocated from ACE's Place Partnership Fund, backed by the National Lottery, and will facilitate Eastbourne ALIVE, a project aimed primarily at children and young people and those from disadvantaged communities.

Headed by Project Director Sarah Dance, the project aims to create a new legacy for Eastbourne by broadening access to art and culture through creative experiences and activities in and around the town. 

“Our ambition is to place the town’s image firmly in the hands of young people, harnessing their creative energy for years to come,” Dance said.

The project, which is backed by East Sussex County Council, involves community partners including Compass Arts, which will curate a visual arts exhibition in hotels along the seafront, with an open submission programme intended to serve as a platform for vulnerable and disabled artists.

Devonshire Collective will work with local young people and marginalised communities to co-curate a series of commissions, events, talks and films inspired by the Turner Prize in multiple locations.

Towner Eastbourne is also set to deliver an engagement project that will provide exclusive access to the Turner Prize exhibition, artist-led activities and a digital and printed toolkit for Year 9 students in local schools.

The project will also engage East Sussex Public Health to measure the impact of creative projects on young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. It includes a partnership with Talent Accelerator to encourage and support young people interested in creative industry careers.

“We know that creative opportunities can have a powerful impact on children and young people’s lives - supporting their confidence, encouraging them to develop and embrace new ideas, and helping them to build connections,” said Hazel Edwards, Area Director, South East at ACE.

“The creative skills development and career pathways embedded in this project will ensure that there is an important legacy to Towner Eastbourne hosting the Turner Prize.”
 

Leaders from across the UK’s screen sectors are set to work together through a Skills Task Force that will address skill shortages in the industry.

The body features more than 20 senior representatives from major broadcasters, studios and streaming platforms, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix and Sky.

Three focused workstreams have been established: industry training and investment, improving access to the Apprenticeship Levy and pathways to industry from further and higher education.

The immediate focus of the task force will be skills in physical production across film, high-end television, scripted comedy and drama, unscripted production including entertainment and factual entertainment genres, and children’s TV.

Animation, post-production, and visual effects will be addressed in a second phrase of work via a dedicated workstream.

Where appropriate, the task force will make recommendations to the government.

Chair of the project Georgia Brown, former Head of Amazon Studios, said: “If we want to accelerate growth and build a sustainable industry, we must accelerate change by creating a robust framework to develop, support, train and ignite the next generation of talent.

“It’s an honour to work collaboratively with colleagues from across the industry to lead this important work.”