News: ARC Stockton and The Albany announce five new artists as part of radical new model transforming the role of 21st century arts centres

 

ARC Stockton and The Albany announce five new artists as part of radical new model transforming the role of 21st century arts centres

The appointments are part of Artists of Change, which bridges the gap between artists, venues and communities and puts people in Stockton on Tees and South East London at the centre of decision-making.

ARC Stockton and The Albany (based in Deptford) today announce five new artists that will work with people local to each venue over the next twelve months, creating art that responds directly to their needs, interests and tastes. The appointments are part of each arts centre’s biggest commitment to handing power directly over to their communities, whilst removing the traditional ‘top down’ programming model and democratising the way each organisation is run.

ARC is looking forward to working with Lizzie Lovejoy, a creative practitioner working in a variety of mediums including illustration, animation, written poetry and spoken word, and Symoné, a multidisciplinary circus and performance artist and creative producer.

Artists appointed by the Albany are all resident in South East London and include the actor, writer and director Ryan Calais Cameron, award-winning cross arts collective Initiative.dkf, run by Artistic Director DK Fashola and Creative Producer Wofai, and actor, writer and theatre maker Angela Clerkin.

 Lizzie Lovejoy

Each artist was recruited via an open call in the summer and chosen by a panel actively engaged with each venue. Working to an open brief they will curate, create or lead activity in collaboration with the community in Stockton and Deptford and Stockton. The announcement follows a significant shift in the way both venues operate in recent years which has already seen an increase in community-centred models of making art. These include projects such as: Pizza and Pitches, which invites local people to submit their own creative ideas for funding at both venues; and the Here and Now project, a Future Arts Centres initiative led by the two venues, where communities co-create work to reflect their local areas in 40 arts centres across the country.

Lizzie’s role at ARC is part of the Weston Jerwood Creative Bursaries programme, which supports people from low socio-economic backgrounds. Artists of Change is part-funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation at the Albany.

ARC’s Chief Executive & Artistic Director, Annabel Turpin, said: ‘We know that we need to find new ways of working if we are to change who gets to make and experience arts and culture. We are excited to be employing two artists entirely new to ARC, to work with us and our communities over the next year. We are open to change and want to learn, so hope this will prove to be another way of giving artists and communities a bigger stake in our organisations.’

Symoné

Chief Executive and Artistic Director of the Albany, Gavin Barlow explained: ‘We were bowled over by the wealth of ideas and creativity that we saw in response to our call out, that although we had originally intended to appoint two artists, we had to have three! With the world changing so rapidly, now feels like the right time to try out new ways of working and let artists and our communities tell us what they want from us and what matters to them.’

Creative practitioner, Lizzie Lovejoy added: ‘I am so proud to have this opportunity to work as an Artist of Change with ARC, as a working class creative who has spent their entire life in the North East, I am really excited to be able to interact with the local community and with other artists in engaging and visually interesting projects.’

Circus and performance artist, Symoné said 'I'm really looking forward to working alongside ARC Stockton as an Artist of Change to explore and challenge some of the practices within the arts with a real focus to help artists to grow.'