DIY Educate Press Release

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES OURSELVES: ART SCHOOL ALTERNATIVES

www.ZeitgeistArtsProjects.com

DEPTFORD, LONDON – ‘I can see that it is important in the current financial climate to create opportunities ourselves.’ (DIY Educate Member)   

Art schools across the United Kingdom face unprecedented cuts, tuition fees escalate, arts funding is slashed, and creatives seek ways to engage and learn without a £27,000 price tag. DIY Educate addresses the growing need for providing alternative art education.

Launched in 2011 at Core Gallery the artist-led DIY Educate programme has provided artist talks, practical workshops, one-to-one tutorials, and peer critiques ( with artist Elizabeth Murton) , placing them at the forefront of independent practice and education. Show & Tell focuses on helping artists respond to the lack of available resources and networks. The programme gives a balanced view of the challenges faced by self-employed artists today as well as the opportunities: emphasising professional development, skill-sharing and networking.

Edwina Ashton talks to us about 'Sustaining her practice'

‘DIY Educate puts practice at its centre,  embraces professionalism, provides a critical context in which new graduates and emerging artists can gain valuable support and guidance - at a price that they can afford. This is a timely occurrence because the state is no longer committed to mass higher education, particularly where the humanities and arts are concerned.’   
(Graham Crowley, former  Professor of Painting, RCA)

Artists & co-founders, Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley manage this innovative programme under ZeitgeistArtProjects. Titled Show & Tell, it received a Fenton Arts Trust grant and has already secured funds from Lewisham Arts Service to run the 2012 programme who recognised the work as important not only to their local arts community, which includes Goldsmiths and Camberwell art colleges, but also to the wider community.

Over 250 artists from as far afield as Birmingham, Hastings and Southend have attended. The programme included talks by British Art Show 7 artist Phoebe Unwin, highly popular one-to-one tutorials with renowned painter & former RCA Professor, Graham Crowley and workshops on blogging and marketing, as well as how to get paid in the notoriously underpaid art world. 

Phoebe Unwin at Show&Tell 2011

The Show & Tell programme inspires and empowers artists to take their careers seriously. Annabel Tilley says, ‘Show & Tell uses experienced artists as role models for new graduates, giving them a more realistic picture of the highs and the lows of an arts career and how to survive after art school. We are not interested in ‘success’ as such, but how to survive and thrive in a arts community that can often be dismissive and unsupportive of new talent.’

Rosalind Davis, also an AIR Council member (advocate for 17,000 artists) says ‘DIY Educate was created through a desire to nurture artists at every stage of their career, but also out of a belief that ‘quality’ art education does not have to come from an institution but can be found in the art community itself, from those who are not only successful but passionate about art and art education.’