London Art United

The Art Entrepreneurs

londonartunited — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:50:11 +0000

Art isn’t just about paints, pottery, pencils and public school boys. There’s a whole industry of people who keep the art industry and help out struggling artists from time to time and when you start to organise your own show, you can’t ignore all this behind the scenes activity because this is exactly what determines the success or failure of a show.

Alot of different things go into helping the Arts community thrive and there are inspiring stories of Art Entrepreneurs being published every day.

But before you start organising you first art venture, there are 3 things you should plan out first:

1) Publicity – getting your events in the press is often the first step to take

2) Online Marketing – services like Bullseye Events Marketing can help get your art events out into the public domain

3) Word of Mouth – social media is a great way to get people talking

Independent art is thriving – so what are you waiting for….?

Lucas takes break from stage

londonartunited — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:43:25 +0000

Little Britain star, Matt Lucas, is taking a break from stage after the sad news of his ex-husband’s suicide. Lucas was starring in the west end show Prick Up Your Ears, playing a suicidal writer. Lucas married Kevin McGee in 2006 but divorced in 2008. The producers of Prick Up Your Ears said in a statement:

“Our thoughts are with Matt whom we are in constant touch with. Until further notice his role of Kenneth Halliwell in the West End production of Prick Up Your Ears will be played by his understudy Michael Chadwick.”

Prick Up Your Ears retells the story playwright Joe Orton and his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, and their often tempestuous relationship.

Kevin Spacey Appeals to U.K. Businesses As They Cut Art Giving

londonartunited — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:25:35 +0000

Two time Oscar Winner Kevin Spacey has joined with London Mayor Boris Johnson in appealing to UK businesses to continue to support London Attractions and the capital’s art scene.

According to the London-based nonprofit organisation Arts & Business, the amount of money spent on the arts by businesses in the U.K. has been cut by over 50%. Their findings also show that these large businesses do not plan to increase their spending in the arts sector until at least the start of 2011, which could signal a funding crisis for some of London’s best loved cultural institutions.

Businesses in the U.K. are cutting spending on the arts, and aren’t planning to increase it until 2011, according to a survey by the London-based nonprofit organization Arts & Business.

The quarterly survey polled 240 cultural organizations and 32 businesses in July. Among arts groups, 68.2 percent reported decreased levels of business investment, and more than half of those said they suffered a drop exceeding 50 percent.

The report was presented at a panel discussion with actor Kevin Spacey, who is artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

“The question is not what can the economy do for the arts, it’s what can the arts do for the economy,” said Spacey in a room full of Turner and Constable paintings at the Victoria & Albert Museum. “Instead of apologetically holding our hat in our hands,” he said, arts bodies should show the economic potential of “what is called, after all, show business.”

Business and the arts could go hand in hand, Spacey said. The cultural regeneration of London’s South Bank, where his theater is located, has generated revenue for hotels, restaurants, and even street musicians, he said.

Urban Culture

“I don’t want to see another property development without a cultural center at the heart of it,” he said.

The report showed that out of the businesses polled, which together invested 4 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the arts last year, a total of 41.9 percent reduced spending over the three-month period. One in four respondents cut funding by more than 50 percent. Overall, respondents said they didn’t expect year-on-year growth in their arts spending until 2011.

“It is the arts that give this city its unique selling point,” said Mayor Johnson. He said that the tourism industry generated 10 billion pounds a year for London and the surrounding region, and that arts institutions were a prime factor. He suggested there be voluntary contributions to London museums as there are in New York, a city he recently visited.

In a release added to the report, Arts & Business Chief Executive Colin Tweedy said the economic crisis had “radically altered the commercial and cultural landscape in the U.K.”

Tweedy, whose job is to drum up U.K. non-governmental investment in the arts, said efforts must be made “to ensure that the private sector, which will recover from the recession long before the public sector, maintains and increases its contribution to the arts.”

: Kevin Spacey

The report was presented at a panel discussion with actor Kevin Spacey, who is artistic director of London’s Old Vic Theatre, and Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

“The question is not what can the economy do for the arts, it’s what can the arts do for the economy,” said Spacey. The actor and Artistic Director of London’s Old Vic Theatre made an excellent point about how in London big business frequently relies upon the success of the arts. London’s South Bank is an good example, since regeneration in that area was only possible through the huge popularity of the many theatres, galleries and music venues.

The Arts & Business report showed that out of the businesses polled, which together invested 4 million pounds ($6.5 million) in the arts last year, a total of 41.9 percent reduced spending over the three-month period. One in four respondents cut funding by more than 50 percent. Overall, respondents said they didn’t expect year-on-year growth in their arts spending until 2011.

New Sensations: Saatchi announces the art world’s rising stars

londonartunited — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:11:52 +0000

The Saatchi Gallery have teamed up with Channel 4 for their announcement of those lucky art graduates who have been chosen for inclusion in New Sensations. For over a decade Saatchi’s New Sensations project has sought to find the most imaginative and talented artists graduating in the UK and to support students leaving art college. Previous art graduates who have been included in the pretigious club are Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.

Tracey Emin was one of Saatchi's New Sensations

Since 2007 The Saatchi Gallery have been working in partnership with Channel 4 to gain greater attention for the project. The four finalists of the competition will be given a bursary to make a new work to present at the exhibition, and each of these ‘New Sensations’ will have a 3 Minute Wonder Channel 4 film made about them which will also be aired in October. The ultimate winner of the competition will be awarded prize money to support his or her future artistic endeavours.

An exhibition of the 20 shortlisted graduates chosen by the judges will take place in London during Frieze Week in October 2009 at the A Foundation at the Rochelle School in Shoreditch.

Working As An Art Gallery Dealer in London

londonartunited — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:02:12 +0000

Here’s a great interview I’ve found with Michelle D’Souza – director of the Lisson Gallery

more about "Working As An Art Gallery Dealer in L…", posted with vodpod

Tate worker sues gallery for being too cold

londonartunited — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 10:48:23 +0000

And the award for bizzare art story of the week goes to the gallery worker at the Tate who is suing the museum for causing health problem spanning from her being too cold.

The woman who suffers from Crohn’s disease says her health has suffered since being moved from Tate Britain after a dispute with colleague saw her moved to the Tate Modern. She claims her latest position puts her in a venue that is larger and colder which has been damaging to her health.

Major new UK gallery set to open three years late

londonartunited — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 13:32:07 +0000

The construction of a local alternative to London’s dominance of the UK art scene is set to open three years late it now emerges. Billed as becoming one of England’s major regional art centres, The Firstsite project in Colchester, Essex received it’s planning permission in February 2006 and was scheduled to open in spring 2008 at the cost of £16.5 million. In March 2007, Tessa Jowell, then secretary of state for the Department of Culture Media and Sport, described it as “an exemplary new cultural model”.

Work has now ground to a halt at the site due to disputes with the contractors, but the public has now been promised that Firstsite will be open by December 2010. It is particularly embarrassing to Arts Council England since, although they have been slashing arts budgets across the board in an effort to spend carefully, it was they who were one of the original investors, donating £7.75m. Last month an Arts Council spokesman said that they are satisfied that “everything possible” is being done to keep costs stable, and “major new build projects often take longer than initially estimated”.

Bubbles!

londonartunited — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:48:50 +0000

It seems that a humble childhood pastime is the latest art craze sweeping London. Sam Heath, aka SamSam Bubbleman, is a self-proclaimed bubbleologist, who can do just about anything with a bit of soapy water, two sticks and a length of rope. He will soon be seen wowing crowds at the Big Chill Festival and will return to his London base in September to perform at the Thames Festival.

Bubble blowing is becoming increasingly popular in arts circles and Heath claims that that his bubble company, Bubble Inc, has had to employ their first full-time member of staff. In other places too, the art of blowing bubbles is attracting attention with at least three participants of Antony Gormley’s One & Other project have been seen to be blowing bubble on the fourth plinth.

National Art Hate Week

londonartunited — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:38:56 +0000

What a great week in the world of London art! For all those not impressed with Antony Gormley’s long-running One and Other exhibition on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, you can bemoan the current state of the UK’s art scene (or just art in general) by joining in with National Art Hate Week.

Established by the maverick Billy Childish, National Art Hate Week has been devised as a critique of mediated emotion and cultural centralisation, communicated through the creation of a vast array of propaganda style posters and the impassioned polemics of real and imagined actions. They have a manifesto and everything!

Pop down to the eccentric L-13 art space to get involved. Expect protests, propaganda and plenty of anti-art activities. Well, at least it makes a change.

One and Other

londonartunited — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:21:11 +0000

Finally the art event of the Summer is here. From today onwards you can catch Anthony Gormley’s One and Other in Trafalgar Square as 2400 participants take it in turns to BE art on the Fourth Plinth.

I will be heading down there this afternoon, but even if you can’t make it there yourself then feel free to indulge in the live streaming via the website, 24 hours a day. It’s becoming addictive viewing already.

Some call it Big Brother for the culturally-minded, I call it well deserved recognition for a great artist, and a fantastically interesting project.