The free digital festival takes place on February 26/27 and is aimed at creatives in the visual arts working across the East Midlands...
Creatives across the East Midlands will have the opportunity to attend a new, free digital festival focused on collaboration in the visual arts. Taking place on February 26/27, No Jobs in the Arts Fringe will feature fourteen unique events, including a variety of free talks, workshops, and creative events, aimed at and delivered by early-career creatives.
Created in collaboration with UK New Artists and supported by Arts Council England, the events will feature several Notts creatives, including illustrator Chloe Henson, artists Jo Wheeler and Benjamin Rostance, curator Chris Boote, photographer Sarah Woolf and writer-in-residence, Kellymarie Palfrey.
All the creatives involved are linked to the amazing East Midlands arts scene. Through the festival, No Jobs in the Arts and UK New Artists want to showcase the region's talented artists and creative network. Originally, the Fringe was intended to run alongside UKNA’s City Takeover in Leicester, however that has been postponed due to COVID.
No Jobs in the Arts Fringe focus on the local region in order to better support local emerging artists, and hope to encourage artists to engage with their local art scene and its opportunities. However, many of the programs will interest many early-career creatives and anyone with a general interest in the visual arts, meaning all events will be public.
Here's what the Festival has in store:
Friday 26 February
No Jobs in the Arts - Welcome to the Fringe! (Talk)
10am - 10.45am
This short talk will introduce the Fringe Festival’s two-day programme and its theme: collaboration. This event is an opportunity to find out more about No Jobs in the Arts and UK New Artists, and what we have planned for the Fringe. The talk will be delivered by Ryan and Charlie, the project co-ordinators for No Jobs in the Arts, with Michelle Bowen, Director of UKNA.
Happy Chances - Chloe Henson (Workshop)
11am-12pm
Working off the idea that you need to do a good few ‘bad’ drawings to get to the one you’ll love; this workshop pushes you to start to ignore the perfect and just go for it. Using a series of drawing exercises, Chloe will help you to follow your instincts and start building the basics of your illustrative style. Drawing exercises will include timed drawing, drawing with abstract shapes and drawing from memory. You should hopefully leave the workshop inspired to look for those happy chances.
What’s your Ritual? Objects and actions for navigating the red tide - Valeria Medici (Workshop)
12.15pm - 1.15pm
The conversation-based workshop is run by Valeria Medici, co-creator of ‘Wombenhood: exploring the field of menstruality’, a collaborative project exploring menstrual cycles through the means of conversation, education, and making-processes. Participants are invited to bring the objects they feel are essential to their menstruation and cycle in the exploration of ways to navigate the red tide.
Why Volunteer in the Arts? - Jenny McKenzie and Chris Boote (Talk)
2pm - 2.50pm
In this talk, creative practitioners Chris Boote (Surface Gallery) and Jenny McKenzie (The Green Man Gallery) will be chatting about their experience of volunteering in the art industry, and how their experiences have shaped their creative careers. The event will cover learning opportunities experienced by the panel and why they continue to volunteer in the arts. This event may be of interest to those who want to gain experience within the arts.
Social Practice: Reflections on Collaboration - Jo Wheeler (Talk)
3pm - 3.45pm
Jo will reflect on collaboration through the lens of her socially engaged practice and past projects. This talk will be of interest to anyone investigating a position of collaboration in creative practice. Jo hopes participants who attend this event will take away new ways of thinking about collaborative practice through discovery and conversation.
Generosity Session: A Mindful Approach to Engaging with Crit Sessions - Benjamin Rostance (Workshop)
4pm - 4.50pm
In this workshop, Benjamin will share the skills he gained as a mature student at Nottingham Trent University (Fine Art). This crit session workshop will benefit artists who feel they would like to build their skills in giving and receiving critical feedback, and engaging with other artists. The workshop particularly aims to help and support artists who identify as being introverted or have anxiety or social phobias. This enhanced, safe space crit session style is something Benjamin has developed at Surface Gallery, Nottingham, for over 3 years, with a large selection of artists at differing levels of confidence, who previously found engagement activities and public speaking triggering.
Where to? - Donna Briscoe-Greene (Workshop)
5pm - 5.50pm
Donna will be running a creative conversation with a small group of artists. Artists will be engaged to share a question that they have about their art practice, for example, a current struggle or concern. These questions will then be discussed in the session. Donna hopes that participants will take-away a renewed sense of confidence in their practice from the conversation we generate. Artists from all backgrounds and mediums are invited to attend.
DOUBLE CRISIS: Sarah Woolf (Workshop)
6pm - 7pm
The 'DOUBLE CRISIS' series of work captures and exposes some of the harsh realities facing people with mental health issues during the Covid-19 pandemic, whilst acknowledging the potential for change and ‘recovery’. Sarah's video piece will premier during the festival and will be accompanied by an artist's talk exploring the themes of the work.
Saturday 27 February
What can we do for you? - No Jobs in the Arts and Elizabeth Hawley-Lingham (Discussion)
10am - 10.50am
No Jobs in the Arts will be asking ‘What do early-career artists/curators/producers want and need from us?’ with Elizabeth Hawley-Lingham. This talk will share a live evaluation of their projects. With this dialogue, they want to think creatively about how they evaluate a project by opening the learning process to others. This event might be of interest to anyone who plans creative events or wants to help shape the future of No Jobs in the Arts.
The Places We Miss - Georgina Watson (Workshop)
11am - 12pm
The Places We Miss is an interactive writing workshop focused on the embodiment and enactment of the places we miss through writing, poetry and the act of sharing these words together as a group. Through a series of short exercises, the workshop will focus on methods of writing that evoke and embody our impressions of place. After the writing exercises, everyone will be encouraged to read their writing from the session in order to enact the experiences of these places with each other.
Curating the Region: Amber Jesson and Jenny O'Sullivan (Talk)
12.15pm - 1.15pm
Amber Jesson and Jenny O’Sullivan will be discussing their experiences working as early-career curators in the East Midlands and beyond. The curators will be talking about their creative roles, themes they are interested in, their routes into the arts, and why they think it is important to collaborate with emerging creatives. This event may interest those wanting to look at the visual arts from a fresh perspective and networking with a new generation of curators.
Collecting Creativity: Leicester and Zines (Talk)
2pm - 3pm
A panel discussion with Leicester Zine Library's (LZL) Courteney Campbell, Anoushka Goodwin, and Jack Squires. The conversation will centre on LZL’s collection and what zines can do. The LZL team will be showcasing some of their favourites from their collections and talking about how they hope to develop as a project. This event will be of interest to anyone who loves zines or is interested in creative publications. The panel discussion will be led by Charlie Collins, the project coordinator of Derbyshire Zine Library.
How to: Live Documentation - Joe Westley (Talk)
3.15pm - 4pm
Northampton based photographer, Joe Westley will be hosting a talk on documenting live performances and artistic events. He will be reflecting on his professional experience and offering some hints and tips on creative documentation. Anyone interested in capturing creativity though a lens will love this talk. The presentation will be followed by a short Q&A.
Artist to Artist Crits - Fiona Carruthers (Workshop)
4.15pm - 5.15pm
This workshop will share tried-and-tested techniques and resources for starting and sustaining an artist-led crit group. Led by Fiona Carruthers, the workshop will provide opportunities to participate by sharing work and contributing to constructive feedback. Participants will be encouraged to engage in group dialogue and reflect on their artworks in a supportive environment.
All events are free but do require booking. Some events have limited availability, so advanced booking is recommended.
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