Co-organised with Georgia Stephenson

In partnership with Collective Ending, Backlit Gallery, Paradise Works and The Lombard Method

Funded by Arts Council England

Publicly funded by Arts Council England in partnership with Backlit Gallery in Nottingham, Paradise Works in Manchester, and The Lombard Method in Birmingham, the Artist-Led Critical Exchange Network was a special three-month programme of mutual critical exchange between four artist-led studio providers across the UK, organised and delivered by Collective Ending. Conceived in response to the effect of the pandemic on self-organised projects, the programme was focused on providing critical services to artist-led initiatives across the country, kick-starting networks that remove geographical barriers to dialogue and collaboration, and levelling-up opportunities for artists and curators across the country.

Through a series of 1-to-1 conversations between our respective resident curators and artists, we generated new ideas, share tools, guidance and resources, and lay the foundations for future collaboration. We want the project to contribute to a culture of leadership from the bottom-up and support artist-led initiatives to embolden the reach of their network and programming. The programme ran across the first three months of the year, with the delivery of 54 individual digital studio visits between 4 artist-led studio providers in London, Birmingham, Manchester & Nottingham. The project was followed by an open-source report of our work and learnings.

Artists included in the programme: Alia Hamaoui, Billy Fraser, Ted Le Swer, Yuli Serfaty, Gobyfish, /ˈpɑː(r)tɪk(ə)l/, Elliot Fox, Roo Dhissou, Leon Trimble, Fred Hubble, Marcus Keating, Chloe Lund, Eleanor Capstick, Gwen Evans, Bridget Corderc, Hilary Jack, Jack Brown, Mikesian Studio, Maisie Pritchard, Robin Broadley, Naomi Harwin, Wingshan Smith, Aisling Ward, Ryan Heath, Klara Szafrańska, Tom Ireland, Sarah Blaszczok, Shadia Houssein.

Curators included in the programme: Charlie Mills, Georgia Stephenson, Hector Campbell, Tom Kilby, Marta Marsicka, Richard Shields, Jez Dolan, Suzanne Golden, Jazz Swali