2020: Year in Review
2020 has certainly been a year to remember. A challenging time for people all over the world, and particularly for the creative industries and we do not underestimate the terrible toll it has taken on lives and livelihoods across the UK. However, from closures and cancellations, new ideas and formats emerged. We have seen the most incredible adaptability and versatility across the creative sector. Artists and cultural communities have rallied together and made some amazing things happen, from online festivals and exhibitions, to campaigns like #artistsupportpledge and #portraitsfornhsheroes, the resilience has been amazing. So as we approach the end of this unforgettable year, we thought we’d share a round up of our projects and news, which have resulted in:
99 paid opportunities for artists
19 paid opportunities for freelance cultural professionals
57 young people aged 14-18 engaged in our talent development programmes
20 Bronze Arts Award & 1 Gold Arts Award delivered
1000+ visits to The Viewing Room and Robert Walters Award Collection
2 million sessions on Zoom… just kidding, but it sure feels like it!
Here we go...
In April we launched our call for entries for UKNA City Takeover: Leicester 2021, attracting almost 600 applications - a tough task for our fantastic selection panel, made up of artists and cultural professionals.
This call for entries marked a significant and exciting change, as we shifted from UK Young Artists to UK New Artists, evolving our criteria to include artists at any age who are within the first ten years of their practice.
As well as selecting the next cohort of City Takeover artists, we recruited our brilliant team for the Takeover: G Sian, Jiten Anand, Olwen Davies, Saziso Phiri and Sophie Mak-Schram. We also welcomed Rowan Riley to the UKNA team as our Operations Manager.
The first team meeting with our Leicester City Takeover team
Between April - July we invited more than 50 artist Alumni to participate in our digital ‘Conversations with Friends’ and ‘Show Me Tell Me’. We shared updates and feedback on each other’s work and discussed the best ways we could support artists through this challenging time; providing a much needed support network as well as some financial support.
In May, three performances from our last City Takeover in Nottingham were screened by Metronome as part of ‘Nottstopping Festival’. Produced by our amazing colleague Justin Turford and recorded by students at Confetti, the performances were by international artists brought to the UK in partnership with Seojung Arts Centre, South Korea, and BJCEM. Artists included: Red Pig Flower, Simone Sims Longo and DDoS.
Artists: DDoS. Image: Confetti (film still)
In partnership with Voice Magazine and Eurodesk UK, we hosted two online sessions about the future of the arts, called ‘The Arts in 2025’. We invited three of our alumni artists: Fauve Alice, Hannah Fredsgaard-Jones and Ryan Boultbee, and a group of 14-20yr olds to explore intentionally provocative questions around the future of the arts. Unlike many similar conversations at this time, this was not about the impact of Covid or Brexit, lockdown or social distancing, but instead about the ways in which the arts must become more sustainable, environmental and accessible in order to grow and flourish over the next five years.
In July and October we led two weeklong ‘Virtual Work Experience’ (VWEX) programmes, in partnership with Speakers for Schools. The programme provided participants with the opportunity to spend the week (digitally) with UKNA, exploring the UK arts industry, new artists and potential career paths. Each day was divided into three sessions - Information, Inspiration and Exploration. Being a completely virtual programme, the (digital) world was our oyster. Participants were encouraged to utilise as many online services as they had access to – iPlayer, Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+, live streamed workshops and virtual exhibition tours to connect with a wide range of cultural experiences without needing to navigate the usual financial, geographic or time barriers. An ‘Arts Award Start Up grant’ from The Mighty Creatives also allowed us to deliver the Bronze Arts Award as part of this programme.
Sixteen young people (aged 14-16) undertook the VWEX with our Engagement Coordinator Vikki Jones and a fantastic cohort of artists: Ant Hamlyn, Asthmatic Harp, Courtney Conrad, Danni Spooner, Jay Johnson and Reece Straw, along with journalist and editor of Voice Magazine, Tom Inniss.
“Thank you very much [UKNA] for this amazing week, it was truly a way to discover more horizons and finding myself, along with working with amazing people and learning a lot from you and them.”
“It was so good to be in touch with other students that I had never met before too as we were all so different in our areas of passion and skill. I feel grateful and lucky to have had this opportunity during lockdown as it has given me such a positive window into the arts world and working in this industry.”
Artwork by Anna Maria Saviano, one of the winners of the Saatchi IG Takeover.
In August we partnered with Robert Walters Group to do a weeklong takeover of Saatchi Gallery’s Instagram. We invited people to submit artwork on social media that was inspired by ‘The Future of Work’, and we ran two IG lives. The first featured Conor Rogers and Camilla Hanney; winner and runner up of the Robert Walters UK Young Artist of the Year Award 2019, who discussed their practices and gave us a studio tour. Next up was Michael Forbes and Martin Knox, who led a captivating discussion on finding and articulating your ‘truth’ and values as an artist.
October and November saw more digital delivery for young people. Two sessions supported by Eurodesk UK; ‘Making New Friends’ brought together 16 young people to meet international artists Agnes Ársælsdóttir (Iceland) and Bianca Hisse (Norway/Brazil) to learn about their practice and careers.
Our second iteration of the ‘Next Generation’ weekender in partnership with Young Creative Awards Nottingham saw 15 young people undertake masterclasses with fashion designer Navneet Virk, filmmaker Reece Straw, and writer Sara Rain.
‘Making New Friends’
The Viewing Room, UK New Artists.
In November, we launched our new virtual gallery, ‘The Viewing Room’, with its first exhibition: Somewhere between reality and obscurity. Curated by Garth Gratrix and designed and built by Ronan Somerville, the exhibition features 12 of the UK’s most up and coming visual artists: Jarvis Brookfield, Hannah Campion, Lisa Denyer, Parham Ghalamdar, Juliet E P Gibbs, Sarah Gilman, Timothy Hon Hung Lee, Ellen Ranson, Irina Razumovskaya, Joanna Whittle, Jodie Wingham and Rafal Zajko. Alongside The Viewing Room we launched the ‘RWA Collection’, celebrating 6 of the finalists from the Robert Walters Group UK Young Artist of the Year Award 2019. The collection features work from Morgan Dowdall, Camilla Hanney, Will Harman, Malgorzata Lisiecka, Manon Ouimet, and Conor Rogers, which is all available to purchase until Thursday 31 December.
In December we released a beautiful trio of short films called ‘The Art of Working (Internationally)’. Funded by Eurodesk UK, the films were made by Underhill Creative and featured three creatives: noise artist Aja Ireland, curator/producer Saziso Phiri, and visual artist Ryan Boultbee. The films focus on the influence and impact of having international experiences either through festivals, exhibitions/performances or residencies.
As well as the Art of Working films, we released 2 ‘In Conversation’ shorts, with artist Jarvis Brookfield, curator Garth Gratrix, and spoken word poet and YouTuber ClickforTaz.
We end the year on a high with the announcement of selected artists for UKNA City Takeover: Leicester 2021. Over sixty artists and groups have been chosen to present work across all art forms, or participate in one of three micro-residencies. In the new year we’ll be introducing you to the artists on our Instagram page with our #ArtistoftheDay features, so make sure you’re following @uknewartists!
Rowland Hill, selected artist Leicester 2021 - ‘Tha-at's right’ (film still)
Whilst this has been a challenging year for our international work, we continue to develop our partnerships and grow our friendships as we look to the future. Our work through the membership of European network BJCEM is thriving and we hope that we get to see all our friends in San Marino in May 2021 for ‘Mediterranea 19: School of Waters’, as well as sharing the work of three UK artists; Maeve Brennan, Tawfik Naas and Dominique White in this unique city. We are also looking to the future with projects in discussion with Kenya, Norway and South Korea.
Looking ahead
Heading into 2021, we’re looking forward, optimistically, to being back with artists in real life. We start the year with our City Takeover in Leicester (26 Feb - 1 March). Next, in April, will be our Blackpool Weekender residency, ‘The Coast is Queer’ which was postponed from 2020.
Thank you to all of the amazing people we’ve had the opportunity to work with, support or connect with this year; your resilience and optimism has been inspirational to behold. Wishing you all a lovely festive break and a happy new year - see you in 2021!