Spike Island is delighted to announce Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp as the recipient of the first Engagement Fellowship for South West-based Curators 2025–26, in partnership with Hauser & Wirth.

Fitzgerald-Allsopp will work alongside Spike Island and Hauser & Wirth Somerset’s programming teams to develop and deliver Ecotones: Where the Urban & Rural Embrace, a year-long programme of events and activities as part of Spike Island’s Engagement programme.

In ecology, an ecotone is where two different environments meet, embrace, and transform one another. This year-long programme explores the ecotones between urban and rural environments from an intersectional and inclusive perspective. Questioning pervasive assumptions about urban and rural spaces as divided and disconnected, the project aims to unearth the layers of relationality and connectedness between them. Working alongside interdisciplinary artists, this programme invites young people and local communities to explore notions of belonging, untold histories, and relationships with the more-than-human world, producing alternative modes of connection with their localities.

This opportunity is one of three Engagement Fellowships for South West-based curators taking place between 2025 and 2028, kindly supported by Hauser & Wirth. The three-year initiative will connect Spike Island and Hauser & Wirth’s Learning and Engagement programmes, aiming to support the professional development of artists, young people and independent art workers based in the region.

Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp

Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp is a Bristol-based writer, curator, and producer. Her recent Techne-funded doctoral research considered the ethics of interspecies relations in contemporary art and performance from an intersectional perspective.

Fitzgerald-Allsopp has curated and produced projects across visual arts and performance for cultural organisations including Cove Park, Scotland; DAS, Amsterdam; CCA, Glasgow; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam; In Between Time, Bristol; Cirque Bijou, Bristol; and Smithson Projects, UK.

Fitzgerald-Allsopp’s book Interspecies Performance, co-edited with Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, was published in 2024 by Performance Research Books. Her writing has been commissioned by artists and galleries internationally, including SLQS Gallery, London; Co-Prosperity, Chicago; Handmark, Australia; and K-Gold Temporary Gallery, Greece.

Partners and Supporters

Hauser & Wirth

Hauser & Wirth is committed to inclusive learning programs that create a dialogue between art, artists and diverse audiences. Ongoing global projects are centered on three core pillars: to engage with communities; enrich academic courses; and foster better access to art careers through a series of meaningful partnerships. Operating beyond the physical spaces of Hauser & Wirth locations, the longstanding learning program recognises art as a vehicle for personal and collective discovery, driven by the work of the gallery’s artists. The learning team collaborates with a range of cultural organisations and non-profit partners, facilitating an exchange of ideas and new perspectives to bring an expanded learning experience.