The West of England Visual Arts Alliance (WEVAA) was established in 2021 to bring about a step change in the visual arts sector in Bristol and the West of England.
Funded by the Arts Council England, WEVAA is a consortium partnership of nine organisations co-lead by Spike Island and Visual Arts South West. It includes the Brunswick Club, Bath Spa School of Art, Bristol City Council, Creative Youth Network, Culture Weston, North Somerset Council and UWE Bristol.
The alliance is delivering a three-year programme of activity with the aim of supporting visual arts progression in the region, with the collective vision for the visual arts community in Bristol and the West of England to become more progressive, sustainable and inclusive by 2024.
The programme aims to transform Bristol and the West of England into a place where the visual arts can thrive, providing critical opportunities and support to enable diverse local artists, curators and young people to develop their careers and achieve their potential.
The main objectives are to increase professional development opportunities and commissioning capacity for the visual arts, and to ensure ambition and opportunity is thriving in this region.
The Y1 Delivery Report can be found here summarising the first year’s programme. This report includes images, artist testimonials, case studies, facts and figures. We are now busy working on Y2 and Y3 of the programme, with more opportunities for artists and creative practitioners to be announced soon across the WEVAA website and the alliance partner’s usual channels.
Spike Island, a key delivery partner, is delivering several core strands of this programme, including commissioning, artist development and support, and awarding annual Engagement Fellowships and artist bursaries.
Information on all the Spike Island activities and opportunities can be found below:
Commissioning opportunities:
- Major new commissioning and exhibition opportunities for South West-Based artists at Spike Island. The Y1 commission saw Lucy Stein’s works installed in Gallery 1 and the Y2 commission by Flo Brooks is open at Spike Island from June. The Y3 artist has been announced as Young In Hong and the commission will be exhibited in 2024.
- Major new commissioning and exhibition opportunities for UK-based artists at Spike Island. Tanoa Sasraku and Ayo Akingbade were Y1 and Y2 commissioned artists respectively. Y3 artist Olu Ogunnaike’s show will open in February 2024.
- Major new commissioning and exhibition opportunities for International artists at Spike Island. Y1: Candice Lin. Y2: Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Y3: Ofelia Rodríguez.
- Digital commissions for South West-based artists (Y1 Asmaa Jama, Y2 Ama Dogba). Please check back here for the next opportunity call-out to be announced in July 2023.
- Digital commissions for International artists.
Online and place-based mentoring, resources and interdisciplinary skills workshops:
New positive action policies for subsidised studio provision and artist development opportunities, designed to remove barriers to access for underrepresented groups:
New fellowship and mentoring opportunities for artists, curators and young people:
The final Y3 opportunities including the partnership-wide Research and Development Bursaries and Fellowships will be announced from July 2023 onwards by Spike Island, and all partners.
Artists and curators who would like to hear first about any new opportunities are encouraged to sign up to the Spike Island and/or Visual Arts South West mailing lists and check the WEVAA website at https://vasw.org.uk/wevaa.
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