Collaborative Doctoral Awards
YVAN is delighted to announce two Collaborative Doctoral Awards with partner Universities in the North. The researchers will be supported in their development of a three to four year research programme that will look at various aspects of artists’ networks, their sustainability, strengths, values and importance to artists.
Melissa Burntown, who secured a full award from the Northern Bridge Doctoral Consortium, will work between academics David Butler and Harry Weeks at Newcastle University and YVAN to research the fragile nature of artists’ networks.
Her research, currently titled “Dialogues of Fragility – an enquiry into the precarity and support needs of artist networks in a (post-) pandemic ‘North’ will look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on artist networks in the North of England. It will identify and respond to current support needs through the production of creative public-facing outcomes and digital resources that are accessible and actionable for the visual arts sector.
COVID-19 has raised significant questions regarding the sustainability of an already precarious and informalised visual arts sector. Against this backdrop, artist networks (e.g. studio groups, collectives, and memberships offering opportunities for collaboration and community practice) have become an increasingly essential support structure for artists.
“Artists networks are part of the bedrock of the arts sector. At the best of times they are fragile, depending on goodwill, financial precarity, and artists’ adaptability to changing circumstances. COVID has exacerbated this. But how exactly? And with what implications for the future? Melissa’s research will highlight these impacts and responses to them. Her work sits within a body of cross-discipline research at Newcastle University into artist run institutions and networks.”
“COVID-19 has presented considerable challenges to the visual arts, and in particular the (largely freelance) artists who prop up the sector. This is even more urgent in the North of England in light of growing regional inequalities across the UK. Melissa’s research will provide vital insight in insuring the recovery and evolution of the sector and its networks in the North. She brings fantastic professional and academic experience, and will be an important contributor to the research community in Fine Art at Newcastle University.”
Drilling from both sides of the stone ©Melissa Burntown
Lotka Volterra ©Melissa Burntown
Alice Chandler, who secured full funding from the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities, will work between academics Dr Jonathan Ward | School of Performance and Cultural Industries | University of Leeds and Dr Robert Knifton | School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies | University of Leeds and YVAN to research sustainability in early career artists.
Her research, currently titled “How can Yorkshire and Humber’s cultural institutions work collaboratively with early-career artists to develop long-term practices that provide professional development and sustain early-career artist networks?” is situated in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries (PCI), and will build on YVAN’s current research and partnerships to develop sustainable, collaborative ways for arts organisations to work with artists at the beginning of their careers. By working collaboratively with artists and organisations, this research will attempt to capture some of the complex and inherent value that artist networks provide. Placing artists needs at the forefront, it will utilise this research to develop a tool box of accessible guidance and methods that can be implemented by a wide range of individuals and organisations.
“In the School of Performance and Cultural Industries, working with cultural and creative organisations is a vital part of our work. As such we’re excited to host this Collaborative Doctoral Award with YVAN. Alice will be joining a growing community of researchers exploring how we can articulate the value of culture and support creative practice. Working with YVAN will provide Alice the opportunity to undertake important research, the impact of which will be felt across the region and beyond.”
“We’re delighted that Alice will be working closely with YVAN. As a practicing artist with strong links across the region and a background in museum studies, Alice is ideally situated to engage effectively with artist networks. Her curatorial work at Sunny Bank Mills with exhibitions experience including the annual ‘Ones to Watch’ show is also impressive - all making her one to watch as well!”
Material Matters - Installation View at Sunny Bank Mills ©Sunny bank Mills
Privet - Threshold ©Jules Lister
About the Researchers
Melissa Burntown is a Leeds-based artist and curator, whose creative pursuits have spanned art-making, cultural production, gallery curation and artist-led activity. Working from her studio at serf (which she co-founded) in Leeds, Burntown's art practice aims to challenge object ontologies and the notion of being-in-the-world, from a de-anthropocentric perspective.
Burntown has worked as Exhibitions Curator at The Tetley, on exhibitions including: Bus2Move (2019) by Simeon Barclay; These Silences are All the Words (2018) by Madiha Aijaz; and Tai Shani’s exhibition and co-commission Semiramis, 2018. Burntown’s own recent projects and exhibitions include: …Even if It’s Someone Else’s, Freehold Projects, Index Festival, Leeds, September 2019; The desire to be part of a story…*, Yorkshire House, Index Festival, Leeds, July 2019; serf ‘n’ turf, Turf Projects, Croydon, February 2019; Drilling from both sides of the stone, (solo exhibition), serf, Leeds, April 2018; Hubris Nemesis Catastrophe, (solo exhibition), LIMBO, Margate, November 2017; Exchange Rates: Sluice Art Fair, Collar, New York, October 2016; General Studies (curated by Ryan Gander and Jonathan P Watts), Outpost Studios Gildengate House, Norwich, July, 2016.
Alice Chandler is an artist living and working in Leeds. Chandler’s practice is informed by the intersection between art, craft and design. Chandler graduated from Edinburgh College of Art BA Sculpture in 2015, and is currently completing an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies at University of Leeds. Chandler was selected for the Tetley Associate Artist’s Programme 2018/19 and YSI Sculpture Network in 2020. Recent exhibitions include: Sitting Show, East Bristol Contemporary (2019); Encountering Objects, Encountering Place, Assembly House, Leeds (2018); Mantel, Copperfield Gallery, London (2018); Lick and a Promise, The Trophy Room, Royal Standard Liverpool (2017); and General Studies, Outpost, Norwich (2016).
YVAN Research
The research starts in earnest in October 2021, and we are looking forward to welcoming the researchers into YVAN. The research forms part of a long term commitment to supporting artists’ practice through research in the region through a deep understanding of the following key research areas:
Q1. How do we most effectively gather and share knowledge that’s embedded in the cultural networks and communities that we work with - or want to work with - to increase support for artistic practice?
Q2. Can artists' networks define their own development needs and act on them, and how is this best supported?
Q3. Addressing the Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (WIDE) of artist practice in the region is vital and we must ask - Whose Knowledge (Q1) is it and Who speaks for Whom?
