Artist Community

  Big Shop Friday is an artist-led organization and arts space based in central Milton Keynes, operating on the ground floor of a multi-storey carpark. We provide a space for the creative community and support emerging talent. Our goal is to nurture, inspire, and grow the community of people who create. Big Shop Friday is independent, artist-led and non-profit.  

DOMIE is 400 square meters intended for artistic experiments. It features studio and exhibition, music and performance space, gathering and accommodation. The building undergoes continuous transformation, becoming an artistic medium in itself and provoking site-specific activities. DOMIE welcomes everyone and anyone who believes in the idea of openness, is able to embrace frictions and work in intersections. DOMIE is a place requiring care, a difficult, ghastly place, which responds to the sense of uprooting, chronic nomadism, housing crisis and poverty among artists. Domesticity and ownership have ended. It is time of post-dwelling, zombie-communities, unstable domiciles. The project was initiated by Martyna Miller and Katarzyna Wojtczak, who are developing it with DOMIE community. DOMIE is also an experiment in itself. It focuses on a 10-year plan of reclaiming a building in the center of Poznań/Poland, which due to long-term neglect has been falling into disrepair since 1988. The founders of the project undertook the daunting task of renovating the building without any financial capital. That aimed at spreading the responsibility of the ruin, which used to be an important cultural space in the past (the house of cinema prototype – Kaiser’s panorama of the city), among various – formal and informal […]

SPAO is home to the only 2 year photographic arts diploma in Canada, a unique 6 month artist residency, numerous evening and weekend photography skills classes, and the only gallery in the region dedicated to lens-based art. Established in 2005 as an alternative to photography education, SPAO has seen immense growth and operates more like an artist-run-centre. In 2016 moved to a new purpose-built building complete with the most well-appointed darkroom in the region, lighting studio, digital media lab, and the wheelchair accessible SPAO Centre Gallery. SPAO works hard to cultivate a community of distinct artistic vision, critical dialogue and technical expertise in the photographic arts through exhibition, partnerships and education.  

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  Pocketed right in the heart of the village Baadii Khas, Baadii is a confluence for arts for the three village panchayats in cluster of Kandbari, near Baijnath in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. The space is a melting pot for artists, artisans, craftspersons, and all residents from the area. A community driven initiative, the space is a platform for arts engagement, exhibition and discussion in the village. Dedicated to maximizing the intrinsic value of the arts in all media, and its impact on communities, Baadii is centered on bringing arts based experiences and interventions, as bridges for cohesion of cultures and people.  

PrintSpace is dedicated to the exploration and experimentation of printmaking techniques, rooted in the desire to build community around a press. It is a truly wonderful space to share ideas, purpose and process. For novice and experienced alike, PrintSpace is designed for small group workshops as well as private rental for press or studio time. First Fridays was established as a way to provide a fun and engaging opportunity using some of the printmaking techniques offered at PrintSpace. Bright Spot Sunday is another monthly program allowing participants a relaxed environment to learn about the beauty of monoprint/monotype while brightening up the day for others. At the end of the session, each participant will choose one print to leave behind. It will be adhered to a card and delivered to the Saint Nicholas Home for distribution to residents. Help create a Bright Spot! Drop in on the Sunday following a First Friday event between 12 – 3.  

OPENART is a contemporary public art biennial taking place for three summer months in Örebro, Sweden. The city center is temporarily transformed into a huge outdoor art arena creating unconventional encounters between the art and the audience. Participating artists are working outside the traditional frames with an opportunity to work big, outdoors and temporary. The exhibition invites a broad and curious audience to experience the art without an admission fee and regardless if they are acquainted with art or not.  

  Sonra Sanat Collective is a not-for-profit community created by students and art producers studying in the field of visual arts and music in Kocaeli. The purpose of the collective, which was established in Kocaeli in 2016, is to ensure the continuity of interdisciplinary art production that takes place collectively in the studio named Kara Sanat, and to contribute to the city vision in the field of visual arts by creating a memory in this field by opening this production to the audience through various activities such as exhibitions, seminars and performances. In Kocaeli, Sonra Sanat Collective, tries to create a modest alternative to both the university-based academic environment and Istanbul-centered art field that is under the influence of the same artistic approaches/Institutions, and also undertakes the mission of an independent art space in Kocaeli. Within this mission, the Collective aims to create international encounters in the field of art and to keep track of these motto’s by organizing seminar series/exhibitions/meetings that tries to bring together different disciplines, especially within the students.  

Mission: Amos Eno Gallery is a nonprofit art gallery providing a full season of exhibits by emerging and mid-career artists working in visual, performance, installation, interactive, and/or digital media/video. Our season is complemented by a diverse series of performances as well as educational and public programs for the New York area. A small community of professional artists runs our nonprofit whose members are vetted through a rigorous reviewing process by their peers. Amos Eno serves as an alternative, artist-run platform for professional artists in a variety of media, giving precedence to artistic expression freed from commercial restraints. By presenting a rich schedule of exhibits and participatory events, we help promote the cultural growth of our community. History: Founded in 1974, Amos Eno Gallery is one of New York City’s longest operating artist-run gallery spaces. As a registered 501(c)3 organization, Amos Eno Gallery offers a diverse calendar of public programming including performance art, film and music, lectures, panels, and workshops throughout the year. See Events at Amos Eno Gallery for more information.

  Kingsbrae International Residence for the Arts & Amphitheatre (KIRA) was established in 2016 in an effort to support the creativity of artists. We hope to promote excellence in the arts both here in Canada as well as in the International scene, all the while benefiting the local community of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, by becoming a cultural destination. A residency at KIRA creates a rewarding and stimulating experience for any participant seeking to advance their artistic journey.  

Institut for (X) is a culture, business and education platform founded in 2009. It is an independent and not-for-profit culture association arising from citizen initiatives. The (X) is continuously redefined by the members of the platform, which include: 250 + active members 90 studios & workshops 50 businesses 25 associations The outdoor spaces and park areas are public and we invite everyone to use and co-produce them. Mission: Best possible neighborhood for all. Facilitate and enhance cultural activities, combining artistic creativity with business, public debate and public education. A dynamic organization and a laboratory for urban experiments, where initiatives grow organically. Organization: Everyone at (X) pay rent and organize through neighborhood meetings. The administration is reduced to an absolute minimum, and everybody are janitors. The platform produces events and products of cultural and commercial nature, with an estimated yearly turnover of DKK 20 mill.

  L’AiR Arts is a grass-roots non profit association with a mission of supporting intercultural and artistic exchange through providing international artist residency opportunities. Our programs bring together artists, researchers, arts professionals and arts supporters of different nationalities and backgrounds with the aim to foster creativity and artistic practice, while promoting inclusion, diversity and international understanding through arts and cultural heritage.  

  The Platforms Project – Independent Art Fair (Athens, Greece) is an international artist-run art fair which has been createdsince  2013, and it is an annual international meeting of artist groups-platforms. It is an international exhibition, which aims to map how art collectives work, and create channels of communication and cooperation with other countries. The project help to promote the various artists’ groups, collectives, platforms and independent art spaces of a non-commercial (non-profit) orientation which operate in unconventional ways, managing to establish unexpected debates on art. It is an Art Fair for artist’s platforms-groups that produce works or projects together, artist-run galleries and other artists’ initiatives.  

  tactileBOSCH is an itinerant artist led collective championing experimentation and specializing in performance art, multi-media, and site-specific installation. Through its exciting programme of exhibitions and events, tactileBOSCH seek out and adapt to new spaces and contexts, granting permission to artists to experiment with their work in a way entirely impossible in a traditional or gallery setting, offering interesting, transformative and unusual spaces that audiences can explore, and become immersed in creating a complex dialogue between artist, curator, gallery, location and audience.  

  E T A J is an artist-run space, a catalyst that focuses on the efficiency of the contemporary artistic object within the local context. Some artists have grouped themselves into the idea of conceiving a cultural cell. Through their journey, but also in their connection there is no conventional model. Whether it is a group exhibition, a solo one or other events originated here, the principles of the artistic practice and a sense of authenticity are those guiding the initial collective actions at E T A J.  

  PADA is an artist led, not for profit, arts association, unique in its support to artists. As a cultural resource, PADA promotes interaction between national and international artists, the local community and surrounding region. Set in a derelict industrial park with a history dating back to 1885, PADA offers artists time and space to develop their practice through the exploration of technique and process. PADA is located in the picturesque town of Barreiro, a medium-sized city on the South Bank of the River Tagus (20 minutes from Lisbon by ferry). Barreiro was the main industrial city in Portugal and Spain until 1970 and is known for its political and industrial history. Since the 70’s, Barreiro has been slowly redefining its identity, without losing its main characteristics inherited from history. Barreiro is known for its cooperation, creativity, resilience and hospitality, combined with a strong sense of identity and connection with the ever-present river Tagus. PADA is located in the old textile area of CUF’s Industrial Park, and today, is surrounded by light industry and various fabrication businesses. Large sections of the area are in ruins and the remains of what was once a large industrial power now stand empty and […]

  The F Project is an ARI based in Warrnambool, Australia. Established in 2008, The F Project aims to encourage and support artists and contemporary arts practice, and creatively explore social issues and engagement with the community. The F Project space hosts a gallery, shop, workshop spaces, studios and a residency. It is run entirely by volunteers. Acting as a lobby voice for the provision of facilities and programs where artists can produce and exhibit work, where artists and the community can work together, and where a range of information and support services are available to artists and the community, The F Project is a positive force in shaping the cultural and creative life in the Victorian Arts community.  

  98B COLLABoratory is an artist-run initiative and space in Manila, Philippines. We are a community + network + library + kitchen + shop. The idea is to have a setting where artists and creative individuals from other disciplines can interact and work together while presenting art, design and creativity in different ways; be it a talk, a bazaar, a publication, a meal or a simple gathering.  It is a multi-disciplinary art laboratory that seeks to establish a convergence with artists, designers, curators, writers, musicians, film makers, activists, educators, researchers, cultural workers, performers, architects and students together with the general public. Brief Background 98B was established in January 2012 by Mark Salvatus (visual artist) and Mayumi Hirano (curator and researcher) as a response to the need for alternative venues in Manila. Salvatus opened up his studio and residence to respond to this dearth; 98B is his address. July of 2012 provided us with an opportune playground to frolic in – Escolta, Manila.  Marika Constantino (visual artist and curator), Gabriel Villegas (magazine art director) together with 98B’s Founders, direct the team’s various programs and activities towards creative sharing, discussion and collaboration.  The 98B Team has ten founding members and is currently run by seven members […]

Picasso Pupils is an art society with the branch in India and in Slovakia whose main mission is to provide a platform for cultural exchange. The main aim is to use art as a language between diverse cultures. The organization arrange art residency programmes, exhibitions and educational activities in India and in Slovakia which share the ideas of togetherness between diverse cultures, preservation of traditional and contemporary art and spread the art education and social awareness through art. NORTH EAST INDIA: Picasso Pupils (An Art Society) Meghalaya, 793003 SLOVAKIA: PPIAC, Slovensko, Myjava 90701, Slovakia Europe

  Loading is an artist-run space in Diyarbakir, Turkey that aims to enrich contemporary art dialogue in the city and foster links between the region and the international art world. Loading engages with its community by its public programme which consists of artist & curator talks and workshops, as well as its art book library. Previous guest speakers include Gabi Ncgobo (curator, 10th Berlin Biennale), Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli (curator, Manifesta 12), and Hale Tenger (artist). Loading also has an ongoing archival project of archiving contemporary art practices in Diyarbakir. Loading was founded by artists Erkan Özgen, Cengiz Tekin and Şener Özmen. What started out as a project to connect with and mentor younger artists evolved into a platform that breeds new perspectives to the ways not only artists but also locals of other professions situate art making. Loading fosters a strong sense of community and garners contemporary art not just more approachable but also far more intertwined with this community.