Arts & Heritage

Can you tell our readers a bit about what you do?   Arts&Heritage is a small but leading agency based in Northumberland that has worked nationally for over ten years to forge collaborations between contemporary artists and heritage organisations and museums. We support organisations to place contemporary art at the heart of their programming, and together we aim to bring fresh perspectives to heritage contexts for a diverse range of audiences.  Our mission is to demonstrate that placing contemporary art at the heart of heritage programming enables audiences to find their own stories within historic places and spaces.  Our core ACE funded programme is Meeting Point.  We have designed this action-learning programme to support small and medium scale museums to develop their contemporary commissioning skills and work with artists from across disciplines to create a new piece of work which responds to their venue, site or collection. We run this a region at a time, working across the country. More information about this and case studies of projects we have already completed be found on our website.  We also deliver bespoke guidance, consultancy and training for museums and heritage sites and artists wishing to work in heritage contexts alongside providing professional development opportunities for experienced curators working outside of formal galley spaces.    What is the best way for people to approach you?   Lots of information can be found on our newly developed website including case studies and films of previous projects.  You can also find details of our social media pages and or email us -info@artsandheritage.org.uk.   What makes your organisation stand out? How do you make a difference to the sector?   We are a little agency with big impact, ambition and a huge amount of accumulated knowledge. Our list of previous partners and clients include National Trust, English Heritage, Cathedrals, Universities and a wide range and scale of museums and stately homes. Our artist contacts and links to other arts partners are also impressive which makes us a great match-maker as well as a supportive and steady hand when helping organisations to  try something new.   We make a difference by demonstrating the impacts of programming experimental and ambitious work in spaces audiences don’t expect to find it – and linking this back to the business plan ambitions of our partners.    What new initiatives do you have coming up?   We are just opening applications for Meeting Point in the Midlands and will be rolling the programme out to the south of England later in the year which will include free workshops for artists and heritage sites in the region as part of the process. The first projects from our current round of Meeting Point in the North should be going live between Autumn 2019 and Autumn 2020.  We are also developing our curatorial network and developing an online training and resource pack which should be available later in 2019.    What else would you like our readers to know about you and your work?   We also occasionally develop our own projects too – previously touring an art boxing booth and a museum of wonders to agricultural shows and fairs. We are always keen on developing new partnerships to do something out of the ordinary.    

Image credit-  Gallery of Wonder, Brothers Quay, 2015. Photo: Colin Davison