AA2A Artists Newsletters

AA2A ARTISTS' EMAIL NEWSLETTER No.2 Year 10 (March 2009)

Dear AA2A Artist

Materials/Travel funds

I hope all is going well with your AA2A scheme. Your access time officially finishes in April and all artists' expenses need to be in by the end of April at the latest (check with your college if your scheme finishes before then). You should have been given access to the workshops, etc some time in October. If your college didn't manage this, then I would expect them to offer you an appropriate extension. Do let me know if this hasn't happened. Many offer informal extensions anyway (although we will still need to gather information from you during April/May as if your project was completed).

New look newsletter

The version of this newsletter emailed to Artists, has a new look and now features some of this year’s artists’ images. These have been chosen from this year’s Artists webpages and each image is linked to the Artist’s Profile on the Networking site.

AA2A.biz networking site

Known as 'dot biz', the networking site has been very successful, especially considering we have managed to spend very little of the projects funds on setting it up. We are really grateful to all of you who have been using it, especially as you may have felt a bit like a guinea pig, as we've been finding out what the site can do as we went along!. Thanks to your use of the site, we’ve secured funds to develop it further and give it a visual 'makeover' next year.

Involving students in dot biz and Voting

We have emailed all AA2A Colleges to let them know if any of their Artists are on 'dot biz' so that they can circulate this to their students. If you haven't already used the site, there's still time to record your project so that both you and the students have access to this as a record.

Don’t forget about rallying students to vote for you on this website http://aa2a.org/artistvote. This will automatically enter them in the prize draw, and if you win the vote, you get the opportunity to come to London to present on our AA2A Briefing day and be one of our two featured Artists of the Year on the website.

Images for the AA2A website

Nearly all of you are already represented on the AA2A website. During April you will have a chance to update your statement and image to one which reflects the actual work done on AA2A. Please do NOT send updates to me directly unless I specifically request it. I will be asking your AA2A administrators to upload the updated information and images onto the website from late April. If you cannot provide them with a digital image yourself, your college may be able to help you with the photographing of work or the digital formatting of a conventional image. Unfortunately we cannot show moving images or sound clips but we can include links to other websites which do.
For an example of what artists' updated pages look like see
www.aa2a.org/artists/ellie_collins
www.aa2a.org/artists/jessica_curry

We will let you know when we have updated this year’s ‘Artists' webpage update’ form.

Artists' evaluation questionnaires

These will be sent out to you by post around late April. They are quite detailed, but it is crucial that we get them all back as your college's evaluation 'score' has a bearing on whether it can continue to run a scheme. We really do read each form. If any are missing we do chase you up, so please get them back to us promptly. If you want to see the type of questions you will be asked, a sample evaluation from last year is available on the 'artists downloads' section of the website http://aa2a.org/artists_menu/downloads NB: Please let me know if your address etc. has changed since you started the scheme.

General project news

An application for funding has just been made to the Lottery, through the Arts Council, for another two years of AA2A schemes in 2009/11 which (if successful) will again see an increase in colleges taking part (from 32 to 37). If you have found AA2A useful please do recommend the scheme to others. If we have your/their email address we will send the advert for next year's schemes as soon as available (usually in late May/June) so that you can forward it to anyone who is interested.

Here at AA2A, we are very proud that each AA2A placement costs the public purse less than £600, whereas the average bursary/residency costs between £10,000 and £20,000. Our cost 'per head' includes all the project overheads and your £220 materials budget. This has allowed us to offer 128 placements this year, giving many more artists the opportunity to take part. At AA2A we are hugely aware that this is only made possible because of the time put in by the college staff to make AA2A work. I am sure this is why the Arts Council continue to be so supportive in the current cash strapped climate.

Please do make the most of the weeks left on the scheme and try to ensure students get as much benefit from having you there as possible.

Many thanks, Wendy Mason, AA2A National Coordinator

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AA2A ARTISTS' EMAIL NEWSLETTER No.1 Year 10 (Nov. 2008)

Dear AA2A Artist

I am delighted to welcome you on to the AA2A scheme. Most of you will now be working on your projects and are probably well informed about how AA2A works, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to remind you of the basics and pass on some news. I do hope you enjoy your AA2A experience and are able to make the most of your access hours. We aim to send another newsletter in February and occasional emails inbetween.

Project background

AA2A is now in its 10th full year as a national project with 32 colleges across the country taking part. This year we are welcoming 10 new colleges. Again this year's funding is routed through the Arts Council, England from the Grants for the Arts scheme. The project continues to be hosted by the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design. Please remember, AA2A offers access to facilities and Colleges are not obliged to offer ongoing work or storage space.

Artists Access Agreement

Your college should have provided you with a copy of the Artists Access Agreement (which you should have agreed and signed). This outlines what you can expect from the scheme and what the scheme requires from you. If you have any questions about your entitlements this document should be your first port of call, as it covers most eventualities! A general version of this will be available on the website for reference in the artists section.

Artists materials/travel budget

If you live more than 30 miles from your college you can elect to use up to £100 of your budget for travel costs (please tell your college now that you want to do this). Otherwise the £220 is available for materials (not equipment). Check out how to claim, as different colleges have different systems. At the end of April 2009 any unspent money will be retained by the college for general overheads or next year's AA2A.

The web site and your AA2A webpage

Your image, statement and agreed contact details will be on the AA2A website. This will allow you and the students to see who the other artists are, both in your college and in the other AA2A colleges around the country. This is great for students who may not have an artist working in their area of practice, at their college. If possible please be open to enquires from students, but also let me know if this becomes a problem or you want your contact details removed from the site. We would be interested to hear from you if you are contacted through this information on site.

While we are developing a more student friendly area of the website. We would also welcome information about how your AA2A projects affect students, any quotes, anecdotes etc. Also if you can let us know the names of students you work with, we could contact them directly.

You may have already visited the http://www.AA2A.org website for the project, but if you haven't please do. The search function is the quickest way to find you own page (assuming your college have sent us the information). If you click on 'artists' there is 'downloads' section with important reference documents, a preview of the end of scheme evaluation questions, an easy link to AA2A.org which you can cut and paste into your own website, etc. Do let us know if you have any exhibitions using work produced either during AA2A or as a result of the scheme and we will try to add this to the site. Each college also has its own 'page' which shows the work and the contact details of the artists from that college.

AA2A logos

We are always pleased to see the AA2A logo emblazoned on publicity you may produce. This helps our profile with funders. If any of you have the opportunity to display our logo alongside work produced during the scheme, please do download the digital logo from the website and use the Arts Council England's Lottery logo as well. You can also help AA2A's profile by adding the wording 'Selected for the Artists Access to Art Colleges Scheme (hosted by ........ University)' on your CV's etc.

Using your Access hours

As you know, you can use the college facilities for a minimum of 100 hours. Your college may be recording your hours but it might also be worth keeping a record yourself, so you can keep track. As AA2A is both for the artists' and the students' benefit, we hope that you will use as many of the 100 hours as possible so that students have the best chance of seeing you and your work before the scheme officially ends in April (even though your College may have offer an extension). Although we understand that some circumstances may arise which may affect your original plans, there is an expectation that you will try to use at least 50 hours, to ensure students benefit from your presence. If you do need to withdraw, it may be possible for another artists to be brought in, if this happens early enough in the scheme.

Introductory talk

You may have been asked to do some form of talk for the students. This is not compulsory and will probably take the form of an informal meeting with students/staff with an opportunity to show your work and talk about it, or answer questions. Staff time is often very limited to arrange these type of 'events' so do approach them if you or your fellow AA2A artists would like to arrange something to introduce yourselves and benefit students.

Display information

When you applied, you were asked for a non-returnable photo of your work and a short statement about your project. The idea was that this and a photo of yourself should be displayed somewhere prominent within the department so that students and staff know who you are. If this has yet to be done, please chase up your Coordinator or ask if you can put up something similar as it makes the communication with students easier. You may even find that there's an AA2A noticeboard you can use. You can now print out your webpage directly from the website for display in College.

AA2A.biz networking site

Within the week we will be sending you information on how to register on our new networking site. You will be able to upload more images, keep a 'blog' of your project and keep in touch with AA2A artists across the country.

Contact with AA2A

If any of your contact details change during the year please let the your college AND myself know asap. Most of your contact will be through your College but if you do need to contact me directly then email is best, as I only work on 2.5 days a week and my Administrator 1 day a week

Remember AA2A is what you make it. I do hope you enjoy the experience.

Best wishes, Wendy Mason, AA2A National Coordinator

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