a-n (The Artists Information Company)

a-n is the largest artists’ membership organisation in the UK with over 30,000 members. They support artists and those who work with them in many practical ways, acting on behalf of our membership and the visual arts sector to improve artists’ livelihoods. Memberships £38 per year / £16 students. 

Axis web 

Axis’ mission is to support artists both on and offline. They create a culture of nurturing, collaboration and growth through opportunities for artists, via meanwhile spaces, commissions and knowledge sharing. They encourage and facilitate good practice in the visual arts and lead on sector research. Memberships – start from £17.50 per year.

Artists’ Union England 

Artists’ Union England are a trade union organisation who support freelance artists based in England. They take on casework and support members through workplace disputes, offer bespoke guidance and advice when members need it. They connect artists in their local area, support them in financial hardship and campaign for sustainable futures, equality, respect and access. Memberships £42 per year. 

VASW (Visual Arts South West) 

VASW is a free directory for visual arts events, job listings and opportunities with individuals and collectives across the SW and beyond. They connect artistic communities throughout South West England as a way of raising visibility, advocating diversity and developing resilience across the visual arts sector. See their opportunities page for funding, jobs, grants, training, mentoring, access support and further events. 

We would recommend reading ‘Finding, applying for, and getting opportunities in the visual arts‘ from Harriet Cooper for VASW. 

Artquest 

Artquest supports visual artists at all stages of their careers in England. They provide free access to robust and trusted careers information, advice, opportunities and resources. They also carry out specialist research on artists’ livelihoods to produce insights that support the wider arts sector help artists meet their ambitions.

AUB Alumni 

AUB Alumni is a network of artists wanting to connect. You can access support from peer mentors working in your industry, fellow graduates and AUB staff. Organise events, set up groups and expand your personal and professional network as well as share your success, work and personal projects.

Social Art Network

Social Art Network is a UK based community of artists committed to building agency for the field of art and social practice. They are a UK wide artist-led initiative developed to support creative professionals working with and dedicated to community-led projects.

Engage

Engage is the leading charity for promoting engagement and participation in the visual arts. Through advocacy, research, and training they help ensure the quality, inclusivity, and relevance of engagement and participation opportunities across the UK.

DACS

Established by artists for artists, DACS is a not-for-profit visual artists’ rights management organisation. Passionate about transforming the financial landscape for visual artists through innovative new products and services, they act as a trusted broker for 180,000 artists worldwide. They collect and distribute royalties to visual artists and their estates through Payback, Artist’s Resale Right, Copyright Licensing and Artimage. 

Artsadmin 

Artsadmin creates the conditions for art to explore the spaces in-between. Their work and projects explore the areas between social and environmental justice, the hyper-local and the international. They support artists working in contemporary performance at all career stages. See their artist page for opportunities, resources and workshops. 

Digital Skills Hub 

From basic computer skills and resources for residents, to business training for SME owners and aspiring entrepreneurs – the Digital Skills Hub offers inclusive, accessible and FREE education and advice for locals and businesses in the Boscombe-Bournemouth area. 

Arts Development Company 

Arts Development Company uses culture to improve people’s lives in Dorset and beyond. 

• Artist Peer Support Groups resource by Chloe Cooper 
• What’s Next? Dorset by Arts Development Company. One meeting per month in a different Dorset location and online.
• Community Action Network (CAN) offer regular opportunities for you to meet others and hear about all the great work that’s happening across the county. 
• Creative Cowork Club, every thursday drop ins 9am-12pm at TOSH
• Community Hub, one wednesday each month at TOSH
• Community Mondays, every Monday 11am at TOSH 
• Seeking Refuge Project, Thursdays Threads every Thursday 12pm for refugee women and asylum seekers
• The Outsiders Project, writing group and photography group every Tuesday 6-8pm for people sidelined from society
• The Orchard Garden Project 
• Social Art Network Meet-ups 
• The Dots is a networking platform for the creative industries.

• A guide to funding for early career artists, by Cather­ine Her­bert for VASW. This link is really useful and lists creative grants and opportunities. We would recommend signing up to mailing lists to save time and hear about grants and funding rounds when they open. 
• Acava have a regularly updated resources webpage including grants and opportunities. 
• Grants Online also reguarly update useful grants.
• The White Pube successful funding applications
• Funding support with Christina Poulton, allocated on a first come first served basis
• The Uncultured funding resources and templates 
• Rachel Dobbs funding directory and resources 
• National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) – This fund is open all the time and focuses on delivering against their Let’s Create strategy.
• Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) – This fund supports individual cultural and creative practitioners ready to take their practice to the next stage, funding research, time to create new work, travel, training, developing ideas, networking or mentoring. It’s open for applications four times a year.
• British Council – offers opportunities for UK applicants and overseas partners, global and regional call-outs. Opportunities open to artists and organisations.
• The Black Artists Grant (BAG) – offered by Creative Debuts as a no-strings attached financial support to help black artists.
• Jerwood Arts – has previously offered awards including the Jerwood Painting Prize, Drawing Prize, Makers Award and Moving Media Awards in addition to commissions and grants to artists (although currently seems to be funding organisations)
• Grand Plan Fund – grants to people of colour based in the UK who want to bring a new creative project to life.
• Edge Fund – funds grassroots groups, e.g. collectives, creating long-term change in society by addressing the causes of injustice and inequality.
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation funds focus on arts, education and learning, migration and young people.
• Do it Differently Fund helps musicians develop their work.

• Con­tract of Self Care by Lumi­nara Flo­res­cu. Resource on how to avoid burnout and explore sus­tain­able work­ing for artists with phys­i­cal and men­tal health disabilities.
• Together We Will- Intersectional approaches to best practices
• Access Docs For Artists – Information on writing an access document for disabled artists
• Disability Arts Online resources- an organisation led by disabled people, set up to advance disability arts and culture 
• A Brief Guide to Combining Accessibility with Creativity Toolkit – aims to provide action-based and meaningful recommendations that open dialogue between arts and culture organisations and the spaces they occupy within the communities that they serve.
• Access Toolkit for Artworkers – covers how planning is essential to access; including how to centre access at the planning stage, gather access needs, financial planning, fundraising and how to manage access budgets.
• Rising Arts Agency – a conversation about access we need to have
• We Are Unlimited, creating your own access rider 
• Pirate Care Syllabus. Pirate Care is a research process – primarily based in the transnational European space – that maps the increasingly present forms of activism at the intersection of “care” and “piracy”

• Anti Racism Resources, compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker & Alyssa Klein
• Anti Racism Resources – Social Art Network 
• Black Curators Collective  – BCC is a collective and forum for Black women and non-binary curators in the UK.
• Migrants In Culture. Migrants In Culture is a migrant-led design agency. They work towards their collective capacity to imagine and to live without borders.
• Black South West Network  is a Black-led racial justice organisation based in Bristol that supports the development of dynamic, independent, and strong Black and Minoritised communities, businesses, and organisations to flourish whilst challenging systemic barriers.
• Diasporas Now is a platform for expanded performance by the global majority.
• APR – A Particular Reality is a collective formed by students, alumni and educators from the Fine Art departments at Goldsmiths University of London, Kingston School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University and Middlesex University; with a commitment to building creative learning environments upon the values of equity and care.
• KAINAAT (Formerly known as Rising Voices). is a poetry showcase of Dorset based writers of colour from across the spectrum of migration and immigration: asylum seekers, immigrants, second and third generation people of colour , and mixed heritage people of colour. The writers have developed their work through a series of workshops on decoloniality, covering topics such as racialized trauma, performing within coloniality and world literatures and languages. See a past event here.
• iniva is an evolving visual arts organisation dedicated to nurturing and disseminating radical and emergent contemporary artistic practice centring Global Majority, African, Asian, & Caribbean diaspora perspectives.

• Ceri Hand workshops and talks . Talks include content on pricing your artwork, preparing for studio visits, setting budgets, writing about your art work and more. 
• How to Apply for Arts Council Project Grants – On Demand 
• Bow Skills workshops 
• Project Photography Development Course, Colin Pantall 
• Lewis Bush photography, The Studio Online Workshops

• PIER Journal –  is an independent community journal celebrating the creative culture of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.
• Art Monthly –  published by the Art Monthly Foundation registered charity, is the UK’s leading magazine of contemporary visual art.
• gal-dem  – is a media publication, committed to telling the stories of people of colour from marginalised genders. They have sadly closed down, but you can visit their archive.
• Art Licks – is a London-based organisation that supports the work of early career practitioners and artist-led activity across the UK.

• AOI – Association of Illustrators – Since 1973 the AOI has been championing illustrators and the illustration industry with education, promotion and campaigning to achieve a thriving industry for us all.
• IC-Visual Lab (ICVL) is an independent cultural organisation based in Bristol (UK). They create projects that bring together communities to explore overlooked issues that matter to them through collaborations with leading artists, photographers and writers. 
• Node Center is the first e-learning program for curators and art professionals.
• International Curators Forum (ICF) was founded by artists and curators in 2007 to offer a programme of commissions, exhibitions, projects, publications and events that respond to the material conditions and cultural contexts impacting creative practitioners today.