Newcastle & Gateshead Artists' Forum: 'Make it Happen: Artist-led projects'

The new Artists’ Forum offers the chance to meet new people, share ideas, and discuss projects and plans. Meetings are free and open to all — please come along whether you’re an artist, work in the visual arts, or are an interested bystander.

Each meeting is hosted by a different visual arts organisation in the city, who will give an introduction to their work at each event, and there will be a loose theme to discuss.

In July the forum takes place in Whitley Bay thanks to hosts Sophie Buxton and Rob Smith, who run ArtHouses, an annual project which develops unique situations to exhibit and experience artworks in the town - from people's living rooms to streets and public spaces.

Join us to find out more about how ArtHouses works and what is happening this year from 30 July onwards, followed by an open discussion around the theme 'Make it happen: artist-let projects'.

We'll think together about what it means to self-organise artistic programmes without institutional involvement or even a fixed venue. ArtHouses isn't an artist-led space, as it has none, but an itinerant programme which makes use of existing spaces - usually non-arts spaces and domestic settings in a way which, arguably, only a self-organised project could. Beyond how it navigates structures of funding and production that are normally venue-based, what does working in this way make possible, and what could be the potential for the future?

Come to join in or just listen if you'd rather - and there'll be plenty of time for wider discussion and introductions too.