CURRENT PROJECTS

Bath Contemporary Art
BANA is a founding member of BCA.
bca (Bath Contemporary Art) is a group of contemporary art organisations and individuals based in B&NES.

bca has been created to generate and present a vibrant and networked culture of visual art activity, promoting this to people in the region and those visiting.

bca has a website with a fully searchable events directory; a portal to contemporary arts activity in B&NES and beyond. it is free to join and once you have signed up, you can upload images and information about your or your organisation’s work, exhibitions, events and so on. There is also a debate section and your details will be added to a private BCA e-list to keep in touch with any big news.

Join or browse now at: www.bathcontemporaryart.org.uk

On 19 November bca held its first event, ‘A Manifesto for contemporary art in Bath’, which brought together artists and visual arts professionals across the public, private and voluntary sectors to discuss a vision for the future of the art scene in B&NES.





Skills Exchange

Most practising artists have skills which other artists would find helpful, or can offer services which others may find time-consuming to learn themselves or expensive to buy in: framing, welding, photographing art work, casting, designing posters, or even transporting large pieces of work, to give just a few examples.
 
BANA operates a Skills Exchange where members can trade their skills and services on a barter or token system (similar to the international LETS scheme).  We're looking to involve as many BANA members as possible; this is a good way to use your network actively and help you advance your own and fellow members' professional development.
 
All BANA members should have received further information and a Skills Exchange registration form.  You have to be a member of BANA to join – to download the registration form, please follow this link: http://www.bana-arts.co.uk/SkillsExchangeReg.pdf
 
For enquiries please contact the office.


RECENT PROJECTS
CPD Handbook 2007

Brush up on your professional practice and contacts early in the New Year with the second edition of the BANA CPD Handbook.

This is an annually updated catalogue of most of the organisations in the area which offer artists training and advice to support their professional practice, and lists of useful websites and publications, spanning legal and financial issues, marketing and promotion, technical skills, funding, career development, working in education and much more.

Copies of the CPD Handook can be obtained from the BANA office. Call (01225) 471714 or e-mail: enquiries@bana-arts.co.uk .

The new Handbook will be brought out in early 2008. One copy costs £5 (£3 for students) - and each BANA member will receive one free.


BANA’S PREVIOUS CPD PROGRAMMES

The CPD workshops programme 2006, in partnership with other organisations, comprised four workshops:

18th January
Marketing (with SWAM); Grants for the Arts (Arts Council England, South West)
A full day, intensive programme organised by the award-winning Radstock Art Project, nesa at Radstock Youth Centre.
Church Street, Radstock, BA3 3QQ. (01761) 437251
Marketing for Artists - effective promotion, publicity and press coverage in a nutshell (speaker: Ruth Staple, SWAM).
Grants for the Arts - how to structure your budget and create a strong proposal to give your application the best chance of success. (speaker: Paul Goddard, ACESW).

3rd February
Health and Safety
Not the sexiest subject to do with making work, but a vital part of any artist's practice. A simple 'nuts and bolts' approach to the raft of current rules and regulations by Joanna Bowden (with support from Bath Spa University).
o The law applying to your practice
o Working alone
o Working with the Public
o Your work in public
o Hiring help
o Application of the Health & Safety Act
o Risk Assessments
o Demystifying H&S language
o Where to find help and advice
A handbook produced by Joanna Bowden for this workshop is available to buy from the BANA office. Call (01225) 471714 or email enquiries@bana-arts.co.uk for details.

23rd February
Writing Funding Applications
Money, money, money, all very necessary to make work and have it exhibited. Peter Salt (Arts Development Officer for Bath and North East Somerset Council) took delegates through the basic principles, language and mechanics of writing more effective funding applications and showed them how to present projects as clearly and effectively as possible.

10th March
A BANA/ArtsMatrix Seminar
Bath Spa University
Sion Hill, Bath
Putting on a Show: A quick and dirty guide to getting your work seen
Feeling a bit jaded? Feeling unsure of where to begin to make things happen in the visual art world?

This seminar took delegates through a number of examples of projects and events that have happened in different ways and in different contexts, including:
o Artist-led projects
o Site specific work
o Interventions
o Exhibiting online
Speakers included David Drake, Louise Short and Gill Haworth


The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Spring/Summer 2005 workshop programme consisted of:

Arts Sponsorship Seminar / Fundraising through businesses.
Presented by Arts & Business South West.
 
Working with Galleries
Presented by Tim Heywood
Director of Six Chapel Row Contemporary Art, Bath
 
Book keeping and income tax
Presented by Chris Sherwin
Freelance Accountant
 
Media Art  - 'Now I've made my recording, what the hell do I do?!'
Presented by Sally Shaw, Director, Media Art Bath
and Kathy Hinde, artist