From 2001 to 2025 Artquest ran projects delivering career development support direct to artists in England: commissions, residencies, mentoring, grants, publications, image licensing, paid internships, artist studio assistant employment support, conferences. Read more about our change of direction toward research into artists working conditions, and find out how to work with us.
Advice and networks
Peer to peer and one to one advice and information from Artquest staff, specialist advisors, and other artists. Artists tell us that most of the advice they get comes from their peers. A key part of getting good advice is expanding your professional network. Advice and networks go hand in hand. Artquest gives advice to artists through a number […]
Find out more
Featured
Adaptations
A practice development award of £2000 for an artist to trial new ways of working. Katie Surridge was selected for the 2024 Adaptations award. About the selected artist Katie Louise Surridge (1985) was born and raised in London. She…
PRIMER
Essential advice and information for artists in England starting out in their professional career PRIMER is an ebook for early career and new starting visual artists, whether graduating from art school or just switching career. It’s aim is to…
Unlocking the Collections
A research residency for an early career, London based artist to engage with The Collections Library at the Museum of the Home. Residencies took part in 2021 and 2022 with advice from Artquest on improving application and…
Artquest was 20 in 2022
In 2022 we celebrated 20 years of Artquest Artquest 20th anniversary party Artquest’s 20th anniversary party was held on online platform Gather, a mixture of an ‘old skool’ video game and Zoom. Guests designed an avatar…
BNC Mentors
Mentoring and events for New Contemporaries exhibitors from 2016 2023 As part of the New Contemporaries public programme, Artquest ran peer mentoring training and practice sessions held in ICA (London), BackLit (Nottingham), Gasworks (London) and the BALTIC (Newcastle).…
Outpost Online
Free one to one remote advice sessions for London based artists from Artquest staff and freelance artist career specialists. Running from 2019 2021, Outpost Online was replaced by Artquest One to Ones. In 2020 we took our live…
TRANSMISSIONS
Online platform commissioning artists to share their work within a classic DIY TV show format during the COVID pandemic Initiated by Anne Duffau, Tai Shani and Hana Noorali and supported by a number of UK art institutions and commercially…
WFH Residency
£1000 award to convert the first COVID lockdown in 2020 into a ‘work from home’ residency Responding to a collapse in work opportunities during the first COVID lockdown, the WFH Residency paid artists to conduct a ‘working from…
Assist
Placements for early career artists from under represented backgrounds to work as paid studio assistants for more established artists Assist provided up to £3,700 and support for established artists to employ early career artists. The project ended in March…
The Artists’ Pavilion
Temporary venues programmed by Artquest for artists to meet, play and talk, in Venice and London. The Artists Pavilion: 2019 Artquest and UAL’s Careers & Employability worked with a team of 12 students and curator Adelaide Bannerman.…
The Artist Researcher: artists and museums working together
Panel discussions on collaboration between contemporary visual artists and museums in the UK The talks, held in June 2019, were particularly aimed at smaller museums looking to broaden access and think differently…
ART/WORK: a conversation
A conversation about capital, labour, the working practices of artists, and the future of work This conversation, programmed and chaired by Artquest, looked at the themes of the residency, the working practices of artists, and the future…
Outpost
Monthly studio visits by the Artquest team, advising artists on their careers and viewing portfolios Due to the COVID 19 pandemic, this programme was replaced by Artquest One to One for regular advice sessions for artists in London. Artquest…
Spaced Out
One day conference looking at the ways artists use urban space and its wider economic context Spaced Out, held in April 2018 at CSM, explored the uses of space by visual artists including themes such as The conference…
Workweek Prize
The annual Workweek Prize (2013 2019) awarded £1,000 to a critical, risk taking project taking part in Art Licks Weekend. The festival was organised by Art Licks, a not for profit platform that supports artists, curators and project…
The Artists Fund
Providing small grants to artists for transformative action in practice The Artists Fund was a community interest company led by Artquest, DACS and a n the Artists Information Company. It provided one round of small grants to…