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.
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…
Mental Health for Creative Freelancers
11 stories tackling the everyday mental health challenges of creative freelancers Mental Health for Creative Freelancers is the antithesis to run of the mill mental health advice. It is designed as a practical guide to…
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).…
Artist-led Marketing Network
Pilot project to redirect social network marketing budget to artist led groups to promote the Artquest programme In 2020 Artquest stopped advertising on social networks. This meant we had money in our (very tiny) marketing budget to…
The Light of Day
Showcasing artists in England whose projects were cancelled or postponed due to COVID 19 pandemic lockdowns The COVID 19 pandemic affected all forms of artistic practice, with many artists unable to showcase work due to galleries…
Internships
A collection of projects, resources and research around internships in the arts by Artquest. Since 2012, Artquest has researched, led and organised activity around internships in the arts. Intern Culture: a research report Our work started with Intern Culture,…
Reaching audiences online
Timely tips for artists during 2021 COVID lockdowns on how to reach and engage new audiences online. Pablo Colella of Disconnected Bodies and artist Helena Hunter were in conversation with Nick Kaplony of Artquest. With ongoing COVID…
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…
Adaptation strategies of artist-led spaces
A panel discussion, hosted by nomadic artist led space Shipment, on developing sustainable business models for artist led spaces Artist led spaces provide vital access to London’s art world. Both the artists who run them…
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…
Almanack
Online articles drawing together the art world with wider social, economic and cultural issues The Artquest Almanack (2018 2020) was an online journal that drew together the art world with wider social, economic and cultural issues, setting the arts…
Lifeboat
Studio residency, peer mentoring and career development award for MA postgraduates from University of the Arts London The Award Between 2012 and 2018 the Lifeboat award supported artists who had completed a postgraduate course at UAL in the previous…
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…
Artquest Rates
A discount scheme in support of artist run workshops and the artists that use them. From 2015 to 2020 we worked with some London artist led workshops, services and facilities to provide discounts to artists and encourage informal…
The Source
Open source resources for art school tutors to teach professional development to undergraduate fine art students Resources here have been made and tested by artist tutor Edwina fitzPatrick and students at Wimbledon College of Art and Andrew Marsh…