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 […]
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30/30
Challenge yourself and kickstart your practice: join us in our annual project to make a new work of art every day for 30 days. A new name, but the same challenge: 30works30days is now 30/30 and took place in…
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…
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…
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).…
COVID-19 resources
Archive of selected resources and projects responding to the COVID 19 pandemic Check Government and NHS advice on the latest restrictions. When you leave home stay at least 1.5m away from other people and wear a mask in…
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…
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…
Artist residencies
Artquest has run international residencies in Berlin (2007 2011), Amsterdam (2010 2014) and Australia (2008 2011). More recently we have run research residencies in London (2013 2020). Artist residencies are always popular opportunities. Artists enjoy time away from their home situation, making new work or taking part in research for their future work. They take many different forms and […]
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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.…