One Shared Owner: how artists work together

Each session will provide insights into different aspects of organising collaborative work. We aim to facilitate discussion around a range of topics that impact on collective working including choosing the right legal structure, making a collaborative agreement and using online digital tools effectively. 

This series of workshops was developed to compliment the larger research project, ‘Artist-Led Organisations in Scotland: Survey and Mapping of Activity’, undertaken by Chris Biddlecombe on behalf of the Scottish Artist Union and supported by Creative Scotland. 

Part 1: Wednesday 1 May, 7 - 8:30pm

One Shared Owner: artists talking about governance models with Briana Pegado & Embassy 

Through our recent mapping and conversations with artists run initiatives, it is clear that many groups resist overly formalising their structure, but how do you decide which legal structure is right for you? And when? This session is aimed at those either at the early stages of collective working and thinking about constituting themselves or maybe you’ve inherited an organisational structure that doesn’t work for you and you’re considering a change.

In this online workshop, Briana Pegado will share some of the key factors that artist-run groups need to consider before choosing a governance model. We will explore legal structures and constitutions, and understand the responsibilities/legal requirements of taking on the legal structure, in order to help you choose the right model for you. Briana will also share their experience of adapting the various models and realising they have some fluidity and movement.

We are also delighted to be joined by Frieda Ford, Georgia Holman and Maria Wrang-Rasmussen who were all members of the EMBASSY committee in Edinburgh during a period of research, reflection and shared conversation, in order to update their governance structure and allow the operational committee to be fairly paid. They will share the changes made to EMBASSY’s articles of association that allowed them to change their governance structure, and how they implement the support for the first ever Board and produce a plain speech version of their constitution.

About 

Briana Pegado, is an artist and author of Make Good Trouble: A Guide to the Energetics of Disruption. She works as an anti-racism facilitator and consultant for arts organisations including Glasgow International, the Glasgow Connected Arts Network, Be United, Craft Scotland, and the National Theatre of Scotland. She is Founder of the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival, formerly Creative Edinburgh, formerly Creative Director of Fringe of Colour Films and former Co-Director of We Are Here Scotland. She specialises in governance and supporting organisations to think about more collective and radical forms of accountability that are values-led.

EMBASSY is an artist-led organisation based in Edinburgh that seeks to support early career artists, through the facilitation of exhibitions, commissioning opportunities, events and a public facing programming. EMBASSY was established in 2003 and since then has been run by a rolling non-hierarchical committee. www.embassygallery.org

Frieda Ford, Georgina Holman and Maria Wrang-Rasmussen (EMBASSY operational committee from June 2021 - July 2023)

Part 2: Wednesday 8th May, 7 - 9pm 

One Shared Owner: artists working collaboratively online with Digital Skills Education

Craig Steele from Digital Skills Education will walk you through everything you need to know to get started using Google Drive. Google offers a suite of free tools that allow you to work together to create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. In this session we’ll cover how to share files with your collaborators safely and securely, plus share a range of digital tools useful for artist group's wanting to keep in touch. No previous knowledge is required, but you will find it handy to have created your own Google account. 

Part 3: Wednesday 5th June, 3 - 4:30pm (BST)

One Shared Owner: artists talking about friendship and care with Dr John Wright & Experimental Space Collective 

This discussion between Dr John Wright and members of the Experimental Space Collective [esc] will explore how support structures of friendship and care play out in artist-led collectives. This session brings together research and practice to draw out ideas and learning that speak to broader issues facing arts and cultural ecologies both locally and on an international scale.     

About

Dr John Wright is a researcher, artist, and lecturer currently working as a postdoctoral research associate with the Centre for Cultural Value, University of Leeds. He is also the co-convener of the research group PLACE at the School of Performance and Cultural Industries in the University of Leeds. Previously John worked as a lecturer at Leeds Arts University and as a module leader on the MA Critical Studies at Bradford College. He co-founded the artist-led collective The Retro Bar at the End of the Universe and developed a curatorial background in both museums, galleries and in artist-led practice - previously working at the British Library, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the National Media and Science Museum.

Experimental Space Collective [esc] evolved from online meetings of artists that began in March 2020 in response to experiences of lockdown. They aim to bring physicality into the virtual space and challenge the hostile screen environment, to see how it could forge new creative spaces and connections between artists in different countries. Over the past 18 months, 3 members of [esc] have developed Project Potpourri to produce a digital publication, an international compendium of conversations and methods of collective art practices.  www.experimentalspacecollective.com

Pragya Bhargava is an artist, researcher and educator based in India. 

Sally Stenton is a multimedia artist who lives and works in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Svetlana Atlavina is a university lecturer in FA and multimedia artist from Latvia, currently living in London.

To Book

Complete this Zoom registration to automatically receive an email with a link for all the sessions in this series.

Access: these events will have live captions provided by Otter.AI and there is no requirement to have your camera on. If you have any other participation needs, please email us via [email protected]

One Shared Owner is funded by Creative Scotland