BRITISH ART NETWORK ANNUAL
REPORT
BRITISH ART NETWORK
Sharing expertise, research and ideas on British art
The British Art Network (BAN) is a community of curators, academics, artist-researchers, conservators, producers and programmers at all stages of their professional lives. The Network provides funding and practical support to help Members explore, connect and share research focused on curatorial issues and themes.
All our Members are actively engaged in caring for, developing and presenting British art, whether in museums, galleries, heritage settings, art spaces, or working independently in published form or in educational settings, across the UK and beyond.
During 2024, BAN’s membership continued to grow and to diversify in terms of the disciplinary, professional and creative orientations of individual members, and their geographical locations. BAN provided support for an extensive programme of events and activities reflecting the range of curatorial engagements across the Network. The Annual Conference, held in Birmingham in November 2024, focused on the present conditions and possible futures of curating, and in its form and content gave direct expression to the manifold practices and perspectives encompassed by the term ‘curator’. Across the year, BAN supported a further Emerging Curators Group (the sixth) and provided additional funding for former bursary holders to collaborate, connect and learn together. This fourth Annual Report captures the year’s activity and signals some future directions for BAN.
Conversation over coffee at the BAN Annual Conference held at MAC, Birmingham, 28–29 November 2024.
Photo: Connor Pope
Birmingham, 29 November
Jade Foster recitation at the BAN Annual Conference at MAC,
2024. Photo: Connor Pope
Introduction
In 2024, BAN entered the final phase of ‘Rethinking the Curatorial’, a threeyear programme of activity which attracted major funding from Arts Council England, and centred on questions about the role and identity of the curator in relationship to collections, organisations and the history – and futures – of British art.
BAN’s core purpose has been consistent since it was established in 2012 by Tate, originally as a means of building scholarly capacity in the UK museum sector and celebrating a shared national collection: supporting curatorial research, practice and theory in the field of British art The scope and reach of BAN-supported activity has evolved significantly over time, particularly since 2019 when the Paul Mellon Centre became the Network’s primary funder. Across the duration of ‘Rethinking the Curatorial’ (2022–24), there has been a particular focus on opening-up and even dissolving definitions of the ‘curatorial’ that are fixed on organisational settings or collections. During 2024, there was more in person activity than in previous years. BAN’s geographical reach developed as well, reflecting the expanding Member network and communications and connections created through the Curatorial Forums held in 2022 and 2023. The Emerging Curators Group (ECG) included a member not based in the UK (a former participant in the Curatorial Forum), and support was provided for events in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales as well all around England, and there was our first internationally based bursary-supported event, held in India. BAN has also been able to offer continuing support, for individuals and for groups, including support for several published physical outputs.
In the images selected to represent the years’ activity below, it is notable how many involve people speaking together, looking together, eating and drinking together, making or walking alongside one another, as well as presenting or listening or watching in a more formal way. The potential for social connection and exchange has always been important in BAN, but over the last years and in 2024 more than ever, there has been a growing sense of the convivial basis of research and learning within and around the Network. The Annual Conference in 2024, held in Birmingham in November, was conceived in a way which we hoped would foreground Members’ experiences and practices in an expanded format rooted in conviviality. As with previous conferences since 2020, the programming has been partly devolved, in this case to a convening committee of past and present members of BAN’s Steering Group, who have also been part of the ECG. They helped select participants following an open call for contributions that could take a variety of
forms – as panels or talks, but also as visits, walks, workshops or reflection sessions. The resulting conference reflected that variety of approaches and formats, and provided ample opportunities to connect and socialise.
With a twelve-year history behind us, involving the sustained support of individual bursary holders over several years and across different programme strands, and with the learning undertaken through ‘Rethinking the Curatorial’ over the past three years, there is a definite sense of the coming year being a moment of decisive reflection and transitional change. In the coming year, BAN will be offering more flexible and responsive forms of bursary support for all Members, inviting proposals for research, travel, events, activities, collaborations or publications. As our Membership continues to expand and change, we want to ensure that our activities and support correspond with the realities of the expanding curatorial field and the shifting relations with organisations, and with creative and academic work. Superseding our former funding structure based around ‘Seminars’ or ‘Research Groups’, we want our direct support of Members to be led by their needs. Alongside this, we want to provide continuing support for previous bursary holders and ECG members where we can, helping sustain them as they continue their research and activity A further Curatorial Forum based in New Haven, Connecticut and New York in October 2025 will be a chance to think about British art and curatorial practice in its historical and contemporary transatlantic contexts, while a new Emerging Curators Group for 2026 will be announced later in the year, together with renewed and revised forms ways of supporting our Members in exploring, sharing and connecting.
ECG participants at FACT Liverpool April 2024 Photo © Tate (Jake Ryan)
Research Groups
Since 2015, BAN has supported a succession of Research Groups through a dedicated bursary stream. The Research Groups have focused on specific areas of British art, and their programmes of activity were developed and led by Network Members and helped form committed, passionate specialist communities. During 2024, we offered continuing support to twelve Research Groups, and additional support for collaborations between current and former Groups.
Research Groups supported in 2024:
British Digital Art
E-J Scott and Lee Weinberg (Central St Martins); Winnie Soon (Creative Computing Institute, UAL)
Black British Art
Lizzie Robles (University of Bristol); Marlene Smith (Artist-Researcher); Alice Correia (Curator and Art Historian)
Artist-Run Initiatives in Britain
Nikki Kane (University of Glasgow) and Rabindranath Bhose (ArtistResearcher)
Disability in British Art
Trish Wheatley (Disability Arts Online) and Ashokkumar Mistry (ArtistResearcher)
Art Practices and British Central Eastern European Diaspora
Jessie Krish and Adomas Narkevičius (Cell Project Space); Helena Reckitt (Feminist Duration Reading Group, London)
New Dialogues: Art Created Historically in Mental Health Settings
Charlotte Graham-Spouge and Doll Gomersall (Outside In)
A Place-Based History of Art
Gareth Bell-Jones (Flat Time House) and Ellie Porter (Art360 Foundation)
Curating British Catholic Material Culture 1538–1829
Amina Wright (Auckland Project); Tessa Murdoch (independent)
Chai Shai: British Asian Art
Jasmir Creed and Bindi Mehra (Slade School of Art)
Northern Irish Art
Anna Liesching (NMNI) and Clare Gormley (Belfast Photo Festival)
The Ignorant Art Schools
Sophia Hao (Cooper Gallery); Edgar Schmidt (Goldsmiths); Sarah Perks and Paul Stewart (MIMA x Teesside University) (Scotland, London and North East)
Queer British Art (2023 bursary deferred to 2024)
Charlotte Keenan (NML) and Dominic Bilton (University of Leeds) (North West and North East)
For more detail on individual research group activities and outputs, including links to published materials, see the groups’ individual pages on the BAN website, here.
Kitchen Table Conversation #1 part of the Place-Based History of Art programme, August 2024, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo: Fiona Morgan
Images from the Art Practices and British Central Eastern European Diaspora research group: Top: CEED Feminisms 3, Cell Project Space, 2023. Images courtesy Cell Project Space.
Photo: Anne Tetzlaff.
Bottom: CEED Feminisms Bibliography, interactive version available here
Raksha Patel, Trevor Burgess and Kate Nichols, Standing Ground: Rethinking the Painted British Landscape; exhibition catalogue, Thames-Side Studios (London, 2024), publication supported with BAN Research Group collaboration funding
Published resource and collaborative artwork produced by the New Dialogues research group
National Trust scones on offer during British Catholic Material Culture Research Group workshop at Oxburgh Hall, September 2024
Emerging Curators Group
The sixth Emerging Curators Group met regularly as a group from January to October 2024, as well as pursuing their own curatorial research. As a group, they visited Liverpool (FACT, Bluecoat, Exhibition Research Lab at LJMU) and Bradford (Cartwright Hall, South Square Centre, Impressions Gallery). They were able to discuss their research with independent curator Hammad Nasar and had an online session reflecting on non-hierarchical collaboration with Jenny Tipton (ECG 2023). They also received further support from BAN Steering Group members Rhona Sword and Basil Olton.
ECG Members in 2024:
Alex Day, Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk Museums
Amy Cameron, Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture, Edinburgh
Bella Okuya, independent, London
Calum Bayne, In Situ, Pendle
Cecelia Graham, independent, Belfast
Ese Onojeruo, Tate Modern, London
Gill Crawshaw, independent, Leeds
Hadeel Eltayeb, Design Museum, London
Hannah Willetts, Beverley Art Gallery, East Riding Museums
Jessica Wan, independent, London
Kelly Rappleye, 16 Nicholson Street, Glasgow
Krupa Desai, independent, Mumbai
Rebecca Livesey-Wright, independent, Glasgow
Wanja Kimani, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Yang Li, Iniva, London
During 2024, BAN was able additionally to support former members of the ECG with research funding Three collaborative projects have been awarded funding bringing together members of the group: a research trip to Glasgow International; a knowledge exchange project around arts accessibility; and a third around archives, diaspora and activism. Several ECG alumni were also successful in proposing seminars supported by BAN.
2024 ECG Legacy Research Bursaries:
Harvey Dimond (ECG 2020–21): attendance at Extractivism/Activism conference at Paul Mellon Centre (travelling from Glasgow)
Alice Eden (ECCG 2019–20): travel and attendance of two exhibitions in Oxford, plus hard-to-source publications (travelling from Leamington Spa)
Katherine Murphy (ECG 2023): Cardiff trip to attend Vivian Ross Smith Experimenta performance (travelling from Perth)
Janet Couloute (ECG 2020–21): visiting Entangled Pasts at Royal Academy, with lunch with curator Cora Gilroy-Ware (travelling from Leicester)
Jacqui McIntosh (ECG 2022): Dublin research trip – researching Ithell Colquhoun – Highlanes Gallery, curator meetings and National Library of Ireland (travelling from London)
James Finch (ECCG 2019–20): etching course to support research for exhibition on Whistler
Basil Olton (ECG 2022): visiting curators at MIMA to discuss ceramics collection (travelling from London)
Tor Scott (ECCG 2019–20): covering costs for archive visit in London and three artist interviews around Neo-Naturalists (travelling from Edinburgh)
Alaya Ang (ECG 2022): visit to Chatham Historic Dockyard around ropemaking and artist LR Vandy (travelling from Glasgow)
Sarah Cox (ECG 2023): visit to Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Liverpool and Salford Museum & Gallery for research towards Rachel Reckitt retrospective (travelling from Taunton)
Jess Baxter (ECG 2023): visiting inaugural Malta Biennale including Director and Curator meetings (travelling from London)
Lisa Kennedy (ECG 2020–21): visiting National Portrait Gallery exhibition ‘The Time is Always Now’ (travelling from Birmingham)
Hanifah Sogbanmu (ECG 2023): online course ‘Black British Art Now’
2024 ECG Collaborative Projects:
Glasgow International research trip and image exchange artist interviews: Kelly Rappleye, Calum Bayne, Cecelia Graham
Curating Intersections of M*therhood, Disability and Care: Gill Crawshaw, Alex Day, Rebecca Livesey-Wright
Curating for Diasporic & Global Majority Communities – critical friend conversations: Jess Wan, Bella Denise, Ese Onojeruo, Hadeel Eltayeb
I have assembled an invaluable, cross-disciplinary network of friends and peers
Images on pp. 19–21 from BAN Emerging Curators Group visit Liverpool, April 2024. © Tate.
Photos: Jake Ryan, 2024
ECG provided me with a growing selfconfidence in my professional practice generally and specifically in my research interests and creative themes as valid and worthy.
Our shared experiences and collaborative projects allowed for a meaningful exchange of ideas and built lasting professional relationships.
ECG equipped me with the resources and support to begin untangling my personal interests from the curatorial demands of my job; I began to feel connected to my independent lines of enquiry and curiosity again.
Seminars
In 2024, we continued to offer bursaries to support one-off events which might take a variety of forms – as workshops, roundtables, durational events, screenings and discussions.
Seminars Offered Support in 2024:
Framing Migration
Anna Gormley, PhD Researcher, University of Gloucestershire
Artist-Led, Artist-Run, Artist-Owned: Supporting artist-led activity in South-East London
Beth Bramich, Senior Lecturer, University of the Arts London and Sophie Chapman, Artist-Researcher (London)
Dream Your Friends Forward: A workshop seeking to re-imagine organisational and curatorial practices through cross-disciplinary models and collaborative frameworks
Cecelia Graham (ECG 2024), Independent Curator (Northern Ireland)
Ekphrastic Ethics in the Gallery Space
Eva Isherwood-Wallace, PhD Researcher, Queen’s University Belfast
For Tish: A screening and flash residency-in-response
Hatty Bell, Kelly O’Brien, Artist-Photographers; Anna Gormley, PhD Researcher, University of Gloucestershire; Alice Butler, Tutor, RCA
Rethinking Curatorial Diversity: Vulnerability, Financial Sustainability and Resilience
Jazz Swali (ECG 2023) and Marta Marsicka (ECG 2021), Assistant Curator & Artist Development Coordinator, Backlit Gallery (Nottingham)
What about Historical Acquisitions? Opportunities and Challenges
Laura-Maria Popoviciu, Curator pre-1900, UK Government Art Collection
Sharing the Privilege
Mary Stevens (ECG 2023), Exhibitions Officer, Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
State of Print: Contested Land
Miriam Mallalieu (ECG 2023), Generator Projects and Paul Harrison, University of Dundee
Curating Craft to Engage Audiences
Stephen Knott, Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts (Farnham)
Curating Colonialism and Silenced Histories: A Workshop
Surya Bowyer (ECG 2023), PhD Researcher, SMG/Birkbeck (London)
Curators as Community Builders
Jenny Tipton (ECG 2023), Strange Field; Katherine Murphy (ECG 2023), independent; Polly Wright (ECG 2023), Devonshire Collective (Eastbourne)
For details of the events as programmed, see the listing below, in Appendix A.
Learned of new-to-me organisations with affinities and crossovers in approach. Great to explore language and how organisations are talking about and sharing their work, and to connect with others working through connected challenges and issues
Participants at ‘Art & Poetry: Ekphrastic Ethics in the Gallery Space’, Belfast, May 2024.
Photo: Eva Isherwood-Wallace
SVA Gallery, Stroud, transformed into a research space for the ‘Framing Migration’, June 2024.
Photo: Anna Gormley
Dream your Friends Forward, with Phillip McCrilly, Moon Lee and Cecelia Graham on the occasion of the BAN Seminar convened by Cecelia Graham, Belfast, September 2024, Photo: Simon Mills
Conference
The 2024 BAN Annual Conference ‘Curatorial Reimaginings’ took place over 28–29 November, at Midland Arts Centre and other venues around Birmingham.
This year’s conference was programmed with support from a convening committee of past and present members of BAN’s Steering Group who have also been part of the Emerging Curators Group:
Cicely Robinson (ECG 2015–18)
Lauren Craig (ECG 2020–21)
Basil Olton (ECG 2022)
Rhona Sword (ECG 2023)
Jessica Wan Ka Po (ECG 2024)
An open call asked for creative ideas for conference content around the curatorial present and possible futures that would focus our thoughts, challenge our assumptions and generate new thinking in convivial formats outside rigid organisational and bureaucratic structures.
The resulting event attracted over 120 participants and was structured and catered to ensure plenty of opportunities to meet, talk and engage, with optional visits and parallel sessions. Following optional afternoon visits on Thursday 28 November with Grand Union/Centrala and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, an early evening gathering at The Hive in the Jewellery Quarter featured a poetic keynote from Candice Nembhard and curated catering from Kaye Winwood. On Friday 29 November, the opening session at Midlands Arts Centre included recitations from Jade Foster (DASH) exploring the curatorial as a non-typical way of making sense of the world. Optional workshops, visits and panels explored how festivals can deliver for the moment and sustain for the future, advocacy and activism in curating, the language of ecology-focused initiatives and much else. The conference closed with a roundtable chaired by Sarah Victoria Turner (Paul Mellon Centre) featuring Melanie Pocock (Ikon), Marta Marsicka and Jazz Swali (Backlit Gallery) and Leanne Green (Tate Liverpool) considering the possibilities for the future of the field.
pp. 30–31 and 33–35: images from the BAN Annual Conference, Birmingham, 28–29 November 2024.
Photos: Connor Pope
Conference participants during a curatorial tour of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, 28 November 2024
Research Barriers Fund
During 2024, BAN opened a new Research Barriers Fund, open to British Art Network Members on a rolling basis and offering bursaries of up to £500. The scheme was aimed at enabling research activity on a non-prescriptive and open basis, as well as helping BAN understand Member needs. A total of 25 awards were made, notably to cover travel costs, helping towards dependent costs and providing time and support for funding applications and project planning.
As a parent and primary carer, funding such as this, that acknowledges the barriers to research is really vital. […] It has made a significant difference to my research project.
Opportunities like this, which don’t necessarily focus on tangible outcomes, are rare but incredibly important for project development and, more broadly, career growth.
BAN Emerging Curators Group visit Liverpool. © Tate. Photo: Jake Ryan, 2024
Website & Communications
Launched in 2021, the BAN website has become an important and evergrowing resource for anyone interested in British art curating in all its variety. During 2024, updates were added to the pages of all the active Research Groups, documenting their aims and activities over the previous year, and the Events pages have been developed with a calendar of events organised by the Research Groups, Seminars and as part of the Annual Conference. In 2024, our website averaged 14,834 total page views per month. Recordings and accompanying materials from events are being posted on an ongoing basis. Filmed content is posted on the website and available through the Network’s YouTube and/or Vimeo. BAN’s first Podcast was issued this year, produced by Marcus Jack and based on content from the 2023 Annual Conference together with new reflections, interviews and commentary around the theme of Art after Devolution. The podcast is freely available here
The Member directory now includes profiles for 718 individuals, comprising personal statements, contact details and links to further resources. We issued two Newsletters this year. Newsletters can be accessed on the website, here and on Issuu, hosted by the Paul Mellon Centre here.
Art After Devolution podcast art, featuring Ursula Burke, Balaclava Bust, 2014
Appendices
A. BAN events January–December 2024
BAN provided bursary support for a range of workshops, seminars and networking events led by Members, through individual Seminar Support and ongoing support for Research Groups. Selected events listed below.
Full details about events and Research Groups are available on the BAN website (britishartnetwork.org.uk)
2 February
Decolonisation of Ceramics Practice Roundtable Discussion Online
Chaired by Basil Olton, June Yuen Ting and Yas Lime
9 March
For Tish: A Screening and Flash Residency-in-Response
Stroud Valleys Artspace, Stroud
Convened by Hatty Bell, Alice Butler, Anna Gormley and Kelly O’Brien
22 March
STATE OF PRINT: Contested Land-Space-Planet-Title Generator Projects, Dundee
Convened by Miriam Mallalieu
20 April
The Future of Curatorship
Pan-Pan, Birmingham
Convened by Marta Marsicka and Jazz Swali
22 April
What about Historical Acquisitions? Opportunities and Challenges
Paul Mellon Centre and Government Art Collection
Convened by Laura Popoviciu
24–25 April
Visual Cultures of Colonial India: A Historical Perspective Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi and online
Convened by Sonal Singh
11 May
Art & Poetry: Ekphrastic Ethics in the Gallery Space Ulster Museum, Belfast
Convened by Eva Isherwood-Wallace
1 June
Creative Organising Today: Resourcing and Co-Operation
Bridgehouse Gardens, London
Convened by Beth Bramich and Sophie Chapman
11 June
Expert Panel: Curating Colonialism and Silenced Histories Online
Convened by Surya Bowyer
25 June
Curating Craft to Engage Audiences
Crafts Study Centre, University for the Creative Arts, Farnham
Convened by Stephen Knott
27 June
Reframing Migration
Stroud Valleys Artspace, Stroud
Convened by Anna Gormley
3 September
Dream Your Friends Forward
South Belfast
Convened by Cecelia Graham
7 September
Experimental Noise Artists Seminar
The Lubber Fiend, Newcastle upon Tyne
Convened by Chris Duddy and Moritz Cheung
19 September
Sharing the Privilege: How to Diversify Voices in the Arts in Belfast
Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast
Convened by Mary Stevens
4 October
SOUND POLITICS VOICE
Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, Edinburgh
Convened by Maria Fusco
25 October
Reframing Migration: Voices of Witness
School of Journalism, Culture & Media, Cardiff University, Cardiff
Convened by Anna Gormley
2 December
Irish Modernisms Global Contexts | India
Convened by Catherine Hemelryk and Matt Retallick
British Art Network Conference Programme
Thursday 28 November
14:00–16:00
‘Come As You Are’ – Kindly Shifting the Curatorial with Grand Union, Centrala Gallery, Birmingham
14:30–16:00
Visit: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
17:00–18:30
Conference Gathering | The Hive Café & Bakery, New Standard Works
Friday 29 November
Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham
10:15–10:40
Drafts | Performance Studio
Recitations delivered by Jade Foster (DASH)
10:40–11:30
Rapid-Fire Presentations with Q&A | Performance Studio. With BSL interpretation and live captioning
Co-production in regional art collections – Sophie Hatchwell and Greg Salter (University of Birmingham)
Whose Gallery is it Anyway? Reflections and Findings from a Community Curation Experiment – Ilaria Casini (Edinburgh Printmakers)
Podcasting the Past: Audio, Access and Authority in the Arts – Jelena Sofronijevic (independent)
11:45–12:45
Self-Guided Visit: Waste Age: What can Design do?, MAC Gallery
12:00–12:45
Parallel Sessions
Panel: Festival Futures | Performance Studio. With BSL interpretation and live captioning. 40m panel – 5m movement/settle time at start.
Workshop: Gentle Gestures | Bryant Room, Bryant Suite. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
Workshop: What role does the curator play in social justice movements? | Saintbury Room, Bryant Suite. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
Workshop: Cultural Reforesting: Finding the language of working with nature/being part of nature | Pocket Garden. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
‘Restore/Explore’ | Deloitte Room
14:00–15:20
Visit: Barber Institute of Fine Arts
14:15–15:15
Self-Guided Visit: Waste Age: What can Design do?, MAC Gallery
14:15–15:00
Parallel Sessions
Workshop: Radical Imagination – care centred approaches to curating entangled histories | Performance Studio. With BSL interpretation and live captioning. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
Workshop: Gentle Gestures | Bryant Room, Bryant Suite. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
Workshop: What role does the curator play in social justice movements? | Saintbury Room, Bryant Suite. 35m workshop – 10m movement/settle time at start
‘Restore/Explore’ | Deloitte Room
15:30–17:00
Closing Session | Performance Studio.
Plenary Roundtable with Q&A. Chaired by Sarah Victoria Turner (Paul Mellon Centre), with Melanie Pocock (Ikon), Marta Marsicka and Jazz Swali (Backlit Gallery) and Leanne Green (Tate Liverpool)
Emerging Curators Group Events
22 January
Introductory meeting
12 February
Online coffee catch-up
4–5 March
In-person trip: Liverpool (FACT, Bluecoat, Exhibition Research LabLJMU)
10 April
Online workshop: Individual Research, Mapping our Skills and Networks
13 May
Online workshop: Organisational Structures and ‘Hierarchy’; research with Hammad Nasar
27-28 June
In-person trip: Bradford (Cartwright Hall, Bradford 2025 CoC, South Square Centre, Impressions Gallery)
28 August
Online workshop: Food and Meals in Art Contexts with Aaron Cezar and Raju Rage
20 September
Online workshop: Accessibility Beyond Audiences with Jade Foster
B. BAN Membership Numbers
As of December 2024, BAN Membership stands at 2,619, a 29-per-centincrease on the figure of 2,025 at the start of 2024. Many of our members are affiliated with arts institutions and we are pleased to represent 735 organisations and institutions in the UK and beyond within our growing membership. However, the proportion of independent or freelance curators has continued to grow, now constituting 12 per cent of the membership. Based on the occupational descriptors volunteered by Members, the membership is dominated by individuals identifying as curators.
In 2023, the geographical spread of BAN’s membership grew with the announcement of the 2023 Curatorial Forum, which encouraged applications from around the globe. The number of people applying for membership from outside the UK has reduced in 2024 but is further spread than in years prior to 2023, with members applying from 20 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceana. Ten per cent of members processed in 2024 were from outside the UK, of which 25 per cent were from the USA.
While historically the membership was largely made up of those working in institutions with traditional curatorial roles, the membership when I started began to include more people working in hybrid careers, those with independent career trajectories and non-institutionally affiliated curators (BAN Team member, interviewed by evaluators Sarah Bedell and Pam Jarvis)
Conference Gathering at The Hive Café & Bakery, New Standard Works, Birmingham, 28 November 2024.
Photo: Connor Pope
About BAN
BAN is supported financially by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Tate, with additional public funding provided by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. BAN’s programme is overseen and developed by a team based at Tate and the Paul Mellon Centre, with the support of a Management Team of senior colleagues from both organisations and guidance provided by a Steering Group whose membership reflects a range of relevant experience and backgrounds. For more on BAN’s governance, history and membership, see the BAN website (https://britishartnetwork.org.uk/)
The BAN Team
Anthony Tino, PMC Networks Administrator, Paul Mellon Centre
Bryony Botwright-Rance, PMC Networks Manager, Paul Mellon Centre
Chelsea Humado, National Partnerships and Programmes Assistant, Tate
Heather Sturdy, Head of National Partnerships, Tate Liverpool
Jessica Juckes, BAN Coordinator, Tate Liverpool
Kaissa Karhu, PMC Networks Manager (Parental Leave Cover), Paul Mellon Centre (from December 2024)
Martin Myrone, BAN Convenor, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Rosie Jennings, PMC Networks Membership and Communications Assistant, Paul Mellon Centre
Management Team
Alex Farquharson, Director, Tate Britain
Sarah Victoria Turner, Director, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Helen Legg, Director, Tate Liverpool
Steering Group
Co-Chair: Sarah Victoria Turner (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)
Co-Chair: Alex Farquharson (Tate Britain)
Rhona Sword, Freelance Curator and Development Associate (ECG 2023)
Basil Olton, Artist, Curator and Researcher (ECG 2022)
Cicely Robinson, Freelance Curator, Researcher & Heritage Consultant (ECG 2015–18)
Sria Chatterjee, Head of Research and Learning, Paul Mellon Centre
David Dibosa, Director of Research and Interpretation, Tate
Bryan Biggs, Director of Cultural Legacies, Bluecoat
Pauline de Souza, Diversity Art Forum, Senior Lecturer, University of East London
Cora Gilroy-Ware, Associate Professor in History of Art at the University of Oxford
Tony Heaton OBE, Sculptor, Consultant and Chair of Shape Arts
Reyahn King, Chief Executive of York Museums Trust
Richard Sandell, Professor of Museum Studies and Co-Director of the Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester
