Diversity in the arts world

Black-led independent arts and education charity Culture& joins orces ith otheby’s nstitute of Art.

By Joel Campbell

DR ERROL Francis, CEO and Artistic Director at Culture&, a Black-led independent arts and education charity, said that he was “delighted to be partnering with Sotheby’s Institute of Art” on an initiative to nurture the next generation of talent.

backgrounds with leadership potential to study full-time and receive a London Living Wage bursary for their living expenses.

The selected students will have access to the full range of Sotheby’s Institute of Art services to support student learning and wellbeing, including high levels of teaching time, personal tutors, specialist library and research facilities, expert career service support, counselling and much more.

of its kind in the contemporary

The groundbreaking partnership is set to accelerate diversity in the art world through education. Commencing from September 2023, the Culture& and Sotheby’s Institute of Art Cultural eaders rogramme the first of its kind in the contemporary art world in the UK – is designed to em power and nur ture the next generation of diverse leaders.

Through this partnership, the Cultural Leaders Programme will offer three fully-funded schol arships per year from 2023/24 to 2025/26 to promis ing students from under-represented communities to pursue one of the Institute’s prestigious one-year, full-time Master’s programmes: the MA in Contemporary Art; the MA in Art Business; or the MA in Fine and Decorative Art and Design.

The programme will allow these promising young professionals from diverse

Additionally, students will receive tailored mentoring and networking opportunities, drawing on both Culture&’s and Sotheby’s Institute’s networks of professional and social support.

Dr Francis said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Sotheby’s Institute of Art on this groundbreaking initiative to nurture the next generation of diverse talent.”

He added: “Extending the backgrounds of the students who study at this centre of excellence will bring fresh perspectives and creativity into the commercial art sector.

“This programme builds on Culture&’s ongoing work to open up the UK’s arts workforce and, for the first time brings together the worlds of the charity sector and private education. We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of young people into the Institute’s esteemed academic community as we build a more diverse art world of the future.”

The Culture& and Sotheby’s Institute of Art Cultural Leaders Programme marks a significant milestone in the educational model of both organisations. It stems from their mutual awareness of how much more needs to be done to support people from diverse backgrounds to take their right- ful place in the art world. It implements one of the key recommendations of the 2022 report that Culture& co-authored with Museum X for the Art Fund: To support a focus on specific initiatives leading to permanent curatorial employment, rather than generic entry-level or temporary roles.

Dr. Jonathan Woolfson, Director at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, said: “We are tremendously excited to be collaborating

Powerful exhibition celebrates women artists

CURATOR MASHONDA Tifrere is partnering with Christie’s Private Sales in a powerful exhibition that marks a month dedicated to the celebration of women around the world.

Tifrere’s Harlem upbringing, enlivened by the Expressionist art, music and photography that captivated the 1980s, resulted in her prominence as a singer/songwriter, author and activist.

She has since fortified her position as an art leader and cultural disruptor with the creation of Art LeadHer; a platform that has challenged patriarchal history and championed the professional development of marginalised woman artists since its

2016 launch. Entitled Note To Self, the works in this exhibition, rich in individuality yet delicately connected by a sense of liberation, are a visual manifestation of Tifrere’s commitment to showcasing art by living Black artists.

The result of an upbringing inspired by the cultural and artistic significance of the Harlem enaissance, Tifrere has selected works that re ect her own personal ourney and awakening. Varied in their refreshing use of landscapes, gaze, body language and posture, the works in Note To Self encourage viewers to engage with the elements of ease, peace and comfort that are accumulated along a woman’s path to self-realisation. rom to I wrote five songs, and called the group Note to Self. I created them using my experiences in bliss, compromise, enlightenment, sexuality, and heartache.

“In celebration of Women’s Month, I wanted to visualise the music with art by women who make works that I deem compelling and profound yet ethereal and fierce his e hibition represents the conversations we have in our mind, the poignant affirmations that evolve us

Isabel Millar, Specialist, Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s said: “Christie’s is delighted to col- laborate with Mashonda Tifrere on Note to Self which celebrates a dynamic range of living women artists.

“Tifrere’s commitment to showcasing woman artists and combating gender bias is inspiring and we look forward to presenting the exhibition at Christie’s in London.” with Culture& on this initiative. Their impressive record of success on diversity in the arts, combined with our own history of excellence in postgraduate education, makes for a powerful mix. We greatly look forward to welcoming a new generation of diverse students into our community.

The works of the 15 women artists included in the exhibition uniquely navigate the ever-intertwined, contemporary world, with qualities of oy and wisdom in what ifrere describes as “Feminine Sovereignty”.

The selling exhibition of 24 works will be open to view for free from March 28 to April 14 at Christie’s in London.

I am confident that in so doing we will be preparing the ground for a new art world of tomorrow.”

SHOWCASE: Mashonda Tifrere