Applications open for YVAN Cultural Entrepreneur Programme (CEP)

Munro House, Leeds - the sort of creative enterprise the CEP is intended to encourage.

Do you live or work in the Yorkshire and Humber region? Are you interested or active in contemporary visual arts? Have you got a great business idea that could contribute to the region’s visual arts market? Do you consider yourself as a budding cultural entrepreneur?

If you answered yes to all these questions then you may be just the person we’re looking for to take part in the pilot Cultural Entrepreneur Programme from March – December 2013.

The Yorkshire and Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN) is looking to recruit 6 Cultural Entrepreneurs with ambitious and innovative ideas that have the potential to become new business activities that will generate revenue in the contemporary visual arts sector.

If you are interested in applying for this exceptional opportunity, please download the application form as a Word document HERE or a PDF HERE.  Alternatively, contact Project Manager Andrew Palmer on andrew@palmersquared.co.uk or telephone 07913 397541 to request further information.

The deadline for submissions is Friday 1 March, 12 noon.

YVAN is working with partners including Arts Council England and the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) on the development and delivery of this programme, as part of the CAS national visual arts market development plan.

Cultural Entrepreneur Programme Project Manager

Image: Cupola Gallery, Sheffield

Yorkshire and Humber Contemporary Visual Arts Network (formerly Turning Point Yorkshire and Humber) has identified a long-standing gap in the provision of entrepreneurial opportunity for visual artists working in critically engaged practice.  

Such support might be provided by agents, gallerists, commissioning agents or art fair organisers.  In order to address this deficit, Yorkshire and Humber Contemporary Visual Arts Network intends to set in place a programme of activity intended to support emergent cultural entrepreneurs or supporting established cultural entrepreneurs in their professional development.

The aim of the Cultural Entrepreneur Programme scheme is to support the development of the skills and experience of a cohort of entrepreneurs annually from 2012 to 2021. We define ‘cultural entrepreneurs’ as individuals working within the sector whose business activity attracts revenue from external sources into the cultural sector. Cultural entrepreneurs may be driven by a range of motivations: our primary interest is that their business activity generates greater commercial opportunities for artists and builds artists’ income streams. 

They are not necessarily art-trained, nor need they be in the early stages of their careers.  We will be looking for ‘self-starters’ who will take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the programme.

The group of cultural entrepreneurs we hope to recruit may include current or aspiring artists’ agents and dealers, gallery owners, commissioning agents, arts festival or fair organisers; or entrepreneurs from completely different areas of commerce with an interest in developing markets in critically engaged art. 

We wish to recruit a project manager or project management agency to design and deliver the pilot Cultural Entrepreneur programme of activity, initially on a one-year contract with the option of renewal for additional years if funding is identified. The contract may be held on a personal basis by an individual or as a service contract by a suitable organisation. 

The project manager will report to the Yorkshire and Humber Contemporary Visual Arts Network coordinator and through her/him to the Steering Group. 

Download full details here.