Eyes fall on the North East for Turner Prize and ContemporaryARTNE.com

Yesterday saw the launch of Turner Prize at Baltic, the first time it has been shown outside of a TATE venue and in the North. This was not only a proud moment for Baltic but also the region, with North East galleries able to profile their own projects, exhibitions and programmes at a Media Lunch where the visual arts constituency and national press mingled informally.

We have alot to be proud of, Turning Point North East ran 5 of its artists films from their 11 for 2011 programme and distributed printed matter from the 3 critical dialogue bursary recipients Spectrum Almanac, 3 degrees of separation and Chancefindus.com.

To coincide with this launch, leaflets promoting ContemporaryARTNE.com were distributed across the region, the website is also up and running www.contemporaryARTNE.com and its iPhone App can now be downloaded from the Apple, App Store to help you navigate the region and see the great range of contemporary art on offer across the North East.

All Points North - the website is now live

The All Points North website is up and running, giving people to access information about contemporary visual arts exhibitions taking place right across the north of England. 

All Points North is an initiative set up to collaboratively profile the strength of contemporary art programming in the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humber regions this Autumn.

A unique set of national and international exhibitions and events that present the whole spectrum of contemporary art practice will be on show in venues across these areas making the greater North a hub for what's happening in contemporary art now.

ALAN HAYDON (1949-2011)

It is of great sadness that we hear of the death this week of Alan Haydon, Director of De la Warr Pavillion. A huge presence in the visual arts community, his role in Turning Point South East was also of great value to the sector and his contribution widely appreciated.

As a network we will suffer because of his loss, but his passing is also a reminder that we should adopt his approach to work, that of cutting through the complexities and at times bureaucracy to get down to the real issue that of focusing on the art itself. Something we should all try to remember at this difficult time.

As a network we offer our sincere condolences to his colleagues, friends and family and hope that through all our work we can keep his contribution alive.

TURNING POINT NATIONAL EVALUATION BY ANNABEL JACKSON ASSOCIATES

The final evaluation report has now been produced by Annabel Jackson Associates on the National Turning Point Network. This report covers the pilot phase 2009-2011 and features both national and regional activity.

For further information and to download this report click here

KNOWLEDGE SHARING ACROSS THE TURNING POINT NETWORK

Over the last twelve months, North by North West, the Turning Point group for Cumbria and Lancashire has been overseeing the work of the National Knowledge Sharing Group who were charged with producing a report on current knowledge sharing across the Turning Point Network and articulating how the network could work better moving forward.

 The National Knowledge Sharing Group are now about to embark on Phase 2 of their work which will involve a series of training sessions real world programmes that will help the network knowledge share more effectively cross regionally through a combination of social media and face to face activities.

Further information will be posted on this soon but in the meantime if you want to get the background information on this report click here to read the report.