In July 2012 we were the lucky recipients of Artplayer's £5K video services competition. We thought we'd use this to highlight a success story that one of our artist members received through Axisweb's opportunity service.
On 21 November 2012, we turn 21 and we'll be celebrating (along with cake and party games) with a rummage around our archive to bring you 21 highlights from the last 21 years of our existence at
Axisweb21.org.
We're delighted to be back in Art Projects at the London Art Fair this year to showcase the organisation. Find out more about the artists we'll be showcasing and take advantage of our special 2 for 1 ticket offer.
In a difficult climate for arts funding, it is very important that the visual arts develop a strong collective voice. This is why Axis is a founding member of Visual Arts UK (VAUK).
With the support of the Axis Board of Trustees, we have recently carried out a review of the Axis directory to ensure that all artists on Axis have been treated equally and meet our membership criteria.
Emmanuel Cooper OBE (1938 – 2012)
With great sadness we heard of the death of Emmanuel Cooper OBE on 21 January 2012.
He was an influential potter, writer, critic and teacher, who will be greatly missed in the ceramics world. As one of our current selectors for Open Frequency, he contributed a thoughtful and typically generous profile of French-born artist
Emmanuel Boos in November 2011.
Ceramics Review, which he co-founded, will be collecting comments, condolences, and tributes. If you would like to contribute your thoughts and memories about Emmanuel, you may do so by emailing
bonniekemske@ceramicreview.comAxis will be showing the work of six artists based in London in the Art Projects Space where galleries present the work of emerging international contemporary artists with solo shows, curated group displays, editions and large-scale installations.
Axis at the Manchester Contemporary: 27-30 October 2011
We are a cultural partner at Manchester Contemporary art fair for the second year this October. Our stand will give information about Axis as well as a selection of work by five artists based in the North West of England.
Axis has introduced a new membership category - Early Career - to support artists at the beginning of their career. Application is open to final year students or artists who graduated in the last 12 months from a recognised BA art course (or equivalent) and those starting/returning to artistic practice after a change of career/career break.
We are pleased to announce that fuse8 will be developing our new web platform to be launched 2012
In 2009 Axis was invited to participate in a project instigated by The Culture Vulture, 'The Travelling Moleskine®'. We were given an A5 Moleskine® that we passed onto Axis members from Scotland, England and Wales, asking them to respond to our theme 'Americana'.
We are looking for a digital agency to create a new digital platform that will help us realise our artistic and business ambitions.
The Axis team always have something to say - and now we have somewhere to say it! Keep in touch with what we're up to by following our new blog.
Got something to publicise? Announce it on Axis. With 50,000 monthly unique visitors and 55,000 professional members, subscribers and followers, all interested in contemporary art, Announce lets you target your message to the right people at the right time. As an artist or curator on Axis, you'll receive great discounts on our Announce prices.
The second edition of Axis Notes is packed with highlights from the Axis website, a look back at our recent activities and a look forward to new developments.
We are delighted to announce that Hanae Utamura is the 2011 winner of the Axis/ Florence Trust award.
You may notice there is now a lot more advertising on the Axis website.
This is because we have recently joined The Guardian Ad Network.
In a difficult economic climate Axis has some good news for artists -
we have reduced our membership fee for artists outside England.
You'll notice some changes next time you sign into the Axis website. We've redesigned the section where you manage your pages on Axis, making it easier to navigate and for artists to update their profile.
Axis successful in bid to ACE funding
We are delighted to announce that our application to Arts Council England for National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) status has been successful, which means that Axis will receive revenue funding from ACE until 2015.
We are happy to announce that we are creating our first iPhone app, with support from Arts Council England - Yorkshire. It will act as a guide and interpretive tool for Art in Yorkshire – supported by Tate (AIY), an ambitious programme of exhibitions and events taking place in Yorkshire in 2011.
Axis is pleased to announce that Alicia Miller has been appointed Axis Ambassador for Wales, a post that has been funded for twelve months by the Arts Council of Wales to help Axis develop its support for artists and the wider contemporary art sector in the country.
Axis were invited to be part of Manchester Contemporary 2010. The event was curated by The International 3 and brought together 13 galleries from around the UK and Europe showing high calibre contemporary art by internationally exhibiting artists and those that are new and emerging.
Axis were selected to be one of three organisations pitching to Channel 4 at the Media Festival Arts session - A pitch in time on 9 September 2010.
Arguing for artists: Axis responds to cuts in arts funding
In a special forum Axis Chief Executive Sheila McGregor sets out our concerns about the current funding crisis. We also want to hear how cuts are affecting you already or may affect you in the future. To contribute, please go to the link below and click 'add a new comment' at the bottom of the page.
We are delighted to have been invited by Arts Council England to curate an exhibition on the first floor of their national office at Great Peter Street in London. Arts Council England staff choose the nine works which we installed July 2010.
The Arts Council of Wales recently announced that it will cut
32 organisations from its portfolio of Regularly Funded Organisations
from April 2011. Unfortunately Axis is one of the organisations which will no longer receive this annual revenue funding.
We respond to the news here.We've revived and updated an old tradition of ours by producing a publication called Axis Notes. This year’s issue focuses on what we’ve been doing recently and our plans for the future.
Maya Ramsay is the recipient of the first Axis/Florence Trust Award -
a 12 month funded residency at the Florence Trust in London to start August 2010.
Axis to curate first floor of Arts Council England offices
We're delighted to have been invited to curate an exhibition on the first floor of Arts Council England's national office at Great Peter Street in London, where ACE London will co-locate in May. Working with Arts Council staff, we'll be selecting work by Axis directory artists from each of the nine English regions for display over an 18 month period. The aim is to give the people who work in the office some say over what ends up on the walls and highlight some of the fantastic work available in the Axis Directory.
MAstars is an annual online selection of the most promising artists from the UK's leading MA courses. Each year a team of curators, academics and arts professionals attend different MA degree shows across the UK and from these select artists to be featured on our website.
Axis has teamed up with The Florence Trust to launch a new bursary for 2010. We will award one artist from Axis’s annual MAstars programme a 12 month residency at the Florence Trust in London, to start in August 2010.
We are immensely saddened by the sudden death of our friend and colleague Rick Holgate in November. Rick joined the Axis team as Web Developer in August 2004. An incredibly hard-working, thoughtful and valued member of the IT team, he was, above all, a lovely man and great fun to be around.
We all miss him very much and extend our sympathy to Rick’s family and friends at this sad time.
Hayley Harding, Axis Opportunities Coordinator went on the fourth plinth at 11am on 7 October 2009. Read about her hour and watch the footage.
We have been invited to participate in a 'Big Draw' event called Travelling Moleskine and are looking for particpants to add to the moleskine on the theme of 'Americana'
The recently published ACE commissioned report - Digital Content Snapshot: A detailed mapping of online presences maintained by Arts Council England’s regularly funded organisations - identifies organisations that exemplify good practice - features a case study of Axis alongside other orgs such as Tate, Motiroti and MOMA NY and rates us excellent - 13/15.
Axis is delighted to announce the appointment of Sheila McGregor as its new Chief Executive. Sheila has been an independent visual arts, museums and education consultant since 2001. She was previously Deputy Director at The New Art Gallery, Walsall and before that Curator of Art at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
From 1 October 2008 we changed our membership criteria to reflect and embrace the internationalism of the UK contemporary art scene. Essentially this means artists and curators no longer have to be based in the UK to profile their work on Axis. All applications continue to be assessed against the current criteria but now there's a non-subsidised membership fee for those based outside England and Wales.
Have you got a Facebook account? If so, why not join the growing community on the Axis Facebook page?
Promote your events with exclusive banner advertising on the Axis events listing, with very competitive prices and substantial discounts for Axis members.
