Announcing Common Practice
Common Practice, London is an advocacy group working for the recognition and fostering of the small-scale contemporary visual arts sector in London. The group’s founding members are Afterall, Chisenhale Gallery, Electra, Gasworks, LUX, Matt’s Gallery, Mute Publishing, The Showroom and Studio Voltaire—together representing a diverse range of activities including commissioning, production, publishing, research, exhibitions, residencies and artists’ studios. The group aims to promote the value of the sector and its activities, act as a knowledge base and resource for members and affiliated organisations, and develop a dialogue with other visual art organisations at a local, national and international level.Common Practice has recently commissioned and published the research paper Size Matters: Notes towards a Better Understanding of the Value, Operation and Potential of Small Visual Arts Organisations, written by Sarah Thelwall, with support from Arts Council England. The paper seeks to articulate the value of the small-scale visual arts sector within the wider arts ecology. The paper explores the significant potential small-scale organisations have in the present cultural landscape and economy, also detailing the operational and investment challenges they face in realizing this. Finally, it advocates a reconsideration of present assessment and investment practices. The paper is available to download from www.commonpractice.org.uk
You can sign up for the bi-monthly Common Practice Newsletter at www.commonpractice.org.uk/newsletter
