Slide

Wunderkammer
珍寶陳列室

ART.ZIP: Would you tell us more about the Euroart Studios? Does it differ from other studio renting companies in any way?

ART.ZIP: 能不能給我們多介紹一些關於歐藝工作室的情況?和其他工作室供應商相比有什麼不一樣呢?

LC: It is my opinion that studio organisations in the UK fall into one of two categories – those that receive regular and significant local authority or Arts Council England financial support and those that do not – which is the case with Euroart. Euroart is a self-funded, not-for-profit, company limited by guarantee. We are not recipient of any external funding.

In this business, there is a fine balance to be achieved between ‘affordability’ – necessary to keep the studios fully occupied and the business sustainable, and ‘quality of work’ – to encourage visitors to return each year to the annual open studios event. Risk i.e. how much of it you choose to accept, plays a great part in this delicate trade-off. Obviously, if you are lucky to be the recipient of regular external financial support your risks are lower than without such support.

We are now North London’s largest “artist led” art studio group providing affordable studios and workspaces for rent to artists, makers and creative practitioners. We promote the work of our residents and often source opportunities for them.  Occasionally, we initiate projects with local organisations, bringing paid work to our resident creative practitioners.  We also provide various business support services, i.e. organisation of open studios events, artistic mentoring, business mentoring and provision of information on business and network opportunities.  Another consequence of this ‘cluster’ of creative practitioners, are opportunities for ‘peer critique’ and ‘collaborative work’. Euroart also provides work experience opportunities to the volunteer sector.
Having a full-time professional management team which includes a practising professional artist based in the studios, gives us an edge over other studio renting companies.

A further distinction is that many companies simply operate as a renting company/landlord, whilst others attempt to create a “community” – a most challenging endeavour of which I believe Euroart is being successful. We strive constantly to make connections to galleries and collectors for the benefit of the community as a whole. We work relentlessly to being North London’s premier location for the purchase of quality contemporary art!

Apart from the numerous benefits imparted to the resident artists (as mentioned above), Euroart further distinguishes itself from other studio renting companies through a number of practices. Among which there’s one being worth mentioning that we operate a selection process and usually 80% plus of our residents are fine arts graduates. However, we are not elitist to any genre or style of work and do reserve some workspaces for students and non-art graduates showing commitment and promise to developing their work.

LC: 我覺得現在英國的藝術家工作室供應商分為兩大類:一類是定期受到來自地方政府或者英國藝術委員會資金資助,另一類是不受資助的,歐藝就是後者。歐藝就是一個自籌資金,非盈利公司,我們沒有任何外來的資金支持。

作為工作室運營者,能夠保證工作室的正常運轉同時保持租金的足夠低廉是一個很不容易的工作,我們必須保證工作室的出租率為100%,同時我們還要保證這裡藝術家的作品質量,能吸引人們每年在工作室開放日的時候能來參與我們的活動。對於風險的掌控一直是工作室生意當中重要的一部份,我們要不斷地權衡各種微妙的因素。當然了,要是你能幸運地得到外來的資金支持,那麼你的風險自然就低多了。

我們現在是北倫敦最大的,由藝術家管理和引領的藝術家工作室群體,我們為創意產業從業者提供價格便宜的工作空間,我們也為藝術家提供各種展示的機會,偶爾也會和當地的組織合作,為我們的藝術家招攬生意,此外我們也提供各類的商業支持服務,比如工作室開放日活動,藝術指導和業務資訊等等。藝術家聚集的另一個優勢就是同行之間的借鑑和鞭策,同時也有更多協同工作的機會。歐藝也提供志願者活動的工作和實踐機會。

相比其他工作室,我們的另一個優勢就是這裡有全職的專業藝術家和管理團隊來服務於大家解決各類問題。

除此以外,很多工作室供應商只是作為一個“地主”或者“收租者”而存在,也有一些則在試圖打造一個藝術的“社區”,這是一個非常有挑戰的努力,我相信歐藝在建造“社區”的方面非常成功。我們通過不懈地努力與收藏家、畫廊建立聯繫,為的是能為我們整個團體和社區發展謀得利益,我們不遺餘力地要把這裡打造成為北倫敦購買當代藝術作品的首選之地。

除了剛才提到的那些我們對進駐藝術家的便利條件以外,值得一提的是,我們有一套對進駐藝術家甄選的程序,在這裡80%以上的進駐藝術家是純藝術專業的畢業生,不過我們對藝術家創作的風格和工作方式並沒有限制,而且我們還保留了一些工作室給在校學生和非藝術專業畢業生來使用并幫助他們來做宣傳,讓這些人也可以不斷地發展他們的作品。

ART.ZIP: Are there any new plans in the coming years?

ART.ZIP: 在未來的今年有沒有什麼新的計劃?

LC: In the last few years we have provided business support – like card payment facilities and organised mentoring & business workshops.

We believe our ‘modus operandi’ has influenced a number of the resident artists to approach their work in a more business like mindset.

This year we started an outreach project to link up and collaborate with other European studio organisations: who knows, maybe in time we could extend beyond Europe. This is an exciting venture and we look forward to what we can accomplish.

LC: 過去的幾年裡,我們一直在為藝術家們提供商業上的支持,比如提供銀行卡支付系統、組織與商業運作相關的工作坊和研討會。

我想我們的工作已經初步取得了成效,有一些藝術家已經開始在工作的同時更多地想到如何對自己的作品進行商業運營了。

今年我們開始了一個外聯的項目,來與其他歐洲的藝術家工作室進行合作,說不定過幾年以後,我們的業務會延伸到歐洲,這是一個令人興奮的冒險,我想我們可以做到的。

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