from Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation
Tees Valley Arts is delighted to announce that they have just been awarded a grant of £4750 by the Middlesbrough and Teesside Philanthropic Foundation to help them set up a Tees Valley Artists and Makers group.
From our 30 years’ experience of working in the arts on Teesside, we know that local artists often struggle to develop their careers and to earn a living – many leave the area, and others try to keep going and to keep their skills and knowledge up to date, but end up stuck in a rut and not sure how to move forward.
This is bad for them and bad for the area – TVA wants to see new artists getting going, and ‘old’ artists flourishing so that they can share their skills with our communities and our young people, and so that Teesside becomes a vibrant and exciting place to live
(and especially if Tees Valley is going to build a good bid for City of Culture 2025).
TVA has commissioned some research to look at how these sorts of schemes work in other places – what do artists and makers need, how can they get access to business support and guidance, and how can they endeavour to keep their work fresh and to know about what other artists are doing in other places.
TVA is very grateful for this grant which will help the organisation start to bring artists and makers together, so that we can work together to make some good things happen for Teesside creative people.