Welcome to 52 Weeks - a new visual arts initiative

52 Weeks

The purpose: The aim of 52 Weeks is to reconnect with visual art practitioners one year after graduating college as a means to track their progress and critically, to provide them with  the professional opportunity to exhibit their work. Whilst acknowledging the obvious benefits of college education, many students experience upon graduation, a void between college and their real world practice. Therefore, 52 Weeks aims to give graduates a focus, enabling them to bring their practice forward.

The year following the completion of the degree has many benefits.  Having had time to reflect or work or indeed, do nothing, many graduates only begin to reconnect with their artistic practice at this point.  Furthermore this gap means that those interested graduates are obliged to consider what it is that they want from 52 Weeks, what work would they like to submit, as opposed to potentially moving from project to project simply because it’s there.

Graduates will therefore, be in a position to define how they want to present themselves and what type of work they want to present. The intended outcome of this experience is to provide real world repercussions, including potential gallery representation; understanding of professional practice; experience of the gallery system, submission procedures; workflow; self reliance and motivation.

The business:  Initially to provide an exhibition space and framework within which an exhibition will be organised, in turn providing an experiential template regarding the organisation of their own future exhibitions and understandings of professional practice.

To facilitate the introduction of significant contacts thereby furthering the exhibitors professional knowledge and understanding while enabling possibilites for further collaboration, representation or other potential creative outputs to be defined between the interested parties.

The values:  Focusing on recent graduates and their professional development, aiming to facilitate learning through experience and the provision of as many positive outcomes as possible, to provide personal encouragement and motivation towards nurturing a long term career in the visual arts.