This is our second year. It’s the final dummy run or pilot in what will become a long-standing part of both the Northern Art Schools’ annual academic year and the city of Manchester’s cultural calendar.
It’s also a big team effort. It goes without saying that we could never have pulled this competition and exhibition together without the students and their tutors. Teachers rarely get the praise they deserve. And this event is possible only because of the hard work put in by its unsung heroes. Thank you.
Links to the websites of each of this year’s contributing art schools can be found below.
The next steps
We intend to build on our initial success. Remember, the Hay Book Festival began with two blokes in a book shop and an evening in a pub and Poland’s Satyrykon began with two blokes in a restaurant. This too began in humble circumstances, but look how we went: last year’s show was visited by over 60,000 people; we raised £14,000 for the NW Air Ambulance and more than £11,000 was distributed between 38 students.
We have a new event name: UNLEASHED. This will be our brand going forward, reflecting the attitude and status of our students.
We have appointed a PR agency to assist with publicity and to help raise the competition’s profile. See face book for regular updates on this. Coverage is excellent so far!
We have attracted entries from 13 art schools this year.
And we have worked with last year’s competition winner (the amazingly talented Kirsty White) to create a Facebook page, which is intended to become the way we engage and communicate with each other.
We plan to use what we learn from this event to help us with its successors. Our venue gives the exhibition a home and a distinctive edge. It’s unusual. It’s quirky. And it has a certain scale, which naturally limits the number of entries. This is a good thing. However, we intend to open ourselves up to ALL the art schools of the North, which will mean that it will also become harder be short-listed for the show. This competition to get in is also a good thing. Because it will naturally drive standards up.
Other ideas we have discussed include:
- Kicking off next year’s event in the first week of the new academic year with a mini student competition to create an illustration and colour scheme to bring UNLEASHED to life
- This will become the identity in all our materials for 2011
- The call for entries will begin in week one of the Spring term 2012
- Spin-off exhibitions
- For the whole event and as part of the winner’s prize
- Taking the show to other venues in the North
- And a people’s vote award
If you would like to enter in next year’s competition, and you have any other suggestions on how to improve what we’re doing, please get in touch with us and establish contact so that we can include you in our discussions.
