Yorkshire & Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN) is in partnership with The Art House, funded by Arts Council England and is a regional partner of the national Contemporary Visual Arts Network. Our Board is drawn from the region’s community of visual artists and visual arts professionals and includes creative practitioners, independent professionals and members of visual arts organisations, all working voluntarily on behalf of the sector. Click here to read about YVAN’s priorities >>
YVAN is committed to ensuring the visual arts in Yorkshire is contemporary, inclusive and diverse; that it opens up opportunities in fair and
transparent ways; and challenges itself and network of partners to examine the unconscious bias and prejudice against Black culture and BIPOC communities that permeate the arts and its institutions. Read YVAN’s statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement here>>
Click here to read YVAN’s Annual Report for 2019/20 >>
If you’d like to be part of the YVAN network, join our mailing list to find out about our events and opportunities.
We aspire to be a voice for the visual arts sector in the region, prioritising individual practitioners and small-scale initiatives, including those that are artist-led.
YVAN co-produces a programme with strategic partners which:
- creates opportunities for individual practitioners, including access to funding, networking and continuing professional development
- encourages collective dialogue across the sector and across the region
- initiates, shares and acts on relevant research
- advocates and lobbies for increased support of the visual arts sector in the region at strategic level in order to improve its sustainability
YVAN Ltd Board Members
We are advised by a board of artists and arts professionals.
SUE BALL
Executive Chair & Director MAAP
SHARON GILL
CEO, Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance
HELEN NAKHWAL
YVAN Treasurer & Head of Finance (Maternity cover), The Tetley
LIZ AINGE
Space and Place Lead, East Street Arts
LAURA BIDDLE
Collection Coordinator, ACE
ALICE BRADSHAW
Co-founder Dwelltime press, Artist / Curator
MICHAEL BARNES-WYNTERS
EMMA FROST
Digital consultant
ADELE HOWITT
Artist / Maker & Studio Eleven
YVAN TEAM
Non Board Members
ROGER MCKINLEY
YVAN Research, Learning and Evidence Lead
GEORGIA TAYLOR-AGUILAR
YVAN Cultural Co-Producer
PARTNERSHIP EVENTS
The Artists’ Journey annual conference at Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with Sheffield Institute of Arts, bloc projects and Making Ways.
Social Art Summit 2018 – YVAN brought New York-based Interference Archive to present at the inaugural Social Art Summit in Sheffield.
Culture Community Creativity conference with University of Huddersfield in partnership with ROTOR.
Practice based PhD at Sheffield Hallam University: Critical arts practice and social change
Contemporary Artists in Rural Contexts seminar in Coxwold, North Yorkshire in partnership with Chrysalis Arts.
The Arts Development Fund: a programme of micro-grants for artists to develop their skills, open new markets and embark upon projects that they would not otherwise be able to consider.
The Cultural Entrepreneur Programme involved free public events to help creative and cultural entrepreneurs in their marketing, communications and market reach.
Making A Living From Art – a seminar offering arts practitioners practical advice to build markets for their work.
YVAN provided free transport for artists to get to the Art Party Conference and commissioned two videographers to document the day and interview delegates.
ADVOCACY
Resilience is Futile collaborative publication with Corridor8. Interrogating the commonplace use of the term ‘resilience’ and what it really means for practising artists in the region.
NOURISH programme of curated conversations.
Museums Galleries Exhibitions Tax Relief – support programme for organisations from across the sector in the North to secure funding from HMRC’s MGETR scheme.
Northern Bridge Research Placement – a six-month research placement working with the Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership investigating the concept ‘North’ as it applies to visual arts.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Work: a programme of public discussions bringing together curators and artists working across the north of the UK.
Nothing Will Stop Us – a conversation about the creative case in Yorkshire’s visual arts sector.
YVAN hosted the CVAN National Conversation: The Value of Artists.
Commissioned to edit the last of the four ‘Untitled’ magazines being published in the run-up to the British Art Show.