Announcing Correspondence

Correspondence is a new project that aims to nurture localised communities of contemporary artists, while bringing them together with practitioners from a different regional arts scene, in a spirit of collaboration and exchange. Consciously aiming to bypass the established opportunities available to artists in large metropolitan centres, this project seeks to focus on the exciting things happening in our vibrant regional centres, to forge new links and to grow new networks for the exchange of ideas, audiences and artworks. 

Designed from the outset to be flexible and adaptable to the changing covid environment, this pilot ‘episode’ will see ten artists from the Letchworth arts community in Hertfordshire paired up with 10 artists from the Exeter area in Devon. With a focus on physical, rather than digital outcomes, and invoking the spirit of mail art and pen pal schemes, Correspondence will offer opportunities to meet (remotely), exchange ideas and collaborate with each other. Artists will then be invited to participate in simultaneous exhibitions, hosted by Letchworth’s Broadway Gallery and Exeter Phoenix who will, in turn, promote the artists' works to their own extensive networks.

HOW WILL IT WORK?

• Ten artists from each area will be selected by the host venues, before introductions are made and artists are invited to ‘pair up’ for further discussion, exchange of ideas and potential to explore collaborative working.
• Each artist will be sent an A4 ‘Jiffy’ envelope and will create two new works, one for each exhibition, no larger than the dimensions of the envelope provided.
• Artists will then deliver one work to their ‘home’ venue and post the other to the reciprocal venue, to be exhibited alongside their paired artist.  
• Participating artists will receive a fee of £200 to include all production expenses.
• At the end of the exhibition, artists will get to exchange the artwork paired with their own at their 'home' venue.

Deadline for submissions of interest Mon 31 May 2021.