Midlands Art Papers 7 (2024)
Midlands Art Papers is a collaborative online journal, working between the University of Birmingham and 13 partner institutions to research and explore the world class works of art and design in public collections across the Midlands.
Introduction: Co-production in regional collections
Midlands Art Papers special issue editors Sophie Hatchwell and Gregory Salter introduce this seventh issue of MAP and discuss the many ways co-production can benefit museum and gallery spaces.
Introduction
Co-producing the Leicester Stories Gallery
In 2021 the Leicester Stories gallery opened in Leicester Museum and Art Gallery. In this Q&A, Community Co-Producer Angela Robinson tells us about the use of co-production when curating this gallery space.
Angela Robinson Q&A
Co-production at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
In this Q&A, the Cultural Director of CV Life, Head of Learning and Engagement, and Head of Exhibitions and Events at the Herbert Museum and Art Gallery discuss how co-production practices have been used to continue the legacy of Coventry City of Culture 2021.
Q&A
Co-producing Pickford's House, Derby
Derby Museums are currently re-hanging Pickford’s House, the Georgian home of the Enlightenment architect Joseph Pickford. In this Q&A their Senior Curator of Art and their Head of Interpretation and Display discuss how this project has been inspired by a previous co-production venture at the Joseph Wright of Derby Gallery, Derby Museum.
Curation Q&A
Grand Union's Placemaking Strategies
Unveiling the Community Bonds of Small Arts Organisations
In this paper Jack Tsai examines the role of Small Arts Organisations (SAOs) in cultivating a community in the Birmingham district of Digbeth. Focusing on the SAO Grand Union and their campaign the Growing Project, he considers the value of such projects in combatting social issues within the city such as homelessness and food poverty.
Grand Union
(In)visibility
Regional Collections and Post-War Abstract Painting by Women
In this article, curator Clare Nadal explores the presence of women abstract artists in exhibitions and regional collections, in an article commissioned by the ‘Post War Painting in Regional Collections’ Research Group of the British Art Network.
(In)visibility
Applied Arts Engagement
In this position paper, Learning Curator Jon Sleigh draws on his experience of working in museum and fine art engagement in the Midlands to make a case for the function and value of community engagement with art collections.
Applied Arts Engagement
Co-Production at The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
The Gender Gap project at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts uses co-production to interrogate the underrepresentation and undervaluation of women artists within gallery spaces and collections. In this Q&A, Head of Learning and Engagement Flora Kay, talks us through the development of the project and how it has informed the gallery’s wider learning programme.
Co-Production at The Barber