Turning Point 3rd National Summit: introducing the new Contemporary Visual Arts Network

Thursday 10 May 2012 saw members of the 11 regional Turning Point groups descend upon Boris Johnson's residence, London's City Hall, for the network's 3nd National Summit.

Also in attendence were artists, curators, gallerists, art educators and academics, who all came together to launch the Contemporary Visual Arts Network, or CVAN, which is the new name for Turning Point National and marks a new direction for their strategy, identity, brand and web presence. A number of the other Turning Point regions will now also be referred to as Contemporary Visual Art Networks, but after much consideration, Turning Point West Midlands will not be following suit and changing its name.

You can read or download the press release which outlines the new CVAN vision HERE. 

The morning's introductions included a rousing tour de force by our Steering Group member Gavin Wade of Eastside Projects.  In the coming days we will be uploading videos and some of these presentations, so even if you weren't able to make it, you can still feed into the debate. The audience and participants made good use of Twitter throughout, so please do add your voice to the debate using the #tpnsummit hashtag.

Throughout the day there were four key areas of debate: 

- Measuring Value

What new forms of measuring value could we consider in order to find ways of:

• Advocating for the need for a myriad of visual art organisations to receive public funding?
• Articulating the deferred value of small organisations investing in or commissioning early artistic practice and CPD that leads to bigger and better things?  

Find out more, and read about the panel...

- Alternative Economies

What other forms of non-cash economies can we adopt to enable artists and organisations to continue to develop their practice in this difficult financial climate? What forms of gift economies are artists embracing within their work? This panel featured Sarah Browne, an artist who recently held her first UK show at Ikon Gallery.

Find out more, and read about the panel...

- Conceptualising Engagement

Quality of experience is a key concept in Arts Council England’s strategy, and a KPI for many NPO organisations, however, Arts Council England has not produced a conceptualisation that would enable this concept. Doing so is vital activity, so how do we do it and what should we consider?

Find out more, and read about the panel...

- Visual Arts and the Education Agenda

What arguments can the visual arts collate to demonstrate the value and importance of visual arts education within all levels of education provision and how can the sector support investment and growth within the creative industries post Education? 

Find out more, and read about the panel...

There were very interesting contributions from panel members during these discussions, in addition to some excellent insights from people based outside the visual arts sector who offered their perspectives from a business or charitable point of view. We also enjoyed a presentation from artist Richard John Jones of Auto Italia South East. 

TPWM would like to thank the Contemporary Visual Art Network for hosting the day, and for all of you who made such a valuable contribution.