Screening of the Fly Art Project took place on the 18th March in the Art Gene Gallery. For more information about this event please click here.

Fly Art is a project by Fly Eric, a partnership between Art Gene (Barrow-in-Furness), Castlefield Gallery (Manchester) and Storey Gallery (Lancaster) and 10 schools from the North West of England. The project aims to increase engagement with contemporary art amongst young people. It will include INSET training for teachers and workshops for students from each school. All of the schools that take part will be paired with an artist for the period of the project, the artist will work in partnership with teachers providing peer to peer to support and informal CPD.

The project aims to:

• Increase engagement with and understanding of contemporary art in schools across the North West by developing knowledge amongst teachers and students of how contemporary work is produced, commissioned, curated and presented. Placing contemporary art in context socially and economically.
  
• To improve young peoples visual literacy, creativity and understanding of contemporary art
• 
  Provide creative professional development for teachers and artists, through INSET and peer support by pairing artists with schools over a sustained period
• 
  Encourage teachers and students to be more adventurous by working with artists and curators outside the classroom in an environment which supports risk taking, experimentation and discussion
• 
  Use engagement with contemporary art and artists to develop critical and contextual skills amongst young people, enabling them to become critical spectators, participants and creators

 

Fly Eric

Since 2005 Storey Gallery, Castefield Gallery and Art Gene have been working in partnership, under the title Fly Eric, to provide professional development opportunities for artists across the region. By working in partnership the organisations are able to share resources, reach a wider audience and prevent duplication.

Castlefield Gallery

Castlefield Gallery is a gallery and resource for contemporary visual artists and their work. Since its founding by Manchester Artists Studio Association (MASA) in 1984, the gallery has been at the forefront of supporting artists and emergent art practices in the UK. Castlefield Gallery is an essential part of the visual arts community in Manchester and the North West, maintaining close relationships with studio groups and artist-led initiatives.

Castlefield Gallery plays a strategic role in the development of contemporary visual art. It does so by supporting the professional careers of artists and curators through research, production, presentation and interpretation. Its main strands of work are - a) an exhibition and events programme, b) Project Space, a professional development scheme, and c) PureScreen, a platform for artists’ film and video. It engages with new audiences by working with regional, national and international partners.

www.castlefieldgallery.co.uk

Storey Gallery

Storey Gallery is an artist-centred publicly-funded organisation which commissions, promotes and presents a programme of contemporary visual art by nationally and internationally significant artists. It has been established by a group of artists as a contemporary art gallery over the past 17 years, and presented 100 exhibitions.

The Storey Gallery nurtures and commissions innovative and challenging practice in visual art, encouraging artistic experimentation and risk-taking. All activity aims to stimulate critical thought, debate and reflection. The programme is centred around engagement with audiences, and provision of opportunities for learning and participation. The Gallery provides employment, support and professional development opportunities for artists, and has contributed to the development of Lancashire Artists’ Network.

The splendid Victorian gallery is one of the best exhibition spaces in north-west England, admired by artists and curators from across the UK. It is located in the Storey Institute, a large Victorian listed building in the centre of Lancaster.

The building is currently being refurbished as a centre for creative industries, whilst building work takes place Storey Gallery has moved into temporary offices and is concentrating on an offsite programme which includes artists’ projects and research commissions; a series of talks on art; a research and development project with four local secondary schools; and projects in public spaces. These offsite activities will lead to an expanded gallery programme when the building reopens in 2009.

About Offsite

Whilst Storey Gallery is being refurbished we have moved into temporary offices in the centre of Lancaster.

The organisation has shifted its focus away from gallery based exhibitions, towards an offsite programme which includes artists’ projects and research commissions; a series of talks on art; a research and development project with four local secondary schools; and projects in public spaces.

In 2006 we commissioned three artists, Jane Chavez-Dawson, Jason Minsky and John Gilbert to develop projects which bridged the transition to working outside the gallery. A further five artists, Snaebjornsdottir & Wilson, Layla Curtis, Ilana Halperin, Mark Dion and Linder Sterling were commissioned in 2007 and 2008 to undertake research based projects which include collaborations with non arts individuals and businesses.

It is intended that these offsite activities will lead to an expanded gallery programme when the building reopens in 2009, and that the Gallery will continue to work in this way.