Culture& and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, in collaboration with Gallery OCA, announce Together We Thrive, a fundraising exhibition for the Cultural Leaders Programme. Running from 20th – 25th February 2024 at Venue Partner Cromwell Place, Together We Thrive will feature new works donated by leading and emerging artists to raise funds for the London Living Wage Bursary provided for scholars selected onto the Programme. Established in 2022, the Cultural Leaders Programme is the first of its kind in the contemporary art world in the UK, designed to empower and nurture the next generation of diverse leaders.
Together We Thrive will feature new works created especially for the fundraiser in response to its title by artists including: Adelaide Damoah; Anthony Daley; Boo Saville; Caitlin Flood-Molyneux; Charlotte Colbert; David MacDiarmid; Errol Francis; Elena Njoabuzia Onwochei-Garcia; Gareth Cadwallader; Gordon Cheung; Hassan Aliyu; Hester Finch; Hurvin Anderson; Jane Hayes Greenwood; Julianknxx; Katasha Rose; Leo Crane; Lucia Pizzani; Lynn Parotti; Martin O’Brien; Miranda Forrester; Nina Bombina; Peter Liversidge; Philip Colbert; Sandy McInnes; Simon Bejer; Sola Olulode; Xavier Laurent Leopold; and Yvadney Davis.
Visitors and supporters are invited to enter a prize draw for a chance to win one of the new artworks by donating to the Cultural Leaders Programme. Donations start at £25, and all contributions received will go towards the London Living Wage Bursary for the 2024/25 cohort of scholars, designed to alleviate the cost of living in London. By eliminating the burden of loans or employment, the bursary makes the Programme accessible to the widest possible range of bright and promising individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds and enables them to take full advantage of the opportunities that the MA and Programme provide.
We are delighted to collaborate with Sotheby’s Institute of Art and Gallery OCA on this exhibition to raise vital funds to support the 2nd year of the Cultural Leaders Programme. We are acutely aware of the talent that often lies untapped due to financial barriers, which we aim to address by providing a London Living Wage Bursary for our 2024 scholars. We are grateful to the exhibiting artists and invite the community to invest in this initiative as we seek to empower the next generation of diverse leaders in the art world.
Dr. Errol Francis, CEO and Artistic Director at Culture&
The Cultural Leaders Programme offers three fully funded scholarships per year from 2023/24 to 2025/26 to pursue one of the Institute’s prestigious one-year, full-time Masters programmes: the MA in Contemporary Art; the MA in Art Business or the MA in Fine and Decorative Art & Design. The programme allows promising young professionals from diverse backgrounds with leadership potential to study full-time and receive a London Living Wage bursary for their living expenses.
As someone who believes deeply in the need to diversify the arts and culture sector, I find this to be a hugely important initiative – the first of its kind in the UK. I am delighted to support Culture& and Sotheby’s Institute of Art on Together We Thrive. Together, we aim to not only raise essential funds for the Living Wage Bursary for the Cultural Leaders Programme, but also foster a vibrant, diverse community in the art world.
Sherece Rainford, Founder at Gallery OCA
Further information about the Cultural Leaders Programme can be found at cultureand.org/scholarships
The exhibition and formal fundraising campaign will launch on 19th February, and donations can be made at any time at cultureand.org/about-us/donate.
Together We Thrive: A Fundraising Exhibition for the Cultural Leaders Programme 20th – 25th February 2024, Cromwell Place.
About
Culture& is a Black-led independent arts and education charity based in London. For over 30 years, Culture& has worked in partnership with leading arts and heritage institutions and artists to develop programmes that open up and promote diversity in the workforce and with audiences. Culture& through its entry level training strand, New Museum School, enabled 134 young professionals to obtain a Level III Diploma in Cultural Heritage, providing access to a sector that is historically challenging to enter. 74% of New Museum School trainees secured employment in the arts and heritage sector within 6 months of graduating.
Building on this work, the New Museum School moved into postgraduate training in collaboration with the University of Leicester School of Museum Studies in September 2021. Culture& is providing 30 fully funded studentships from 2021 – 2024 that will enable young arts professionals to gain postgraduate qualifications from PgDip to MA level, with the aim of supporting their upward progression within their organisations. Culture& continues its work to diversify the UK’s workforce with a pioneering partnership with Sotheby’s Institute of Art which launched in 2023. The Cultural Leaders Programme aims to accelerate diversity in the art world by offering scholarships to young people from diverse backgrounds from 2023 – 2025 to pursue one of the Institute’s prestigious MA courses.
