Given the economic, social and political challenges facing the arts in the UK, it is vital that culture, education and business can get timely input and intelligence from the visual arts across the UK.

Visual Arts UK provides a collective overview for the visual arts to influence Government departments, non-departmental public bodies (quangos), arts funders, the media and the membership and constituencies of our member organisations – including artists and makers, and the broader visual arts workforce.

Success will show through in policies and practice that are positive to the visual arts locally, regionally and nationally.

Key areas in the next year include:

• ensuring the integration of museums and libraries into Arts Council England’s portfolio of responsibilities enhances both collections and contemporary practice
• increasing coherence between public policies across the UK
• minimising the damage to the workforce of changes to funding for art schools and universities
• using the convening power of Visual Arts UK to create a more collaborative approach within the sector.

Visual Arts UK is a vital receiver and distributer of intelligence into the sector from other partners and sectors.

VAUK came together in 2008, out of an identified need to bring together key leaders of national bodies and their organisations’ collective intelligence in order to share information and ideas, support each other and provide a collective voice for the visual arts at a time of great change.

A successful bid to the Cultural Leadership Programme in 2010 supported a group of nine leaders from the informal Visual Arts UK network in a development programme which combined personal leadership development, team building within the network and strategic planning for future activity.

Members are the key national membership and representative bodies for those working in the visual arts in the UK. Our constituencies and expertises extend across the major areas of visual arts and crafts practice, including individual artists and makers, curators and collectors, those working in education and higher education, museums, galleries and studio providers.

Members include a-n Artists Information Company, AIR, Architecture Centre Network, Artquest, Axis, Contemporary Art Society, Council for Higher Education in Art & Design (CHEAD), Crafts Council, Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), Engage, International Curators Forum, Live Art Development Agency, National Federation of Artists Studio Providers (NFASP), National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD), New Work Network, Turning Point Network, and Visual Arts & Galleries Association (VAGA).  More members are being invited soon.

Visual Arts UK is an independent alliance which seeks to add value to the individual missions of its members, each of which contributes to the long-term well-being and resilience of the visual arts sector through its own work

Sign the Manifesto Club petition

Send us information from your own experience of artists being refused entry into the UK on short-term stays.  We need to compile a broad range of information – particularly around artists unable to perform or exhibit at local or small-scale events.

Broadcast relevant news articles through Twitter, Facebook and blogs

Write to your local MP

Write to UK Border Agency: The Chief Executive, UKBA, Marsham Street,
London SW1P 4DF

Write articles or letters to the editor of your newspaper highlighting this issue

At a pivotal moment for the campaign against the home office restrictions on non-EU artists and academics Manick Govinda of the Manifesto Club argues that the current system has caused considerable damage to Britain’s reputation as a centre for international arts.

Visual Arts UK is an alliance of the key national membership and representative bodies for people working across the visual arts.

Its purpose is to be a powerful voice for the visual arts in the UK

Its mission is to help policy makers, opinion formers and the sector create a healthier environment for visual arts in the UK.

Its aims are:

• Advocating for the visual arts sector and its workforce including artists and makers
• Connecting people, ideas and knowledge across the visual arts
• Supporting leaders in the visual arts and those who work with them

It will do this by sharing intelligence and data, lobbying and making responses to policy or news, holding events, sharing and publishing research, and through joint meetings.

The artist Gavin Turk is interviewed by DACS about his work, his advice for young artists and the Artist’s Resale Right.