The Visual Arts Blueprint consultation was an invitation for visual artists and craftspeople to contribute to the future of professional development provision across the sector.

Over recent years, the visual arts has grown and become more complex.  Artists’ roles have widened and the many jobs that support the arts and their dissemination have become more demanding and specific.  People seeking careers in the visual arts now need additional help to train, to access employment and, once in post, to progress.  This matters from the point of view both of individuals and of the sector as a whole: better equipped and informed, the workforce could be more productive and confident, and a greater diversity of people would feel able to come forward for visual arts posts.

The Skills Council for the creative industries, Creative & Cultural Skills (CCS), formed a partnership with Arts Council England (ACE) to draw up a plan to develop skills and training for the visual arts - the Visual Arts Blueprint.  Their joint aim is to work out how the sector can draw collectively on existing systems that demonstrably work best, or devise new ones, so that education, entry routes, jobs and training are better coordinated.  Artquest carried out consultation with individual artists on for the Blueprint draft, and Stephen Beddoe, former programme manager of Artquest, gave a keynote speech at its launch in 2009.

• working professionally
• self employment
• research