Artquest’s mission is to make the art world more equitable for all artists.
Artists need advice and information at all stages in their careers, whether just starting out or with decades of experience. Artists without formal qualifications can use any of our services, and make up around 15% of our audience.
We know that artists are also caregivers, experience systematic low income, and can be structurally disadvantaged because of racism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, ablism, ageism, and a range of other unfair, illegal and unethical behaviours. Our mission is also to help uncover and resist these discriminatory practices through our research, and improve artists working conditions through consultancy with organisations.
We work through:
- Our advice: providing thousands of pages of free advice to artists about their professional careers, and insights shared by artists about their evolving careers.
- Our information: our website also lists high-quality opportunities, a directory of key arts organisations and suppliers, and legal information on working as an artist today.
- Our research and consultancy: we work with arts organisations to help them make their processes more equitable for the artists they work with, and collect data on artists working conditions, in partnership with the sector.
- Our professional network for artists: the Artquest Exchange network connects artists around the corner and around the world for collaboration, advice, travel and co-operation.
- Our projects: activity for artists to network, get advice, continue regular practice, and get small grants to make their careers more financially sustainable.
How we do it
Keeping artists at the centre of everything we do, we gain an insight into artists working conditions, ambitions and career barriers while providing practical support to help them develop resilient careers.
We use our expertise to work with partners and networks to make their processes more equitable for artists. Any professional visual artist is welcome to use our services for free. We particularly encourage and develop projects for artists from lower socio-economic and working class backgrounds, those with caring responsibilities, and those marginalised on the basis of their sexuality, gender, and membership of the global majority. Our programme is welcoming of any professional artist, including those without formal qualifications, who make up about 15% of the artists we hear from.
Arts organisations of all sizes can benefit from working with us to improve their processes and practices, supporting artists from all backgrounds. We also use our research to create better advice, information and resources for artists, which we publish on our website.
We help artists at any stage in their careers, working in any medium, anywhere in England. Our website contains advice, artists experiences, opportunity listings, legal information, a professional network for artists, and a specialist art directory. Artists anywhere in England can send us a question about any aspect of their professional practice, free of charge. Accessing our website is free from anywhere in the world.
As well as our website, we run projects to help artists make their work more financially sustainable, to network, to get professional advice and take part in peer mentoring.
Keep up to date by joining our email newsletter or following us on Instagram.
Our vision and mission
Our vision is of a thriving and valued community of visual artists that reflect the full diversity of our society.
Our mission is to help artists reach their professional ambitions in the ways that work with the other responsibilities they have in their lives.
Our team
Artquest is programmed and run by four arts graduates, working part-time, alongside about 50 artist freelancers each year.
Nick Kaplony joined the Artquest team in 2007. He is also visual artist and curator. He graduated from Camberwell College of Art in sculpture and graphics. Nick has curated many exhibitions including at the Arts Gallery London and Pump House Gallery. His areas of expertise include:
- exhibition marketing
- curating
- the public gallery sector
- peer mentoring
- funding applications.
Russell Martin joined Artquest when it started in 2001. He is a visual artist and writer. He graduated from The Glasgow School of Art and Goldsmiths. Russell has run many different kinds of art projects including peer mentoring, artist workshops, residencies and artist-led galleries. His areas of expertise include:
- collaboration
- co-operatives
- artist-led spaces
- presentation skills
- artists networks
- negotiation.
Sheree McKay joined Artquest in 2017. She is a graphic design graduate and administers the Artquest programme at UAL, updating our website with new opportunities and managing our social networks. Her areas of expertise include:
- arts administration
- customer service
- payroll
- community and social projects.
Tom Pope joined Artquest in 2018. He is a visual artist who previously worked in arts education and events. Tom’s art practice combines performance and photography in a collaborative and playful manner. He tends to do large-scale participatory performance projects. His areas of expertise include:
- gallery education
- commissions
- arts events
- private funding and sponsorship.
Who we work with
To deliver our projects we work with partners and networks that share our values. Working in partnership helps maximise resources, increase audiences and eliminate duplication. Since 2001 Artquest has worked with over 300 partners on our programme.
Our money
Artquest is a public programme of University of the Arts London (UAL) and part of the national portfolio of organisations funded by Arts Council England (ACE). We receive £127,355 from ACE each year, the same level of funding that we have received since 2008, which, after inflation, represents at 54% cut in real terms.
Our ACE income covers staff salaries and project costs. UAL provides in-kind costs of £148,394 (2024-25) covering administrative, legal and finance support, office and energy costs, insurance, research support, and staff development.
We pay all the artists who work with us and have raised payments in response to the cost of living crisis. As we have not been able to raise more income, this means we can do less now than we could do before. We do not charge artists to access any of our services or support.
Using our content
All Artquest website content (except Artlaw) is distributed under a Creative Commons non-commercial, attribution, share-alike license. You are free to reuse and remix our content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit us as the source.
We occasionally commission artists we work with to create images for our website, and pay a license fee for their use. Please don’t reuse images on our site without asking first.
Front page image licensed from Michael Heeny.