Blue Monkey Network is funded entirely by artist membership subscriptions and donations, so membership support is vital to keep our network going.

Membership
 

Join our community of artists! We understand that as artists we can sometimes feel isolated, we might want to find out more about other artists in the area but don’t know where to start, or feel that we are not developing our practice.  Whether you are new to the area, a lapsed member, or just want to meet some like-minded creatives, the network can provide a regular or occasional opportunity to meet artists.

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Eligibility

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• By ‘artist’ we mean any type of artist, creative, or art student living anywhere in the world and at any stage of their career

• There is no selection process, and all members will be accepted into our community

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Membership includes

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• A monthly members email & newsletter with a roundup of opportunities, news & events from our community (including national and international opportunities)​

 

• To help connect with our supportive community of artists & creatives, new members will optionally be paired with a buddy from the network so that they can connect with a familiar face/voice in the early stages of membership

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• An optional feature on our website Members section plus the opportunity to be featured on our Instagram account

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• An opportunity to submit your work for free to our annual open call for a members’ exhibition (this may be virtual or physical), within the parameters of the open call, which may vary each year

 

At least one programmed event per month which may include:

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• Talks by our members about their practice

• Out-of-hours events and discussions about artworks on display at Towner

• Virtual studio visits

• Professional development talks such as applying for funding

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Each monthly meeting is scheduled for 2 hours with half an hour for networking, approximately a 1-hour talk, and time for discussion and socialising after.  Usually, these are held on the penultimate or final Thursday of the month at Towner Eastbourne.  If it suits the event or is due to unforeseen circumstances, we sometimes offer our monthly event via Zoom.  Where possible we record Zoom events and these can be found via our Youtube channel. 

Please note: We aim to organise our events for the third Thursday of every month, however, due to the current Turner Prize exhibition at Towner, we have had to amend our program due to limited room availability. A rolling 3 months worth of events are on the website Events page, but these may be subject to unavoidable changes. 

 

We sometimes offer additional events which may include, for example, a visit to local galleries as a small group (for example VOLT Eastbourne) or open studio events.

 

We very much encourage our members to use the network to enable their practice to develop.  Over the past 10 years, the Network has facilitated the formation of Crit Groups, Peer Development Groups, Curatorial Opportunities, a virtual exhibition, visits to art-related events in the South East (such as Folkestone Triennial, exhibitions at Phoenix Brighton, Fabrica Brighton, DLWP Bexhill and Hastings Contemporary.)​

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