Based on 25 in-depth interviews with visual artists and visual arts professionals, International Connections gathers insight on the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on the visual arts sector. Interviewees reported four main areas where their businesses, institutions, or artistic practice have faced challenges:

  • Increased costs, especially related to shipping and travel
  • Limited access to talent and to talent development opportunities
  • Perceptions about the UK as a place to do business from EU member states.
  • Lack of information or high costs of acquiring information on new procedures
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“There is no art world without artists. Putting artists and their experience at the heart of this report not only highlights the challenges faced by artists, but also the resilience of artists and their ability to adapt and respond to a changing environment.” Julie Lomax, a-n CEO.
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Next Steps

The impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an unprecedented situation that requires urgent action from the arts sector, the government and funding bodies. CVAN, as a founding member of the Visual Arts Alliance, is specifically calling for:

  • New funding models to support visual artists and visual arts organisations to engage in creative and economic exchanges between the UK and the EU;
  • Knowledge exchange opportunities to share best practice in relation to post-Brexit international exchange work;
  • Support for pilots such as Arts Infopoint to support the international mobility of artists;
  • Business investment for visual arts SMEs to attract new opportunities and profile work internationally;
  • Representation for the visual arts sector on consultative bodies such as the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement Domestic Advisory Group;
  • Accessible government guidance for artists, specialists, museum professionals, exhibitors or businesses working or exhibiting in an EU country;
  • The introduction of a Commissioner for Freelancers to champion the contribution of freelancers and self-employed arts workers to the UK economy.

Download the full report

Tai Shani, Turner Prize 2019, courtesy Turner Contemporary and the artist. Photograph by David Levene.

International Connections: The impact of the UK departure from the European Union on the Visual Arts Sector, commissioned by a-n The Artists Information Company and Contemporary Visual Arts Network, England, and funded by Arts Council England.

Thank you to all interviewees: Alessio Antoniolli (Gasworks), Alistair Hudson (The Whitworth), Antonio Roberts (Artist), Brett Rogers and Francesca Filippini Pinto (The Photographers’ Gallery), Caroline Bartlett (Artist), Clymene Christoforou (D6: Culture in Transit), Diana Ali (Artist), Giles Round (Artist), Hannah Barry (Hannah Barry Gallery), Harry Beer (Sunday Painter), Helen Featherstone (Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Hideyuki Sobue (Artist), Iwona Blazwick (Whitechapel Gallery), Jane Sutherland (Cultivator), Jane Wilson and Louise Wilson (Artists), Katrina Crookall (Barbican), Lisa Panting (Hollybush Gardens), Lydia Hardwick (Artist), Paul Maheke (Artist), Sam Lackey (Liverpool Biennial), Victoria Pomery (Turner Contemporary), Victoria Siddall (Frieze), Vlatka Horvat (Artist), Will Lunn (Copperfield), Zoe Whitley and Isabelle Hancock (Chisenhale Gallery).