Following the triggering of Article 50, Sky Arts is launching Art 50, a landmark project to commission 50 artworks that will explore what it means to be British in a post-Brexit Britain. 

With the result of last year’s referendum creating widespread debate across the country, this ambitious initiative is looking for artists, individuals or groups from all walks of life to respond to the question of what it will mean to be British outside of the European Union. 

Applications are now open and the scheme is looking for ideas across all disciplines including the visual arts, theatre, music, dance, spoken word and more. 

The project will reflect the diversity of opinion surrounding Brexit, including those who voted to remain and those who voted to leave the EU, and will feature voices from across the UK from both rural and urban communities.

Art 50 is a partnership between Sky Arts, the Barbican, Sage Gateshead, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Storyvault Films - makers of Sky Arts’ popular series Portrait Artist of the Year and Landscape Artist of the Year. It will be funded by £1 million from the Sky Arts Amplify fund, which was set up to encourage arts organisations and production companies to collaborate on new ideas. 

Phil Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, said: “Brexit inspires passions on both sides of the debate, not least around the idea of cultural identity. We wanted to take that question of what it means to be British as a starting point for a diverse range of voices to respond to over the next two years as we prepare to leave the EU. We are thrilled to be partnering with the Barbican, Sage Gateshead and BALTIC for what promises to be quite the ride.”

Louise Jeffreys, Director of Arts, the Barbican, said: “At this moment of huge national change, the arts are uniquely placed to help explore and articulate the hopes, fears and aspirations of the people of our nation. We look forward to working with Sky Arts, Sage Gateshead and BALTIC to commission work that represents the widest possible range of voices on our country’s past, present and future.”

Sarah Munro, Director, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, said: “At a time of great debate and renewed thinking about what it means to be British, the arts provide us with a unique platform to both reflect on who we are and more importantly who we want to be; to imagine what kind of world we want to create for future generations to flourish. Art 50 provides a distinctive, ambitious space to creatively explore the soul of our nation and articulate our hopes and dreams through a dynamic creative lens. BALTIC are delighted to be working with all our partners on this project.”

Abigail Pogson, Managing Director at Sage Gateshead, said: “We live at a time in which our identity is a matter for public and private debate and this is so deeply woven into our cultural lives and how we perceive and project ourselves. Art 50 promises to bring together 50 brand new works around this theme. We are looking forward to being part of this Sky Arts project with the Barbican and our neighbour BALTIC as this collection emerges at such a pivotal point in our history.”

Danielle Graham, Executive Producer at Storyvault Films said: “Storyvault Films is delighted to be working with Sky Arts and partners the Barbican, Sage Gateshead and BALTIC on such an inspiring arts initiative..”

The ambitious project will take place over two years, from the triggering of Article 50 through to the time when Britain leaves the EU, and will culminate in a number of TV programmes, exploring the artworks commissioned and the ideas behind them. 

Sky Arts has already invited 45 representatives of different arts groups to submit proposals, and applications are now open for the first round of commissions to everyone through the Art 50 website – www.skyartsart50.tv  All ideas will be judged by a panel including representatives from Sky Arts, the Barbican, Sage Gateshead, BALTIC and leading figures from the art world. 

Sky Arts intends that some of the commissioned projects will emerge within the two-year “exit” period between the triggering of Article 50 and final departure of the EU. As a culmination of the project, a festival that reflects and contains some of the work that has been commissioned is planned to take place simultaneously at the Barbican, Sage Gateshead and BALTIC in February 2019. 

Margaret_

Roz Arratoon / Tabitha Parlett

+44 (0) 207 739 8203

Roz@margaretlondon.com / Tabitha@margaretlondon.com

Notes to Editors

About Sky Arts

Sky Arts is the UK’s only dedicated channel for the arts. It offers something for everyone, whatever their passion, with entertaining programmes showcasing the best of classical and popular music, theatre, opera, dance and the visual arts, as well as original drama and comedy.

Sky Arts is broadcast 24 hours a day and has over 1,000 hours available on catch-up TV, including flagship programmes such as Portrait Artist of The Year and The South Bank Show.

The channel is committed to supporting the arts by investing in the best talent, both on and off screen, as well as through exclusive partnerships with major UK and European cultural institutions, including National Theatre Live, Tate and The British Library.

The channel is part of Sky, Europe's leading entertainment company, serving 22 million customers across five countries - UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy. The company has annual revenues of £12 billion and invests over £5 billion per year in programming.  The group employs 30,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).

About the Barbican 

A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins everything it does. Over 1.1 million people attend events annually, hundreds of artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. The architecturally renowned centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, The Pit, Cinemas One, Two and Three, Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library, Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory , conference facilities and three restaurants. The City of London Corporation is the founder and principal funder of the Barbican Centre. 

About Sage Gateshead

Sage Gateshead is an international home for music and musical discovery located in the North East of England. Its local, national and international concert programme runs all year round and incorporates all kinds of music.

It is home to Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Folkworks programme as well as providing a much broader performance programme. Sage Gateshead offers an extensive Join In and Make Music programme that enables everyone of every age or ability to become involved in music both at the venue itself and around the region.

About BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art

BALTIC is a major international centre for contemporary art situated on the south bank of the River Tyne in Gateshead, England and has welcomed over seven million visitors since opening to the public in July 2002. 

BALTIC presents a distinctive and ambitious programme of exhibitions and events, and is a world leader in the presentation and commissioning of contemporary visual art.

Housed in a landmark ex-industrial building, BALTIC consists of 2,600 square metres of art space, making it the UK’s largest dedicated contemporary art institution. BALTIC has gained an international reputation for its commissioning of cutting-edge temporary exhibitions. It has presented the work of over 396 artists from 54 countries in 197 exhibitions to date. balticmill.com

About Storyvault Films

Storyvault Films is an independent TV production company who make a wide range of high-quality factual and factual entertainment programmes for all the major TV channels. They are currently in production with the fourth series of  ‘Portrait Artist of The Year’ and the third series of ‘Landscape Artist of The year’ for Sky Arts.  Other recent credits include the BBC1  Arts programme ‘Imagine’ about Colm Toibin, Judith Kerr, Howard Jacobson and Marlon James. BBC2 credits include ‘My Mediterranean with Adrian Chiles’ for BBC2 and ‘Melvyn Bragg: From Wigan to Westminster’. Storyvault are currently  co-producing new shows for ITV and BBC2 and currently have feature-length documentary in development for the big-screen.