It Takes a Region to Raise an Artist: Understanding the East Midlands’ Visual Arts Economy

The It Takes a Region to Raise an Artist research offers the first in-depth survey of the visual arts in the East Midlands. Its purpose is to take stock of the region’s visual arts sector, identifying its key institutions, as well as its strengths and constraints, and to discover what members of the community might need in order to fulfil their professional and artistic potential.

The research was conducted through mapping existing provision and support, an online workforce survey, and conducting 15 one-to-one interviews. This new evidence will inform the development of It Takes a Region to Raise an Artist, CVAN EM’s future programme to further develop the East Midlands as a region where artists and visual arts practitioners can flourish – artistically and economically.

466 individual artists and visual arts practitioners participated in an online survey with 399 meeting the inclusion criteria of: a) professional (not self-defining as an amateur); b) living/working within the East Midlands; and c) self-identifying as a member of the visual arts community.

This research was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through a 10-month Creative Economy Engagement Fellowship awarded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M4C) in 2019. The research was undertaken by the CAMEo Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies at the University of Leicester, in partnership with CVAN EM.