Announcing: PS2 joins Syllabus programme partners

Wysing Arts Centre, together with Syllabus partners Eastside Projects, Spike Island and Studio Voltaire, are thrilled to announce a new chapter for the Syllabus programme, with new partners and team to deliver Syllabus VII.

Syllabus is a collaboratively produced alternative learning programme that supports ten artists each year. Over a ten-month programme, Syllabus offers time to come together with artists from across the UK to discuss ideas, work, life and approaches to practice.

In 2021, Freelands Foundation agreed a landmark £500,000 grant to fund Syllabus as part of its multimillion-pound commitment to support the work of organisations addressing racial inequality in the arts. 

With this grant, the future of Syllabus is secure for the next ten years and able to offer an expanded programme with three new partner institutions, New Art Exchange (Nottingham), PS2 (Belfast) and TACO! (Thamesmead), each of whom bring distinct networks, expertise, practices and perspectives to the programme.

Additionally the artists will each receive a £1,000 bursary to support their involvement in the programme and an access budget for those who require it.

Natasha Ruwona has been appointed as a dedicated Syllabus Coordinator and Uma Breakdown has been appointed as Artist Advisor for Syllabus VII. From June 2024, Natasha Ruwona and Uma Breakdown will work with the artists and partner organisations to co-develop a roaming programme of intensive gatherings across the UK as well as an online programme of activity and support.

New Partners: New Art Exchange, PS2 and Taco!

New Art Exchange, Nottingham; PS2, Belfast and TACO!, Thamesmead will join existing partners Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridgeshire; Eastside Projects, Birmingham; Spike Island, Bristol; and Studio Voltaire (Associate Partner), London;. TACO! will join as the inaugural Syllabus Guest Partner.

New Art Exchange is the largest gallery in the UK dedicated to championing Global Ethnic Majority Voices and, under the directorship of Saad Eddine-Said, is pioneering a new model of a responsive Citizen’s Gallery.

PS2 (Paragon Studios x Project Space) is an artist-led organisation in Belfast. Drawing on their experience of delivering the Freelands Artist Development programme (2018 - 2023), PS2 will, for the very first time, enable the Syllabus programme to work with artists, organisations, and other practitioners in Northern Ireland.

TACO! is an artist-led enquiry that provides  space for research, production, and exchange. Located in Thamesmead, South East London, TACO! are appointed as a Guest Partner for Syllabus VII as part of a new commitment to invite organisations into the programme who have not historically been able to participate. This could include organisations without regular funding, those with experimental organisational structures or particularly small teams.

Jane Morrow, Co-Director, PS2 says:

We are delighted to be a new Permanent Partner in Syllabus VII; a vital, urgent and dynamic addition to our work in artist development and the wider artist-led ecosystem in Northern Ireland. In our thirtieth year, it is exciting for us to enter a new iteration of our support for artists with such an esteemed programme. We look forward to learning from and collaborating with this amazingly exciting cohort of partners and artists from around the UK.

Click here to read the Press Release.