A group of six Manchester based contemporary artists self-titled, West Art Collective run Zero-Cost Exhibition programme.
What is WEST?
“The WEST ladders (logo) represents the members of the collective being from working class backgrounds aka we are skint.
Together we make a very dysfunctional family but share a common interest of wanting to throw some sick parties and show off talent at the same time – without £££ deterring creatives from submitting to exhibit with us.”
Located in Rusholme, the programme consists of three projects, with their signature being: F Me It’s Friday events which are celebratory nights of art, live music, performance, workshops and other fun activities to delve into.
The second event being their Cyber exhibitions which are online documentations of current affairs or personal interests. Their third event being their new Tuesday Takeover exhibitions, partnering up with Antwerp Mansion to take solo or group exhibition applicants from artists and creatives.
All three of these fantastic events are free for artists to submit to, exhibit in and the collective take no commission if they sell an artist’s work. The team wanted to remove finances being an issue when applying for art exhibitions.
WEST was founded in Spring 2019 with the purpose of creating financially accessible art related opportunities in the north.
After struggling to pay submission fees for exhibitions, Creative Director, Lucy pitched the idea of an art exhibition with no submission fees. The programme was founded to make art exhibitions accessible to all those wanting to participate.
Lucy’s wish was made a reality with the launch of WEST and the collective now successfully run three, non-profit projects through the zero-cost exhibition programme since September 2019.
