#13 Advocacy for studio provision
50 stories from The Acme Archive
In 2004, Acme completed the first ever comprehensive and detailed survey of studios in England. The survey had been partially funded by Arts Council England, was conducted through face to face meetings between Acme staff and representatives of all identified studio groups and included consultation on the formation of a national representative body.
The survey was published on the Acme website in May 2005, to coincide with the National Studios Forum convened by Arts Council England. Following the forum, Acme facilitated a steering group to work towards the formation of a national body. This body took the form of the National Federation for Artist Studio Providers, which ran from 2007-2012 (with office space initially provided by Acme) with Arts Council Funding and now hosts a voluntary resource library.
In this period, Acme also led the advocacy programme for affordable studio providers within London, Capital Studios. This work led to the publication of a guide for developers for working with studio provider groups, and a set of case studies about the public benefit of artists studios within a community.