Artizan Patrons' Evening

Our doors are open for 2023 and we’re showcasing the work we do and why it matters here in Torbay! Most of you already know who we are and get what we stand for but on February 24th we’ll be taking the time to retell that story…

We are Artizan Collective CIC a Torbay based social enterprise established four years ago, with a remit to support visual arts and creative activity across our three towns and the wider South Devon area. We’re a non-profit, so all the money we make goes back to supporting artists and delivering opportunities to get creative, and our commission rates and artists fees are all subsidised to ensure that they are lower than any others in the sector. This means that unlike lots of exhibition galleries, when you support us, the majority of your spend is making its way straight back to artists, and any cut that we do take always goes towards future opportunities that benefit the creative sector.

Our team is only small. There’s me, Jacob, and our Founding Director, Julie, who opened our first venue ten years ago on Lucius Street. And in those ten years we’ve done an awful lot! We now run two physical venues with four exhibition spaces between them and three artist studios. We’ve taken Torbay artists to London, supported local and national commissions for Devon artists, and curated hundreds of exhibitions. We’ve run regular workshops from upcycling to printmaking, and events programmes including poetry evenings, acoustic nights and theatrical performances. We’ve secured patronage for the arts from businesses including First Great Western and Cavanna Homes, and provided bursary opportunities for emerging student artists to showcase their work for the first time.

All of this is in the interest of celebrating the creative community we have right here on our doorstep. Whether its supporting artists to make a living or providing opportunities for audiences to engage with arts and culture, ultimately what we’re here for is to try and bring everyone some of the benefits that being creative can offer.

Like many other businesses in the creative sector at the moment, we’re really in need of all the support we can get, so if you’ve read the above and think what we’re doing is what Torbay needs, we want to see you Friday 24th at Artizan Collective on Fleet Walk, 18:00-20:00 to help us tell our story!

We’ll be sharing ways you can get involved and you can read more at www.artizangallery.co.uk/support or head to https://www.art-hub.co.uk/events-1/ape22pv and RSVP for the event!