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The ACME Housing Association: An International Artists' Exchange Scheme
HEATHER WADDELL
In 1972 seven young British artists, faced with the difficulties of finding somewhere to live and work, decided to form the ACME Housing Association in London. As a Housing Association they could then approach local London borough councils and acquire houses and studio space at a reasonable rent. The houses in question were due for eventual demolition and required some very basic repair work: but the Housing Association could offer an artist-tenant a lease of between two and twenty years. The rents even now are rarely in excess of $6 a week.
From this humble beginning the ACME Housing Association has grown to the extent where it now houses some 350 artists and provides studio space for another 60 artists. The houses are mainly in the East end of London and the studios (often old factories and schools) are in South and West London. ACME is run by artists for artists and has proved itself to be a valuable organisation in London, where housing space for artists had previously been in short supply. The Arts Council of Great Britain, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the Greater London Council and other bodies support the organisation financially as it is non profit making.
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| Row of ACME terrace houses in Approach Road, Bethnal Green, London E.2. |
In 1976 ACME opened a gallery in Shelton Street, Covent Garden, and this is run by a committee of artists who select the various exhibitions. Work ranges from painting and sculpture to installations, performance and video events. The gallery will be of great importance in the International Exchange Scheme, as artists who come to work in London will have the possibility of exhibiting work there. The scheme will also operate in other areas of Britain such as Scotland, Bath, Cornwall and Northern England where similar organised studio space exists.
The International Artists' Exchange Scheme grew up as a natural extension of the idea of helping artists find living and working space. The Directors of the Gallery and Housing Association, Jonathan Harvey and David Panton decided that it would be a good idea to encourage British artists to exchange these houses and studios with artists overseas on an organised basis of exchange. In April 1977 the two directors visited the U.S.A. and Canada over a two week period to approach certain organisations to help run the scheme. The idea was to have a host organisation in each country. In London ACME would act as host and run a newsletter where British artists could advertise their living and working space. Similarly the Association of Artist Run Galleries in New York and CAR in Toronto and SAPQ in Montreal would follow suit.
The exchanges would take place on the basis of a direct swap of house/studio, and all bills and rent on the artist's property would be paid in advance before departure. Any financial backing or scholarships would be paid by the artist's own Arts Councillor art support organisations in his own country. These art organisations were and still are being approached by ACME to facilitate the exchange scheme.
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| Studio at Approach Road |
In October 1977 I suggested to ACME that they extend the scheme to Australia and New Zealand and approached the Gulbenkian Foundation, a Commonwealth supporting body, who agreed to finance part of my visit. Between January and March I visited Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, as well as New Zealand, to meet artists, gallery owners and art organisations. As the housing and studio space in Australia and New Zealand is somewhat different to Britain various problems arose. Whereas in Britain rented housing is in short supply and lacks the extra space needed for working in (hence the need for the ACME artists to join together to find space), in Australia and New Zealand a larger proportion of the community own their own comparatively spacious houses. Consequently, New Zealand artists tend to work at home, except in rare circumstances when the artist can afford to rent studio space. Unlike Britain, where artists' studios are subsidised by the Arts Council and artists are given small grants to convert them, in New Zealand artists have to rent space at the going commercial rate. While I was in New Zealand there were signs of an Artists' Co-operative being formed in Wellington, which is encouraging. Hopefully, they may be able to find space at a lower rent. Problems to do with living and working-space therefore arose right at the beginning of my visit; and it soon became apparent that the Australian/New Zealand side of the scheme would possibly have to be run on a different basis.
The Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand has shown enthusiasm, and Anne Calhoun has agreed to help run the New Zealand newsletter with Ian Hunter of the National Gallery, Wellington. The New Zealand Society of Sculptors and Painters might become involved, in Auckland: but final details will have to wait until the scheme begins at the London end. Newsletters would be run in each country that participates, so that artists could indicate what kind of work they were involved in, where they worked, and where they wished to go on the exchange scheme. These newsletters would then be exchanged, and contact be made between interested artists. The host organisation in each country would help the artist to organise details before departure and make sure that everything runs smoothly for the replacement artists.
The advantages of the scheme are many: but financial backing in each country is crucial. More specific advantages for the artist are that he/she would be assured that the studio/house would be suited to the artist's kind of work and the artist would be able to mix with an already existing community of artists. Loneliness and difficulties of finding accommodation have discouraged many artists from working overseas. The artist would be able to know that his own studio was being properly looked after. Apart from all these details the chance for an artist to travel and work abroad at an early stage of his development is one of the most important factors in this scheme. One of the other original aims was to try and give younger and not so well-known professional artists an opportunity to work overseas where previously one had to wait until one was successful commercially to receive an official grant.
Quite apart from the advantages for the artist, the advantages for the community are enormous. A change of stimuli (colour, landscape, people and atmosphere) can bring refreshing ideas and the resulting work will bear this out. Australia and New Zealand have much to offer Britain, U.S.A. and Canada and one would hope vice versa. The success of this scheme depends on much hard work and goodwill, both financial and human. The first exchanges between London and New York start soon and in early 1979 with Australia and New Zealand.