Sam Curtis is an artist and curator based in London. Collaborating with a range of people from diverse areas of work and life, he develops projects that provoke, question or subvert our ideas around creativity, economy and labour. Building relationships and trust are key to the conversations he fosters; from which unexpected collaborations grow.For over 10 years he has used his day jobs as platforms or starting points from which to develop practice and projects. This has been a useful way to navigate precarity and has become a vehicle for inhabiting the grey areas and permeable boundaries between art and life. Informed by two years working as a fishmonger in Harrods, he now runs the Centre for Innovative and Radical Fishmongery, an organisation that explores how fishmongery intersects with art, individuals and society. During a six-year period working in education as an outreach tutor within the homeless sector, he co-founded and facilitated Seymour Art Collective (2009-on-going), a group of artists who have experienced homelessness. He currently work as a curator at the Bethlem Gallery situated within the Bethlem Royal Hospital, the gallery supports artists with lived experience of mental illness.Sam graduated from Goldsmiths MFA programme in 2008 and has exhibited across the UK, Europe and the USA. His work is represented by Division of Labour.

Working with Susan Diab, Senior Lecturer in Critical Fine Art Practice, I deliver talks, tutorials and group crits to students. In particular I offer support to students embarking on artist placements within various departments in the university.These placements have become an established module as part of the course and draw on ideas from the Artist Placement Group and discourse surrounding post-studio practice.

I was responsible for the delivery of the East European Peer Navigator Project (EENP) by recruiting, training and supporting the East European Peer Navigators, preventing homelessness and increasing social and economic wellbeing amongst EE migrants by providing effective signposting to advice and support. I project managed by ensuring project outcomes are met, keeping records on navigators and clients supported, measure outcomes, producing project reports, attending meetings and evaluating the project at various stages. Over 8 months, I recruited 30 volunteers from East European communities to get involved in the project as peer navigators and facilitated their access into training and volunteering, to maintain their involvement by effectively managing and supporting volunteers. I actively involved peer navigators in the design and delivery of activities and provided them with appropriate supervision, guidance and support.I built and maintained effective partnerships with key stakeholders, commissioners and funders to ensure project’s progress was reviewed and delivered on target.

Lift’s training programmes are central to its work to help homeless and disadvantaged people to participate in shaping local services and strengthening local communities.My role was to design and deliver high quality training courses commissioned from Lift’s social enterprise, support participants on those programmes, co-ordinate wider service user involvement activities and contribute to planning and business development.I was responsible for involving volunteers, including former trainees, in the delivery and evaluation of training and will build positive relationships with commissioning organisations.

I coordinated the learning programme at Conway House and was responsible for the design, delivery and evaluation of the courses and workshops on offer to clients.Conway House is a brand new 60-bed hostel for single homeless men. After a £5.4 redevelopment, the hostel now features and state-of-the-art training resource centre.

I coordinated the learning programmes at the West London Day Centre and was responsible for the design, delivery and evaluation of the courses and workshops on offer to clients.I taught and facilitated art workshops from which *Seymour Art Collective were based and met weekly. I delivered part of the centre's Employment Support programme alongside Project Workers and a representative from the DWP. I initiated and developed relationships with external partners to create quality opportunities for clients to develop their skills and gain employment. *Seymour Art Collective is an evolving group of artists, writers and creatives who are either homeless or who have a history homelessness. The collective formed in the basement of the West London Day Centre late in 2009 at a weekly art course run by City of Westminster College. Over the years, the collective have been nurtured and supported to grow. With a space and platform for them to collaborate together, the collective have co-produced a variety of exhibitions and events with leading art organisations. The aims of the collective are:- To empower members through encouraging their direct involvement in all aspects of running and producing it’s rolling programme of exhibitions and events- To promote autonomy, independence and progression for its members who work collaboratively with other artists, curators, gallerists and art world professionals- To increase access to and engagement with high quality arts programmes across LondonThe collective hold regular meetings to discuss how projects should progress, how to generate income, how to best spend funding and how to increase autonomy from current support structures. New members are gained through the weekly open art course which is aimed to benefit a range of homeless people.

I was responsible for the design, promotion, recruitment, delivery and evaluation of the courses I taught, as well as managing a budget and a small team of staff and volunteers. Seymour Arts – The West London Day CentreSeymour Arts is a drop-in art group for homeless and ex-homeless people. I designed the course, which includes traditional workshops, group discussions and activities involving new media as well as trips and talks given by visiting artists. My aim has been to provide opportunities for learners to be as equally engaged in the creation of exhibitions and events as much as they are engaged in the creation of artwork. This strategy has led us to successfully work in collaboration with galleries and art institutions such as Tate and the Serpentine Gallery, creating our own rolling programme of public exhibitions and events over the past 3 years. Seymour Arts engages new audiences and reaches out to local communities through its programme, growing as it goes.WorkSkills – The West London Day CentreWorkSkills is an accredited employment course I designed for both rough sleepers and people who have recently been re-housed. Learners are engaged through a mixture of skills-based learning in ICT and communication development activities as well as cognitive based learning through group discussions and workshops with local business people and a Life Coach. Developing my own strategies that center on ‘learning by doing’, I introduced an enterprise aspect to the course where learners work together to create a mini business and sell products on a stall at Church Street market.Life Skills – Irish Centre HousingThe Life Skills course is run within a hostel for single homeless men and aims to engage learners in a range of activities from sports to cookery to trips out. In response to the vulnerable and challenging nature of the learner group, activities change daily to meet their needs and the course has been adapted to allow learners to drop-in and out.