Artists Council is an advisory group to the Board and Executive of a-n. Over a three-year term, Council members will play a key role in driving the direction of a-n’s advocacy, research and programme activities, with a focus on the leadership development of artists. Artists Council meets four times a year to voice the concerns of artists in their networks and communities, and to take part in a Leadership Development programme developed by a-n in partnership with Clore Leadership.

Really excited to be awards DYCP (Develop your creative practice) to work up scaling my work, working on exhibitions and developing my Artist strategy.

Aire Place Studios is a creative studio which holds spaces of equality and solidarity. We host comfortable studios spaces, hold safer spaces for workshops and a bold gallery space centred around innovation and inclusivity. Aire Place Studios also features a collective of associated artists who exist to radically uplift under-represented creatives with empathy and warmth to realise the potential of those often overlooked by traditional art institutions. This dynamic collaboration builds trust and collective accountability to serve our communities.

Artist.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art will open Dreaming of Home, a group exhibition featuring a line-up of international artists centered around varying notions of queer and trans domesticity. Curated by Gemma Rolls-Bentley, the exhibition takes Catherine Opie’s 1993 photograph Self-Portrait/Cutting as its starting point to highlight the dissonances experienced by queer people in their desires to live and thrive, alongside the routine restrictions imposed by wider society. Marking the 30th anniversary of Opie’s seminal work, each featured artist follows in Opie's footsteps by centralizing the queer body in their work as they carve space for themselves and their dreams of home. With a vast range of mediums featured throughout, Dreaming of Home engages an intersectional conversation between artists who each explore their own perspectives and answers to the questions posed by Opie’s work: where can queer and trans people feel at home; in our skin, in each other’s embrace, among our chosen families? Where are our bodies safe, housed, and free to be themselves? Viewed through a contemporary lens, Opie’s image remains relevant in new contexts, representing a radical approach to queer visibility at odds with the mainstream treatment of LGBTQIA+ people at the time of its creation.

Artist and Curator, Sarah Francis convened the BAN, and Tate supported seminar ‘The Artist and the Other’ at Leeds Art Gallery.The seminar focused on the following: Does implementing a ‘diversity’ focus on exhibitions and call-outs primarily foreground the ‘other’ characteristics of an artist, rather than allowing the artwork (and artist) to speak? What shift does ‘othering’ have on audiences’ and curators’ perceptions of an artist and their work? How can we support diversity and inclusion without resorting to tokenism or ‘othering’ artists? How do we make sure artists’ work gets due attention and recognition?Participants shared their views and reflections on the prompts in a relaxed round table event. Sarah introduced the Seminar by sharing her own perspective as an artist and curator. Jo Verrent discussed their experience as Director of Unlimited in supporting artists with disabilities to achieve recognition and effective working conditions and pay. 'The need for change can seem overwhelming and the conversation has only begun.For most artists, just being able to talk openly and honestly about how they feel is rare and urgent. The need for these spaces to exist and the conversations to take place is ongoing. The Artist and the ‘other’ for Sarah started with a feeling she could not express around 15 years ago, a feeling she could not shake. Now theconversations have been opened up she can start finding the words and ways to explain this feeling. Collectively, through events like this, we can work towards finding a language to express how this current system is just not okay and not working.'

Agency of Realised Worlds is a collaboration with artist Clement Archibald that explores and showcases his unseen painting spanning six decades. Two different artists, two different socio-cultural perspectives, with a shared sense of the different worlds realised in art. The project will span 12 months, curating the stories and paintings that represent different stages of Clement's life and experiences. An autobiographical journey of an artist almost left behind by barriers in the cultural world, showcasing his incredible, underappreciated talent. Clement and I represent creatives that are largely unseen, that face adversity and keep making in spite of this. We are seeking the opportunity to realise our potential and to express our emergence. This intergenerational collaboration aims to demonstrate how opportunities, platforms and access should, and can, be radically rethought.

I am excited to join East Street Arts as one of three Convention House Residency seed commissions.Upscaling the size of art comes with lots of challenges in the making, the production and even storage of the work. As part of her commission, Sarah would like to explore how technology and collaboration can provide the resources and development of working methods for constructing large scale ideas.Sarah’s current sculptural practice relies upon hand-drawn and hand-cut pieces; a time consuming and labour intensive process that limits the scale of her work. She would like to explore how 3D scanning, printing, and Laser Cutting could be used to improve efficiency in creating sculptural pieces and reduce the barriers involved with hand-making as a solo artist. Sarah is also interested in exploring how technology can support the design and construction of sculpture that is assembled from ‘flat packed’ designs to reduce the burden and barriers involved in building, transporting and storing sculptural works;“I would like to test and develop models of collaborative working that improve peer support and reduce the isolation often felt as an Artist working towards larger goals. I believe that, through collaboration, we can use technology and community to improve the accessibility of sculptural work, and reduce barriers to making larger scale sculpture. Developing more creative communities to exchange ideas and share skills would facilitate a more collaborative way of working, providing support for creatives at each stage of project development”

Working within schools with groups of around 35 children Key stage 1, 2 and 3Working with children and adults with learning difficulties.Working one to one, and delivering community based drop in arts and crafts.DBS Checked.

HOARD is project based in Leeds. A group of artists are hoarding objects and artifacts relating to their practice: finished artworks, props, curiosities, documents, traces, plans, remnants.HOARD is curated by Sarah Francis which is residency based in Leeds, through the course of a year the exhibition is open to the public with free shuttle bus services from Leeds city centre, and refreshment on entry. Along side HOARD other events aim at artist or art lover are curated which includes educational, performances, symposiums and selected exhibitions.* Responsible for audience development and marketing. * Producing promotional material.* Developed and managed the website: www.hoard.uk.com* Negotiated contracts with artists and acts, strengthen previous relationships and initiating new ones.* Program in time table of events and workshop that covers both art and education. * Assist in the management in HOARD, and other events that take place within the Building. http://www.hoard.uk.com/

Worked as workshop facilitator as part of SCRAPS Arts Outreach Program. Arts Outreach is a creative arts program which gives young people of all ages the opportunity to be involved in a broad range of creative projects. The projects are all designed to raise awareness of environmental issues, whilst encouraging creativity and developing social skills.* CRB Checked* Experience working with nursery/primary