Artistic archive opportunities offered

The BBC and Arts Council England today announce the creation of two new artist placements as part of the Creative Archive initiative. The placements, which will last for four months, will be funded by Arts Council England and hosted by the BBC.

An advertisement in next Monday’s Guardian will invite artists to manipulate, mix and share BBC and other archive material to create a series of new artworks and, in doing so, develop their professional careers in a new environment.

One of the artists will work with unrestricted access to the BBC archive material, the results being exhibited within the BBC. The other artist will work with content that is available to the public under the Creative Archive Licence – we’ll be exhibiting the results of their work and making it available for download here next year.

“We welcome these placements and the Arts Council’s recognition that broadcast archive can stimulate the growth of creative culture in the UK.� John Willis, Director of Factual & Learning for the BBC said. “The Creative Archive Licence Group is committed to setting up a safe, legal environment for downloaders of audio and visual material. We hope that this scheme, through the placement of two contemporary artists, will inspire new creative thinking for all."

Kim Evans, Executive Director, Arts, Arts Council England, commented further: “The Creative Archive Project marks a visionary new approach to culture and the public domain. The Arts Council has been taking a keen interest in the ways in which artists are experimenting with the new approaches to ownership, distribution, downloading and remixing that new technologies offer. These placements offer the opportunity to create new artworks from a treasure trove of broadcast material and, importantly, the time, space and money for the artists to develop their professional experience.�

There’s more information about these placements on the Arts Council England’s site.

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