Outside In and The New Art Gallery Walsall have announced a three-year, creative partnership to support the arts and creative industries in the West Midlands. The chief aims of the collaboration are to champion and support artists facing significant barriers to the art world and to provide them with exciting opportunities and a space in which to create and exhibit new work.   

The partnership springs from a shared commitment to support inclusion in the arts and to find and support artists in the Black Country and the West Midlands currently excluded due to health, disability, social circumstance, or isolation.  It will enable a number of initiatives and collaborative projects designed to build stronger communities and create new audiences including a dedicated outreach programme, residencies and events. In addition, the partners are delighted to announce that The New Art Gallery Walsall will be the host venue for 2025’s Outside In National Open exhibition. 

The New Art Gallery Walsall’s Director, Stephen Snoddy said:

“The New Art Gallery Walsall has over many years supported artists ‘on the ground’ in the West Midlands region through our residency and mentoring programme. Our partnership with Outside In will grow and diversify and create further opportunities for those artists who have additional barriers, with an aspiration of opening up connections for their work and careers.” 

Marc Steene, Director of Outside In, comments:

“Our new partnership with The New Art Gallery Walsall will enable the further establishment of Outside In in the Midlands. Our association with respected arts organisations, such as The New Art Gallery Walsall, provides important validation and a vital opportunity for artists who have been, for too long, overlooked and not included in all that the arts can offer.” 

José Sunshine-Okoro, Outside In’s Programme Manager for the Midlands, further adds:  

“This is an excellent opportunity to continue to develop access to artists facing barriers and support them to engage with the arts sector. Working with The New Art Gallery Walsall over the last three years has offered Outside In artists’ bursaries, residences, developed their studio practice and enabled them access to opportunities to interact with curators.  The New Art Gallery Walsall encourages diversity in its practices and this partnership will continue to grow our organisations and in turn support exposure of local artists within the cultural sector to increase their national profile.”