New Year Update from AA2A
A very happy new year to our Substack readers! We hope 2026 has started positively for you all.
Starting as a research project in 1995 with the first pilot residencies taking place in 1996, and after navigating funding cuts, organisational changes and the challenges of Covid-19, we will be thrilled to officially hit our 30-year milestone this year. Over three decades, we have continued supporting artist development in partnership with further and higher education institutions, even as the arts and education sectors have undergone considerable transformations.
For 2025-26 we have one of the biggest artist cohorts in our history - 65 artists are placed across 12 host colleges and universities. We’re very pleased to welcome 3 first time AA2A hosts this year. Gloucestershire College operates across 3 sites and has taken on 6 artists to work with their students, including some younger learners aged 16-18. Similarly, New City College, a multi-site college with campuses across East London and Essex, is working with 6 artists. In a new development for AA2A, some of the artists will be working alongside younger learners in 6th form settings. Leeds Beckett University also joins us for the first time with 4 artists who will be taking advantage of the university’s state of the art facilities at the Leeds School of Art.
As well as welcoming our new partners, we are delighted to have 10 returning hosts, including the University of Chester which has been with AA2A for 11 years and Anglia Ruskin University which has been with us since 2009. Our longest-standing continuous partnership is with the University of Lancashire, which has hosted AA2A artists since 1999.
Image: Still from video by Natalja Vikulina, AA2A resident at Anglia Ruskin University 2024-25
At this stage of the AA2A annual cycle, most of our artist residencies are fully underway, and it’s great to see artists sharing posts of their work-in-progress on social media. It’s very rewarding to see our behind-the-scenes work realised as artists articulate the value of using industry-standard facilities, working within an academic environment and engaging with students.
Some in-person employability talks have already taken place on campus, delivered by our hand-picked industry experts, with more to come. Our online employability seminar series resumes on 27th January, with three further sessions to follow. Places are free for students, staff and artists at AA2A host institutions, with limited spots available for others.
New for this year, we are very excited to be in talks with our colleagues at the University of Chester about a potential AA2A exhibition at the city’s CASC gallery. Conversations are at a very early stage, but we will share details as soon as possible if we can make this exciting development happen.
Finally, we will shortly be launching our annual recruitment campaign aimed at welcoming new host institutions into the AA2A network. The focus is on building strategic partnerships that offer opportunities for artists while strengthening engagement across further and higher education. If you know of any institutions that might be interested in joining AA2A, please get in touch and help us connect with them.