Escalator Visual Arts at Wysing Arts Centre is a two year programme of support to artists, within the overall Arts Council England East’ Escalator programme, built around eight themed four day retreats organised in partnership with curators on the Royal College of Art Master degree Curating Contemporary Art.

60-80 artists will be invited to attend the retreats across the two years of the programme with a number receiving additional support through Grants for the arts as Escalator artists.

Escalator Visual Arts was launched by the artist Phyllida Barlow in March 2009 with the event What do Artists do? with contributions from Simon Liddiment, The Hut Project, Maria Zhale and Charlotte Thrane. Escalator Visual Arts aims to strengthen the networks of artists and curators working in the East of England and support artists and curators based in the region to create opportunities for themselves and their work.

Escalator is the pioneering talent plan from Arts Council England, East that finds, supports and invests in the best artistic talent across all artforms throughout the East of England. Escalator is establishing the East of England as the leading UK region for talent development. Since it launched in 2003, Escalator has helped over 250 artists to develop their work, forge new partnerships and reach new audiences.

The MA in Curating at the Royal College of Art was established in 1992 and co-funded by the RCA and Arts Council England. It was the first postgraduate programme in Britain to specialise in curatorial practice, and is currently headed by Mark Nash. The Curating programme has become renowned for showcasing internationally established and emerging artists. New approaches to curating and a global perspective have put the MA’s final year shows on firmly the contemporary art map. The exhibition Acting Out (1992) was the first survey of video art in the UK, and included Turner Prize winner Steve McQueen's debut on the London art scene. Subsequent exhibitions have shown a range of approaches, from staging an art fair that pre-empted the Frieze Art Fair to the timely show Democracy that looked at the social implications of current art practices.

Wysing Arts Centre is a research and development centre set in 11acres of rural Cambridgeshire that practically tests out new ways of thinking in contemporary visual art. At Wysing, artists working from studios or undertaking international residencies are encouraged, alongside visitors, to take creative risks in a supportive environment in which the exploration of process and collaborative ways of working are paramount.

For more information about Escalator Visual Arts contact escalator@wysingartscentre.org">escalator@wysingartscentre.org