Degree show planning advice for London art schools from UAL, SEE, and AxisWeb

Advice is available from UAL for planning your BA degree show

As final projects are being wrapped up, proposals submitted and fundraising underway, I wanted to be sure that we are doing everything we can to ensure the success of our BA degree show.

So I did a quick search, and turns out UAL and SEE [Student Enterprise & Employability] have a whole website dedicated to Degree Show preparation. Although we have received coaching from last year’s graduates, this guidance would’ve been a handy addition to our knowledge a few months ago! Better late than never, I always say!

In this website (and more links you’ll find below), I gained valuable info about funding the show, marketing the show and even how to make the most out of the degree show as a career opportunity.

I would recommend next year’s really keen 3rd years start here in October to get an idea of what needs to be done, so when they start planning, they can better take advantage of the experience and knowledge offered by the previous year graduates in January term.

Related links about planning your final degree show

• View/download Planning your degree show – A practical guide – from AxisWeb.org – 2011 [PDF] – excellent check-list style guide for your degree show, summarised from Paul Glinkowski’s white paper, Maximising the MA Show
• Exhibition PR Planner: month-by-month guide for artists promoting an exhibition by Jessica Wood for AxisWeb – 15 January 2016
• General Advice from UAL/SEE [Student Enterprise and Employability office] archives – lots of links and online-viewable presentations about degree show planning, marketing, and CV advice for the artist
• Preparing your exhibition – advice from UAL/SEE – notes and information about preparing your exhibition, whether that’s for your degree or beyond
• Professional advice for artists from axisweb.org – “features profiles of professional artists and curators, interviews, discussions, art news, debates and showcases the artists to watch.”
• Sample Crowdfunding campaign for Wimbledon Degree Show 2013
• View/download How to write a basic exhibition/event Press Release [PDF] – by Katie Price Design, 2011
• View/download Maximising the MA Show by Paul Glinkowski for AxisWeb – a quite thorough academic paper on MA degree shows from how to do them to indicators for success (for the Cliff Notes version, see first bullet point)