2000 to 2001

Professor Stuart Hall

Chairman's Statement

We were delighted to be awarded a ‘Breakthrough Programme Award' by the Arts Council of England to the value of £100,000. This one-off funding award was awarded to inIVA for ‘its pioneering and inspiring work with culturally diverse artists, writers and promoters/curators and critics in the UK and abroad.' Over the past year, inIVA has been consolidating its position as a significant player in the landscape of contemporary art, nationally and internationally, and we renewed our commitment to supporting the work of artists from the UK and abroad whose work would not otherwise be seen. After five years of research and development, we launched the first major exhibition of British artist Li Yuan-chia, a key figure in Britain's post-war art scene. The exhibition at Camden Arts Centre, curated by Guy Brett, was accompanied by a substantial monograph on the artist. We also launched our first project space in our new premises in Hoxton - TheSpace@inIVA - and showcased the work of two young artists - Eduardo Padilha and Steve Ouditt - who were invited to take up residency in the project space and commissioned to make new works.

inIVA's project space has highlighted the necessity for the organisation to have a secure building base which would address the lack of a permanent home and provide a focal point for the artists and audiences that we serve. Over the past year, we have engaged in a process of analysing and reviewing the organisation's internal and external environments and re-assessing our goals and priorities for the future. We carried out the first major audience survey and distributed a total of 10,000 survey forms to our mailing list and to visitors to our exhibitions. In January 2001, together with Autograph (Association of Black Photographers), we submitted an application to the Arts Council of England's Capital Programme 2 to support a joint capital scheme, totalling 5.5 million pounds, marking an important new stage in the organisation's development.

Our vision is to create a dynamic space for the presentation and dissemination of ideas and practices in the contemporary visual arts that have been consistently marginalised by mainstream cultural institutions. This project addresses the lack of a permanent home and 'sense of place' not only for these two organisations but importantly for the artists and audiences that we serve. By realising this building venture, we aim to secure a sustainable infrastructure for a sector that has historically been dependent on annual revenue funding without the security of a capital asset - a permanent home.