Learning

At Foreground we are committed to making our audiences an active part of inspiring and producing the artworks we commission.

We see social communities as artistic collaborators and our projects create their own very special communities through inviting people to work directly with us and artists to make new art together, embedding learning and participation into the very fabric of how our projects are made.

This can vary from young people not in employment, education or training working with university students and local artists to create a major installation with Richard Woods in Intervention / Decoration, to retired metal workers, professional blacksmiths, long distance lorry drivers and hardcore bands and fans working with Matt Stokes to create Voice | Hand | Hammer | Fire for Frome Carnival as part of Independent State. These collaborations not only produce innovate artworks but everything from new social networks and increased self confidence to opportunities in education and employment.

Improving the quality of experience and understanding of contemporary art within the statutory education system is also a specific focus for Foreground and since 2008 we have built a strong partnership with school partners. This has seen substantial projects bringing leading contemporary artists into school environments to create new commissions, such as our partnership with Frome Community College on Instructions for an Ordinary Utopia in 2014. Our commitment to this way of working underpinned the development of our Primary/Bristol commissions for Bristol primary schools developed in partnership with Bristol City Council.

Since 2019 Foreground has extended the reach of its learning programming, developing the Document and Location research programme in partnership with academics from Fine Art, Photography and Architecture at The University of the West of England. The public programme investigates how our understanding of place is directly formed through how locations are recorded and subsequently narrated by different disciplines. Staged across venues in the South West including regular lecture series at Arnolfini, Bristol and site-specific events, the programme aims to bring critical discussion and collaborative learning to diverse educational and public audiences.