The Full Story
Abandoned Artists CIC was established in 2023 by Ukraine-born/Scotland-based visual artist, creative mentor and curator, Alena Rogozhkina. Alena’s passion behind the project was simple - to promote positive social change through individual art projects among conflict-affected communities in the UK. The idea for this project was recognised at its early stage by funding supporters such as Converge, Firstport and UnLtd and Edinburgh Council. With their support, Abandoned Artists’ bright team began to discover the power of collaborative arts and participatory creative practice to bring people together, build positive relationships and spark hope, even in the most desperate circumstances.
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Along their journey, Abandoned Artists partnered with inspirational local artists, creative and cultural institutions, impactful businesses and third sector organisations with the aim of providing resources and expertise to artists in marginalised communities in the UK, providing them the infrastructure and support necessary to follow their creative journeys. Abandoned Artists has delivered nearly 100 art and wellbeing sessions to around 1000 displaced participants from Ukraine. They are also in the middle of establishing a professional development programme for various countries affected by displacement, war and persecution, that will be launched later in 2024 in Edinburgh.
If you are interested in ways of support our activities and programmes, and want to share our stories with the world, please get in touch to find out details about How to become a Friend of Abandoned Artists.
Mission
We aim to empower emerging artists from displaced communities to be able to make a sustainable living and contribute to their new local economies by doing something they love. We also want the wider refugee community to feel accepted in their new communities and to be able to begin to heal from the trauma they have faced.
Vision
We commit to widen access in the creative world to those who can benefit most from it. Creative expression and exploration can unlock so many positive outcomes for a person, from processing trauma, supporting mental wellbeing, generating an income, meeting new people, engaging with your community. And yet, we recognise that the artistic sector can be small, elitist and difficult to access for many people. We envision displaced artists to become accepted in their new communities and for communities to feel more connected.
What we offer
Mentoring Programme
Professional Development Programme for Artists from Countries Affected by Displacement, War and Persecution. Our creative professional development program will be designed for artists affected by displacement, conflict and persecution. The first pilot cohort aimed to be launched in the Autumn 2024, will particularly focus on Ukrainian refugees who have settled in Scotland. The overarching goal of this project is to support these emerging artists to have better quality of life in their new country, by providing social connections through workshops and 1-1 sessions, employment support and career development, community integration, improved mental wellbeing and life outlook, and financial independence. Our project is multifaceted and our ambition is to achieve three main outcomes for our artists. Firstly, we aim to support emerging artists affected by displacement, providing them with opportunities to generate income and develop sustainable artistic careers. This includes supporting them to develop creative practice and skills, as well as their knowledge of the additional skills such as CV writing, personal statements, and exhibition curation. Secondly, our project focuses on facilitating the integration of displaced people into their new society, fostering acceptance within the local community. This involves breaking down barriers such as shyness, community separation, and negative perceptions that may hinder the assimilation of Ukrainian artists. We aim to create an inclusive environment where both the displaced and local communities can learn from one another. By bringing together local, teaching artists with our artists, facilitating introductions between our artists and gallery owners etc, and hosting networking and exhibition events, we will reduce the separation between the local art sector and displaced artists. Lastly, we prioritise the mental health and well-being of our artists. Through workshops, 1-1 sessions, and mental health support we will help our artists to deal with the trauma they have faced, through creative exploration.
Talent Agency Representation
We will provide talent representation for emerging artists and makers from displaced communities, refugees and asylum seekers, acting as their agent to help them to generate an income from their creative practice. We will identify and cultivate opportunities for our artists to exhibit and sell their work using our connections with local art fairs, markets, galleries, shops, collectors and public and private sector organisations. These opportunities are varied and may include for example; selling creative gifts, prints or smaller works at a shared stand at an art fair or regular art and craft markets,, selling larger original pieces to upcoming collectors, arranging commissioned pieces with the public sector or private businesses, exhibiting a collection at local galleries, etc. Alongside this, we will help them to develop their portfolio, and support them with marketing and social media in order to generate public interest in their work. The goal is to be able to provide longer term income generation, at least to help them to supplement their income, and live a better quality of life whilst in the UK. We will look for funding towards their work, help them apply for open commissions, and sell work more regularly, with an intention that the work can go beyond short term projects. Our work will help to overcome the challenges emerging artists, and particularly those who are new to the area, face when trying to make a living from their creative work: language understanding as many do not speak English well; lack of knowledge of the artistic landscape and opportunities available to them; lack of confidence in their abilities and feeling they aren’t ‘good enough’ to access these opportunities; and reluctance to approach key figures in this sector due to fear or anxiety. By leveraging our contacts and close working relationships, we will be able to negotiate favourable deals on the highly priced stands at art fairs, markets and shop spaces, and allow artists to sell their work in spaces they wouldn’t have been able to secure by themselves.
Participatory Creative Workshops
Beyond the displaced artists, our initiative extends to the wider community in Scotland. We will run workshops for the public and for people from displaced communities who aren’t practising artists, but who would like to explore their creativity, meet new people, socialise and boost their mental wellbeing. These will be open to the public and will be a ‘step up’ from the typical community centre classes, more in-depth and professional whilst still being affordable, fun and inviting. Workshops will be held in venues across the city, taking full advantage of the numerous inspirational art spaces available to us. This will ensure the workshops are held in high esteem with participants and viewed at a higher standard to the stereotypical ‘community centre’ art classes. The tickets purchased by members of the general public will subsidise the ticket cost for refugees and asylum seekers, allowing those with a very low income to still access the benefits of community art workshops. This not only contributes to the well-being and confidence of the refugee community but also serves as a bridge between different groups within the city.
Our Impact
Building sustainable creative practices
Artists from displaced communities are able to continue or restart their creative journeys. Their skills and confidence will develop through our professional development scheme. This has led to an increase in confidence and improved self-esteem in these artists and we have seen several people, who previously wouldn’t even have tried to apply for anything, start to apply for small grants and commission opportunities on their own.
Contributing to economic recovery of Scotland
We have supported several artists to start to generate an income through their work and helped them to better understand the creative sector in the UK. For example, some of our artists have run their first ever exhibitions in Scotland or are able to access paid opportunities through our partner organisations, which otherwise wouldn’t have been accessible to them, and supported them to improve their awareness of potential gallery opportunities and art spaces that exist in the UK.
Integrating displaced communities
Refugees, migrants and asylum seekers feel more accepted and connected to their new communities. We help them to engage with peers, local artists and wider community.
Improving mental wellbeing
Between 2022 and 2024 we have delivered 86 art sessions to around 960 displaced people. We have delivered bespoke workshops to adults and children, to help them to deal with the traumatic experiences and the impact of these on their mental and physical health.
Addressing environmental sustainability
Internally we are trying to reduce our carbon footprint in everything that we do. We use recycled materials in our work, and wherever possible use found materials, collecting things which are discarded and no longer have any use to be transformed into artwork. We will try to source all our materials from recycled materials, wherever possible, and will ensure we source our materials from sustainably conscious suppliers, so that we can have the greatest impact on Net Zero as possible.