CVAN South East

🎉Congratulations to the four winners of the Platform Graduate Award 2025! After an inspiring season of exhibitions showcasing the region’s most exciting emerging artists, we are delighted to announce that the winners are: Minka Stear, (Arts University Plymouth/MIRROR), Ailbhe Callanan (Brighton University/Phoenix Art Space), Eloise Gleave, (UCA Farnham/Aspex Portsmouth), and Sofia Pantsjoha, (University of Reading/Modern Art Oxford). Following the success of last year's programme, the awardees will each receive a £500 bursary and six months of mentoring from the partner galleries. This year’s recipients were selected in partnership with four leading arts organisations and higher education institutions across the South: Aspex Portsmouth, Modern Art Oxford, Phoenix Art Space in Brighton, and a collective initiative between Arts University Plymouth/MIRROR, University of Plymouth, and Falmouth University. You can still catch the final showcases this Autumn/Winter at Aspex Portsmouth & Modern Art Oxford. Well done to the awardees and all the exhibiting artists who made this a sensational year! Find out more about the Platform Graduate Award via the link in our bio 🔗 Images: 1 - Self Portrait, Minka Stear 2 - Arrah! Who is it that’s dead?, Ailbhe Callanan 3 - The Doctor Won’t See You Now, Eloise Gleave 4 - Futile Fertile, Sofia Pantsjoha _ @minka.stear @ailbhe_ @eloisegleaveart @aifos_pj #Platform2025 #PlatformGraduateAward #EmergingArtists #CVANSE #GraduateArtists #VisualArts #ContemporaryArt

A roundup of the exciting plans for 2026 across CVAN’s eight regions and London, showcasing the strength of a network rooted in place and driven by artists. Across England, our regional partners are delivering mentoring, bursaries, artist development, research, and cross-sector collaborations that respond directly to local needs. From new digital commissions and artist-led programmes to micro-bursaries, networks, directories and advocacy, the work is building stronger infrastructure and more resilient support for artists and arts workers. Together, our nine regions are shaping a connected national ecology, sharing knowledge, championing equity, and creating opportunities for artists to thrive. Read the full round-up: https://cvan.art/a-round-up-of-the-exciting-plans-for-2026-across-our-nine-regions/ @cvanetwork

We are excited to welcome Remi Rana Allen as Artist Vice Chair of CVAN South East. Remi is a British South Asian artist, educator, and researcher based in London. Her work explores equity, decoloniality, and representation, and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She commented: 'I am delighted to have been appointed Artist Vice Chair of the CVAN South-East Steering Group. I look forward to working collaboratively with partners to develop and deliver a shared vision for the future. Creating space where all voices are heard and valued is central to my personal and professional practice; this goes beyond equality, diversity, or inclusion, it is a fundamental ethical commitment'. Visit cvansoutheast.com for more info 🔗 in bio

CVAN England has published its response to the independent review of Arts Council England. We strongly welcome the clear defence of the Arm’s Length Principle essential to artistic freedom and public trust. Our response calls for: • Long-term investment in artists and infrastructure • Simplification that genuinely reduces bureaucracy • Place-based decision-making rooted in local expertise • Support for artists across a full arc of development This moment matters. Structural change must come with real investment if the visual arts are to thrive. 🔗 Read more via the link in bio

In ‘Where Humans Live, Rats Live’, Brontè Wyse asks: “How would we behave if someone were always watching us?” Hear from Brontè as she describes the process of creating the work, and gives insight into her emerging practice. ‘Where Humans Live, Rats Live’ is free to view as part of our ongoing exhibition Platform Graduate Award: This is really happening. #EmergingArtist #EmergingArtists #CVAN #PlatformGraduateAward

Meet our recent alumni Sofia Pantsjoha.🫶🏼 Sofia was selected by curators at Modern Art Oxford to be part of the Platform Award exhibition held at Modern Art Oxford with @can_se . Following on from this we are so proud to announce that Sofia has now been awarded the Platform Award. 🎉🥳💫 They will receive a small bursary and 6 months mentoring from MAO.🌱 Reading graduates have now been nominated by Modern Art Oxford four times in a row and in 2 cases have won the Platform Award. Please go see the exhibition: Platform Graduate Award: This is Really Happening Sofia Pantsjoha - University of Reading Ella Soni - Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford Bronte Wyse - Oxford Brookes University On shown until 18th January 2026 #platformaward #mao #uniofreading #contemporaryart #sustainability #studentaward

Today we are announcing the artists taking part in exhibitions for the Platform Graduate Award 2025. The award celebrates emerging artistic talent from 13 universities across the South of England. The work of 30 shortlisted artists will be showcased in a series of exhibitions in Plymouth, Brighton, Oxford and Portsmouth, with four final awardees due to be announced in October. The best of luck to them all! Thanks to our venue partners: @aspexportsmouth , @modernartoxford , @phoenix_artspace and @artsuniplym More info and a full list of artists - see link in bio 🔗 Images (clockwise from top left): All the People, 2025, Ella Soni; Beyond the Stitch IV, 2025, Yasmin Jabi; Woven Womb, 2025, Lizzie Bolton; Hypnagogia, 2025, Ruby Bradshaw

📢✨We’re delighted to announce the selected artists for the 2025 Platform Graduate Award, who will take part in a group exhibition in our Project Space 9-31 August! Ailbhe Callanan @ailbhe_ Charlie Davies @fibrelad Anna Kowal @anna.i.kowal Richard Matthews Lucy Redstall @l.redstall Charlotte Robinson @charlotterobinson.painting 🫶We’re excited to be welcoming them into our building for what promises to be an excellent exhibition. Thanks University of Brighton & East Sussex College for their suppor 🔗Please see the What’s On page on our website for more information on the Award- link in bio 🖌 Image: Ailbhe Callanan, Arrah! who is it that’s dead? (plates)

We’ve been catching up with the four awardees of the Platform Graduate Award 2024. Hima Bijoy exhibited at Aspex Portsmouth last year after graduating from UCA Farnham. As part of our latest Spotlight feature, they have been sharing more about their year after graduation and how the award has supported their practice. Hima's work delves into the complex interplay between comfort and abjection, using found-material sculptures to provoke visceral responses in viewers. 'My biggest advice is patience, belief in your practice and the will to experiment, and if needed the tolerance to store all the parts of your installation in your living room while waiting to hear back from shows you have applied to. This year has been hectic in navigating life and where my practice lies in it, but you always find ways to improve your practice and make sure you never fall out of love with making'. View the whole Spotlight over on the CVAN South East website. Link in the bio. #Platform2024 #CVANSpotlight #PlatformGraduateAward #CVANSE #CVANSouthEast #CVANetwork #ArtistNetwork #ArtistSupport #PhoenixArtSpace #ModernArtOxford #AspexPortsmouth #ArtsUniversityPlymouth #VASW

We’ve been catching up with the four awardees of the Platform Graduate Award 2024. Falmouth University graduate Indigo Wills uses techniques of queering and fictioning. In her Spotlight feature, Indigo reflects on life after graduation and her relationship to the Cornish landscape. 'I think graduating is terrifying, I think the process of moving your art practice away from the setting you are so used to creating in takes some time to figure out. But if there are things you feel certain about, it is a good idea to follow those. I know I want to stay in Cornwall, my relationship to the landscape is integral to the work I make. I’m using this as the starting point to figure out what comes next'. Indigo was selected through a partnership led by Arts University Plymouth, working with Falmouth University and Plymouth University. View the whole Spotlight over on the CVAN South East website. Link in the bio #Platform2024 #CVANSpotlight #PlatformGraduateAward #CVANSE #CVANSouthEast #CVANetwork #ArtistNetwork #ArtistSupport #PhoenixArtSpace #ModernArtOxford #AspexPortsmouth #ArtsUniversityPlymouth #VASW

We’ve been catching up with the four awardees of the Platform Graduate Award 2024. Kitty Reeves-Short was selected from the Platform exhibition at Phoenix Art Space last year after graduating in Graphic Design from the University of Brighton. As part of our latest Spotlight feature, she has been sharing more about her first year after graduation and how the award has supported her art practice. Kitty makes work that centres around analogue, hand-rendered processes and materiality, with a strong emphasis on archival materials, photo manipulation, and printed matter. View the whole Spotlight over on the CVAN South East website. Link in the bio #Platform2024 #CVANSpotlight #PlatformGraduateAward #CVANSE #CVANSouthEast #CVANetwork #ArtistNetwork #ArtistSupport #PhoenixArtSpace #ModernArtOxford #AspexPortsmouth #ArtsUniversityPlymouth #VASW

We’ve been catching up with the four awardees of the Platform Graduate Award 2024. Artist duo Katrina Dayanc and Luca Dayanc exhibited at Modern Art Oxford last year after graduating from the University of Reading. As part of our latest Spotlight feature, they have been sharing more about their first year after graduation and how the award has supported their practice. Luca and Katrina Dayanc’s collaborative work explores material waste to challenge social and institutional systems. Their work draws on the concepts of folds and ornamentation and their neurodiverse approach embraces time, movement and a perpetual space to create. View the whole Spotlight over on the CVAN South East website. Link in the bio #Platform2024 #CVANSpotlight #PlatformGraduateAward #CVANSE #CVANSouthEast #CVANetwork #ArtistNetwork #ArtistSupport #PhoenixArtSpace #ModernArtOxford #AspexPortsmouth #ArtsUniversityPlymouth #VASW