• a–n
• Artquest
• Art Monthly
• Business in the Community
• Camberwell College of Arts
• Cass School of Art
• Cass Art stores
• Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
• Chelsea College of Art and Design
• City and Guilds of London Art School
• Commonplace
• Cubitt
• Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
• The Culture Capital Exchange
• Edinburgh College of ArtFruitmarket Gallery
• Glasgow School of Art
• Goldsmiths College
• Gray’s School of Art
• Jotta
• John Jones
• Kingston University
• Leeds College of Art
• Matt Roberts Arts
• Middlesex University
• Northumbria University
• Student Enterprise and Employability (UAL)
• Speaking Out
• Slade School of Fine Art
• Starcom Media Vest
• University of Brighton
• University of East London
• University of Westminster
• Wimbledon College of Art

To break down the barriers to and between various models of art education and make the workings of the contemporary art world more transparent.

To empower current and prospective students, graduates and self-trained artists to make more informed choices about their education and careers. 

The organisation is run by a team representative of our primary audience and supported by the Q-Art community panel. Our crits are also peer-led and deliberately take place outside of any formal curriculum or assessment environment.

Places to present work in our crits as well as attend these and other events are allocated on an all inclusive first-come first-served basis. This system leads to a democratic route to exhibiting in our annual exhibition and exists to maintain a culture of fairness and transparency and avoid nepotism. Our events also deliberately take place at a range of times (weekends, weekdays, weekday evenings) in order to accommodate various lifestyles.

This is embedded in both our aims (where we strive to make art education and the workings of the contemporary art world more transparent) as well as our governance. We have also published our progress report online. 

• Provide an opportunity to see inside various art colleges
• Break down the barriers between colleges, courses and levels of study
• Foster an environment for peer led learning across educational levels and perspectives
• Provide a space for graduates to continue developing their practice
• Provide a place for feedback outside of the curriculum and from a ‘new’ audience
• Provide a place for networking, fostering potential collaboration
• Provide insight into how art is discussed and evaluated in an art college environment  

The crit is a method of art education used across BA visual art courses as a means for artists to gain group feedback on their work.

Those who present in a crit have the opportunity to participate in our annual exhibition at the APT Gallery.

Get in touch via events@q-art.org.uk and we’ll see what we can do. If you want to help organise these and other events ask about joining our Community Panel. 

We are now using the term ‘crit’ instead of ‘convenor’ as this is more widely recognised. Convenor was a term we used between 2008-2011, picked up from Goldsmiths where Q-Art’s director Sarah studied.

“Think about how to give the group a useful amount of context about your work without taking up too much time by talking yourself. This is a good opportunity to think about how much information you feel the work needs before an audience can meaningfully engage it with. Can the work be doing what you want it to if it requires a lot of explanation?”
— Claire Reddleman

“Think in advance about any particular feedback you want and so what questions you might ask the group. Taking the time to write down and think about what you most want from the crit can help focus your presentation.”
– Lizzie Canon

“If you want to practice your presentation skills it’s important to prepare properly: have a clear introduction, a development of your ideas and a conclusion/ summary or question. Don’t be afraid to use notes or prompt cards.”
— Maggie Learmonth

“Do have questions for the group that could take the discussion in a new direction if responses are fairly homogeneous.”
— Claire Reddleman

“Do get an audience involved as much as possible.”
— Donal Maloney

“Don’t be offended by very blunt feedback. The feedback is about the work, not about you personally.”
— Claire Reddleman

Don’t rule out having fun in a presentation!”
— Donal Maloney

“If the work being shown is static i.e. images or objects, it might be a good idea to ensure you spend some time looking at this before the crit starts or during the break.”
— Giles Bunch

“Ascertain the kind of audience/context at which the piece is aimed. In what arena of the arts are they participating? In what discussions are they engaged?”
— Jenny Evans

The aim in providing an exhibition for those who participate in one of our crits – whereby places in these are themselves allocated on a first-come first-served basis – is to ensure a democratic path to exhibiting.

The exhibition is not curated under any ‘theme’ because of the wide variety of concerns, backgrounds and practices of the artists involved and the fact that it was the incidental event of presenting in a crit that brought them together. Instead, our curator meets with each of the artists individually to learn more about their work and places work based on connections made apparent through these conversations.

The exhibition brings together artists from a wide variety of educational backgrounds.

We typically run a day long public crit with all those in the show and a Deptford gallery tour. 

In November 2012 we held our first ever crit outside of London. Prompted by an invitation from the Fruitmarket Gallery, it took place at Edinburgh College of Art and saw student and graduate artists from Scotland’s four art schools attending and presenting work. The event went really well and has since prompted invitations from other UK art colleges to host crits. Over the coming few years we will work towards developing a sustainable crit programme beyond London.