We, a group of final-year arts students, are removing our artworks and boycotting the institution's events, taking a stand against the racism and oppression it perpetuates.
We reject its racial violence, its targeting of POC staff within its employment and financial structures, and its active gentrification of the local area.
We stand in full solidarity with Evan Ifekoya, who withdrew their labour due to racism within the Department of Art, our peers in GARA, GUCU, and other activist groups fighting for greater justice and equality, and all marginalised peoples facing oppression and inaccessibility within the creative industries.
We are committed to a cultural and educational sector free from discrimination and violence and seek a redefining of arts education, in which social justice, the joy of community education, and total creative freedom are placed at its core.
The Alternative Degree Show manifests as an art trail across Lewisham Borough, including traditional art venues, public spaces, and community centres. It is a group project predicated on community building and the desire to allow art to breathe outside of the educational institution. It includes the dynamic and exciting work of graduating students on the BA Fine Art & History of Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. Our show will coincide with the traditional degree show at Goldsmiths, however it will differ in all other ways. We hope it becomes its own entity, pitched against the shortcomings we perceive in our institution, the commercialisation of art’s education, its deemed unimportance in the eyes of the Tory Government and the entrenched problematics (such as racism and competitiveness) within the art industry as a whole.
The recent Tory government initiative to halve funding for arts education, and our own Senior Management Team’s mismanagement of our university have led to extensive strikes by overworked and underpaid staff. These issues have impacted us directly, and are symptomatic of a wider disregard for the value of creative education. We recognise the precariousness of working class students on arts/creative university courses, and want to actively resist the notion that art education is either valueless or elitist. We will not be showing in the Goldsmiths Degree Show, in an effort to highlight these failings, and create a new space for reimagining.
The Alternative Degree Show partnered with the following organisations in the facilitation of the Alternative Degree Show. Generous contributions extend to use of venues, in-kind support, AV loans, curatorial/event management advice and promotion:
Art Hub
Artist in Residence (AiR)
Bold Tendencies
Collective Ending HQ
Deptford X
F.A.T. Studios
Hannah Barry Gallery
Harts Lane
Hill Station Community Cafe
Jupiter Woods Gallery
Lewisham Arthouse
No Format Gallery
People’s Heritage Museum of Deptford
SE Salon
The Albany/Deptford Lounge
Women in Film SE15
Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action
Goldsmiths UCU
The Rights Collective
London Community Video Archive
SID Motion Gallery
EKO
Goldsmiths Star
Rainbow Collective
We, a group of final-year arts students, are removing our artworks and boycotting the institution's events, taking a stand against the racism and oppression it perpetuates.
We reject its racial violence, its targeting of POC staff within its employment and financial structures, and its active gentrification of the local area.
We stand in full solidarity with Evan Ifekoya, who withdrew their labour due to racism within the Department of Art, our peers in GARA, GUCU, and other activist groups fighting for greater justice and equality, and all marginalised peoples facing oppression and inaccessibility within the creative industries.
We are committed to a cultural and educational sector free from discrimination and violence and seek a redefining of arts education, in which social justice, the joy of community education, and total creative freedom are placed at its core.
The Alternative Degree Show manifests as an art trail across Lewisham Borough, including traditional art venues, public spaces, and community centres. It is a group project predicated on community building and the desire to allow art to breathe outside of the educational institution. It includes the dynamic and exciting work of graduating students on the BA Fine Art & History of Art programme at Goldsmiths, University of London. Our show will coincide with the traditional degree show at Goldsmiths, however it will differ in all other ways. We hope it becomes its own entity, pitched against the shortcomings we perceive in our institution, the commercialisation of art’s education, its deemed unimportance in the eyes of the Tory Government and the entrenched problematics (such as racism and competitiveness) within the art industry as a whole.
The recent Tory government initiative to halve funding for arts education, and our own Senior Management Team’s mismanagement of our university have led to extensive strikes by overworked and underpaid staff. These issues have impacted us directly, and are symptomatic of a wider disregard for the value of creative education. We recognise the precariousness of working class students on arts/creative university courses, and want to actively resist the notion that art education is either valueless or elitist. We will not be showing in the Goldsmiths Degree Show, in an effort to highlight these failings, and create a new space for reimagining.
The Alternative Degree Show partnered with the following organisations in the facilitation of the Alternative Degree Show. Generous contributions extend to use of venues, in-kind support, AV loans, curatorial/event management advice and promotion:
Art Hub
Artist in Residence (AiR)
Bold Tendencies
Collective Ending HQ
Deptford X
F.A.T. Studios
Hannah Barry Gallery
Harts Lane
Hill Station Community Cafe
Jupiter Woods Gallery
Lewisham Arthouse
No Format Gallery
People’s Heritage Museum of Deptford
SE Salon
The Albany/Deptford Lounge
Women in Film SE15
Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action
Goldsmiths UCU
The Rights Collective
London Community Video Archive
SID Motion Gallery
EKO
Goldsmiths Star
Rainbow Collective