In Session FKA GRADJOB is a learning and ‘unprofessional’ contemporary art practice programme that focuses on the needs of early-career practitioners working/practicing in Scotland today along with the new challenges they now face as a result of COVID-19.

In Session, formerly known as GRADJOB, started at EMBASSY Gallery in 2018. The programme emerged in response to the lack of support, exploitation, and precarious working conditions experienced by emerging artists working in Scotland. Our goal was to provide long term support mechanisms for early-career creative practitioners, to demystify the contemporary art world and to create a space to make, share, dream and collaborate.

Now in its third year, In Session provides creative practitioners with the support they need to sustain and develop their practice. Our 7 month paid residency is dedicated to building a bank of knowledge about the conditions that impact practice as an early-career practitioner.

A programme of lectures, workshops, and trips, as well as meals, mentoring and making, is delivered by Contributing Artists who offer practical advice and encourage criticality. The focus of the programme is to reflect on existing problematic structures and imagine alternatives models for the future of the sector.

During the programme, Co-contributors create peer-to-peer support networks that contribute to the development and sustainability of projects, careers and communities and explore new approaches to making, thinking and collective action.

Sessions are designed to support Co-contributors in developing an approach to practice, helping them to contextualise their practice and explore strategies for making practice more sustainable. The programme offers a space for each cohort to develop tools that will help them to navigate existing structures in the Scottish contemporary art scene.

This year In Session was awarded Creative Scotland funding as well as securing partnership funding to continue the delivery of the programme. In Session, is run by a small team of organisers and is supported by an advisory board, collaborating partners and host organisations in addition to Creative Scotland and Scottish Contemporary Art Network.

 

XOXO In Session