Rod Smith

Having had a longstanding interest in the arts, my involvement over the years in education in the visual 
arts has highlighted to me the difficulties faced by emerging visual artists in making the transition from graduating students at art college into self sufficient practising artists. How do these talented folk fulfill their promise and their ambitions? How can they earn money from their work to date? How do they navigate the business and legal issues 
in signing to a gallery, renting a studio etc.? Having seen how the Clyde & Co project tries to address these issues, it became clear to Paul, Louise and me that every effort should be made to try and broaden the application of this formula to support emerging artists across the UK and beyond make the transition and benefit all of us who enjoy the visual arts. Hence my enthusiasm for this project – newplatform.art – which sets out with the ambition of doing just that!