Colette Griffin

Artist Development Curator

Colette is a curator, arts writer, artist, artist mentor and access support worker based in Nottingham. Her interests and research centre on commissioning and programming that explores the architecture of our lives, the institutions and expectations that continue to shape everyday experiences, actions, and interactions. Colette also provides mentoring provision and supports artists with access requirements in developing, writing and submitting funding applications to Arts Council England.

Colette is Artist Development Curator (part-time) at Primary, an artist-led space in Nottingham that supports creative research through artist studios and residencies, public exhibitions and events. Here she leads on the development and implementation of the organisation’s Artist Development Strategy, working alongside residents and partners to identify and generate opportunities for creatives based at Primary and working across the UK.

In 2021, Colette became the Regional Director (part-time) of CVAN East Midlands, part of the national Contemporary Visual Arts Network. CVAN EM is the free-to-access Contemporary Visual Arts Network for the East Midlands, celebrating and supporting arts and culture in the region and fostering an inclusive long-term future for the sector, emphasising equity and access for all arts workers. In this role Colette nurtures regional and cross-regional connectivity and engagement through participation, working in partnership with organisations and creatives across the East Midlands to build sustainable infrastructures, present opportunities and deliver artist development activity.

From 2020-2022, Colette delivered the New Midland Group Development Programme, an 18-month Arts Council England funded project looking to provide routes into contemporary art and better understand and articulate the value of artist development.

Previously, Colette was Curator at Mansions of the Future, an arts and cultural hub in Lincoln adopting an approach which privileged social, site-specific, and collaborative ways of working. Other previous experience includes working with Nottingham City Museums and Galleries, UK New Artists, and Ikon Gallery, Birmingham. In 2019 Colette was selected for CAMPUS, a year-long independent study programme in curatorial, visual and cultural studies, delivered by Nottingham Contemporary.