AA2A Employability packages and costs

AA2A aims to help you deliver the employability agenda and enhance the student experience by providing informal mentoring, talks and technical demonstrations from at least four artists and/ or designer makers each year. AA2A artists work alongside your students giving career examples of working artists and provide contact with the external arts community. More background info

The DLHE leavers survey now includes a specific question recognising self-employment as a career, which makes our £1400 employability package a great option as it’ll prepare your students to take on the challenge of self-employment.

Host institutions can sign up for one of two ‘Employability Packages’ as well as adding extra placements

Standard employability package - cost £ 1,000

  • Minimum of four artist placements - all the support and paperwork needed to run a scheme
  • AA2A Artists normally do up to three ‘events’ to support curricular activities
  • Access to our Dotbiz networking site for AA2A artists, students and institutions
  • Up to two Student Reps with monthly Student Rep challenges and annual prize
  • An online student ‘Vote for your favourite artist’ competition
  • Student newsletters

AA2A ‘flyer’ to promote your institution to prospective students

  • AA2A ‘Engage’ Members - we will provide you with a national database of past AA2A artists prepared to help support your employability agendaby hosting informal sessions for students outside institutions eg.
  • hosting a student visit to their own studio or visiting a local studio group
  • talking to students informally about self-employment
  • introducing students to events such as Private views or Open studios
  • AA2A Digital Graduate pack ‘Making it out there’ preview sample pages here (value £250 when sold separately)

This digital pack promoting self-employment as a career option can be …

  • used to support your curriculum
  • circulated to your students and uploaded to your ‘virtual learning environment’ eg. Blackboard

Enhanced employability package - cost £1,400*

  • Minimum of four artist placementsplus the ‘Engage’ database of artists (see detail above)
  • AA2A Digital ‘Graduate’ pack, (upgraded in May to include local organisations recommended by your artists)plus….
  • Self-employment presentation for students. (value £500 + travel, when sold separately)

A 2.5 hour presentation fromNational Director, Wendy Mason, encouraging students to go self-employed. Students are given supporting notes to the session and we collatetheir evaluation feedback for your institution.

  • ‘Register for Self-employment’ session (value £150 when sold separately)

We will leave institutions with all the paperwork, format and advice needed to run a follow up event for students so they can register for self-employment

NB:

  • Extra visual artists / makers places can be added to schemes for £150 each and non-visual arts places at £300 each
  • We expect to be able to provide a small Artists’ Support fund, administered by AA2A, for those in need. In 2013-14 ACE funding allowed us to set up an Artists Support Fund giving an average grant of £130 to the 80 artists who applied for support.
  • * Cost does not include advance booked, second class rail travel from Sheffield which is payable by the host institution

AA2A Employability year planner - an example

An academic year at fictitious ‘Bestfield University’ showing how they use AA2A to support the Employability agenda.

This example assumes the university has signed up for the £1,400 package at the beginning of the year. These can also be purchased individually, later in the year. Costswhen sold separately are - Digital pack £250, Self-employment presentations £500 + travel and the Register for Self-employment session £150.

Activities, listed below, which are dependent on the Enhanced package are marked with asterisks.

SEMESTER 1: Focus on new artists, introductions / recruiting Student Reps

September

  • Make sure academic and technical staff know about the AA2A scheme and how to use it to promote ‘Employability’ throughout the year (circulate Memo to staff from AA2A website password protected area)

October

  • Promote opportunity to be an AA2A Student Rep on ‘Blackboard’ (using text from AA2A) including info on the monthly Student Rep challenges and annual prize. Ask for students to ‘apply’
  • Upload AA2A’s digital pack ‘Making it out there’ to your institutions ‘virtual learning environment (eg. Blackboard). Promote this to students and print out the cover page for the student noticeboard

November

  • Arrange introductory talks by those artists who’ve offered to do them (refer to application forms)
  • Appoint AA2A Student Reps (one in 2nd and one in 3rd year) and introduce them to artists

SEMESTER 2: Use AA2A Database artists for external visits / promote Self-employment

December

  • Circulate the AA2A Student newsletter so students know how to contact our Student Reps and Artists
  • Encourage students to follow the ‘Graduate link’ blogs eg.

January

  • Arrange for a group of students to visit one of the ‘AA2A Engage’ artist’s studios
  • Adapt AA2A ‘flyer’ to promote your institution’s links with AA2A artists to prospective students

February

  • *Self-employment presentation from W.Mason for 1st, 2nd & 3rd year students
  • Introduce the AA2A digital pack to 1st +2nd year students in Professional Development modules. Get students to chose one of the ‘AA2A recommends…” options to do before next session and report back

March

  • Arrange for current AA2A artist to talk to students about self-employment and part time work
  • Encourage students (by publicity on ‘Blackboard’ and student noticeboard) to vote in the online student ‘Vote for your favourite artist’ competition

April

  • Artists to give final presentations to students on their AA2A projects, with a focus on how the work supports their career development and where it might lead
  • Arrange for a group of students to go to a private view with an AA2A Engage artist

May

  • 1st and 2nd year students to help artists to mount and publicisetheir AA2A exhibition

June

  • Circulate AA2A digital pack ‘Making it out there’ to graduating students

July

  • *With paperwork provided by AA2A, run a ‘Sign up for Self-employment’ session for graduating students (possiblyimmediately after the end of year shows)


Dear Head of Art and Design

Interested in hosting an AA2A scheme?

We are inviting institutions to apply to host an 'Artists Access to Art Colleges' scheme in October.We have three places available to add to our currentlist of 21 institutions - see

Each AA2A scheme includes four placements for artists and designer makers and comes with a supporting 'Employability package', designed to encourage students to go self-employed after graduation and increase your graduate employment figures in the DHLE survey.

Costs

•£1,400- Enhanced package includes AA2A’sDigital 'Graduate' Pack‘Making it out there’and aSelf-employment presentationwith supporting notes for students. Also, thesupport and paperwork to run a'Register for Self-employment' session, prior to graduation.

•£1,000- Standard package includes AA2A’s DigitalGraduate pack

NB: bothoptions include access to the'Engage' databaseof past AA2A artistswho can support your employability work

NEW OPTION- add extra non-visual art/design placements for£300 each e.g. writers, musicians, architects

The attached document includes ore detail of the Employability packages and outlines how AA2A can be used to support the employability agenda and enhance the student experience.

If you're interested please get in touch asap to find out more (preferably by Mon 26th January)

Best wishes

Wendy Mason

Wendy Mason, National Director AA2A Ltd

Direct Line: 0114 296 0688Mobile: 0781 45 200 46

Skype: wendyrmason

Email:

Web: site

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AA2A Ltd is the new social enterprise organisation dedicated to running the AA2A project

Your choice of Employability packages(for full details see attachment)

All packages include your fourartist AA2A scheme and the'Engage' databaseof past AA2A artists

•£1,400- Enhanced package includes yourDigital 'Graduate' Packand aSelf-employment presentationwith supporting notes for students. Also, the format, advice and paperwork you'll need to run a'Register for Self-employment' session, prior to graduation.

•£1,000- Standard package includes a licence to circulate ourDigitalGraduate pack'Making it out there' to all your students

NEW OPTION- add extra non-visual art/design placements for£300 each e.g. writers, musicians, architects