The past 12 months have been one of challenges but also of significant new opportunities for Dorset Visual Arts and its membership. 

In April 2025, we successfully completed the first year of exhibition programming The Sherborne. Six headline exhibitions, films, education tours, workshops, installing sculptures, additional exhibitions, the return of Making Dorset and partnership support for film programming and other cultural activity created an exceptionally busy time which raised the profile of DVA, its members and the Dorset visual arts community across the region. Our final work at the project was the end of year showcase for Yeovil College, held in the Pavilion, supporting young emerging talent and forging important links with one of the main colleges in the area.

We welcomed four new trustees in November 2024. Thanks to their advice and guidance we have been able to improve our governance, strategic planning and offer to our members, in line with our charitable objectives.

Responding to feedback from DVA Members in our first ever member survey in 2024, we implemented many initiatives to support Dorset creatives around three key strands/demands - more exhibition opportunities, support and networking. 

We have been able to simplify our Membership structure to be more inclusive and accessible. Memberships have grown to 250, a record in a none-DAW year, the highest since Covid, and is set to exceed 300 in 2025-26.

This formed an important basis for our new curated project programme, DVAtions. DVAtions was initially conceived as an alternative project to run at the same time as Dorset Art Weeks in the non-DAW year, but quickly evolved into a region-by-region, demand-led approach, enabling us to develop projects in response to ideas, localised funding or most importantly, rural collaboration and partnerships.

DVA is developing a Digital strategy with advice and guidance from Digital Culture Network. As well as relaunching the DAW website, we plan to relaunch the DVA site in 2026, keeping the DAW site separate because of its branding and identity and ease of use for audiences. The Digital strategy will incorporate social media, access needs, public bulletins, event ticketing, analysis and look at other areas for development through 2026. 

Our main projects have been:

Biophilia - a partnership with Arts in Hospital and The Arborealists at Dorset County Hospital. This exhibition invited artists from within a 40-mile radius of Dorchester to consider the notion of health and creative wellbeing through the theme of ‘Biophilia’. The exhibition tied in with Creative Health and Wellbeing week, showing work from 35 artists. In July, it travelled to Bath Royal United Hospital with an expanded show. It will then go to Taunton Musgrove in January 2026. There is also interest from Bristol Southmead, Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership.

Droves & Downs - this project secured Dorset Council Community and Culture funding and in partnership with Cranborne Chase National Landscape, awarded four bursaries for artists to respond to the history, ecology and culture of Cranborne Chase National Landscape. The exhibition will be shown at Shaftesbury Arts Centre in November 2025 with a second leg in discussion for the Museum of East Dorset in 2026, and a possible link to Towns of Culture. We received 37 applications for the bursaries, many from younger and emerging artists. It raises a question around the amount of support needed from creatives and our capacity to help them.

In Our Nature - in line with our commitment to Culture Declares, this exhibition followed on from 2024’s ‘The Instinct of Hope’ with another DVA Members-only opportunity held at Durlston Country Park. We made a small amount of income from sales but an opportunity like this should seek to secure project funding and sponsorship in the future. DCP are a good partner with a well-equipped gallery in one of the most impressive and stunning locations in the county and a remit that includes access, nature and education in its programming. Over 80 works were selected by a panel of judges and the exhibition was shown during the traditional Dorset Art Weeks window, with approx 2,000 visitors over 16 days.

The Dorset Open - this inaugural initiative is a partnership between DVA, Dorset Museum & Art Gallery and 6 other cultural partners, building on the legacy of The Dorchester Open and The Evolver Prize. Nearly 600 submissions were received, with 138 works selected by a panel of 5 experts from the arts. It marks the start of an important partnership between DVA and DMAG, and an opportunity for DVA members to engage with the collections, spaces and resources at DMAG to inform research and creative development. 

Artist Support

We also delivered 4 DVA Masterclasses, support sessions with Gillian Taylor to help artists with different aspects of marketing and promoting themselves, covering topics such as Tell Your Story, Photographing your Work, Using Social Media and E-bulletins. We have also provided informal mentoring for several artists, signposting and supported two placements with students at Bath Spa University - Elliot Perfect and Taryn Thomas. A mentoring-led approach to support is proposed for 2026 alongside further Masterclasses.

Networking

Monthly e-bulletins continued with an increased focus on promoting our own opportunities alongside those from around the region and other profiling and sector updates. We held our first DVA social at The Duchess of Cornwall in Poundbury in early 2025 and a further social in September which also acted as a Q+A for DAW 26 participation. 

A further gathering was arranged during In Our Nature and another one will be held in Shaftesbury during the Droves & Downs exhibition in November.  

DVA attends regular sessions held by cultural leaders and stakeholders in the county, often with Arts Development Company and Dorset Council, to contribute to and advocate for our artist members, to inform planning for cultural activity, and to understand current sector challenges. We also regularly attend events and openings to support the network and to develop collaborations.

After carefully reviewing the production and delivery of Dorset Art Weeks, it was announced that DAW would become an annual event from 2026. The event's headline sponsors, Hall & Woodhouse, committed to supporting the event for the next 3 years. This all provides several key benefits - more opportunities to promote artists and for them to receive exposure at their creative source, for audiences to engage annually with our flagship event, and to provide more consistency across our own organisation and financial planning. 

We are also looking at the 2027 dates and announcing those as early as possible, enabling cultural organisations and other spaces to plan ahead and for different types of events and experiences to take part. This will enable DAW to evolve its focus, and create a more easily navigable event with a stronger focus on the participants. This will allow DVA to simultaneously develop its DVAtions programme and develop curated projects which align with the County Cultural Strategy, developing ambition and quality.

Steps have also been taken to overview the delivery of the event and improve certain areas such as roadsigns, press marketing and most importantly, a brand new website which launched in September. This has a focus on clearer and easier to access information for artists taking part as well as for audiences. This includes comprehensive FAQs, resources, a guide to taking part and better venue matching. For visitors, there will be improved mapping, Visitor FAQs and tools for visit planning. The website will also work on different devices and should remove the need for the Art Weeks App next year.