Assembly Birmingham: opportunities and challenges in a redeveloping city

Anna Francis presented the challenges and opportunities of running an artist led gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, via a number of projects and exhibitions which AirSpace Gallery (where Anna Francis has been a director since 2013) have been undertaking since being established in the city in 2006.
The presentation was within the first panel of the A-N (Artist Information Company) Assembly Birmingham Event in 2018.
'The second a-n Assembly event for 2018 will take place at Eastside Projects in Birmingham, an artist-led gallery space established in 2008. Working in collaboration with artist and curator Antonio Roberts, Assembly Birmingham will address the increasing amount of development taking place across the city and the Midlands as a whole, exploring both the opportunities and the challenges this presents for the visual arts community in the region.
Through a mix of presentations, discussions, artist film and a specially commissioned soundwalk through Digbeth, Assembly Birmingham will explore these competing tensions, reflecting on the opportunities artists have already built for themselves, and consider what investment and change could mean in the future.
Opportunity Cost invites Directors from four Midlands-based galleries and projects to reflect on the journey of establishing their spaces.
Through a series of short presentations the speakers will discuss what factors went into choosing where to set up their spaces and, with investment in redevelopment increasing, what challenges lie ahead. Speakers include: Karolina Korupczynska, Director at Stryx, Cheryl Jones, Director at Grand Union, Anna Francis, Director at Airspace Gallery, and Ryan Hughes, Director of Coventry Biennial.'