A EUROPE-wide project aimed at providing “studios of sanctuary” for refugee artists is to be led by Edinburgh Printmakers.

The three-year art programme has secured £178,000 funding from Creative Europe to offer space to refugee and asylum seeking artists in order to give them greater recognition.

Up to 30 artists will have the chance to work in a print medium of their choice at five printmaking studios across Europe, including Edinburgh Printmakers, the UK’s first open-access print studio.

Work with refugee and migrant artists is currently largely focused on the outreach and engagement programmes run by major galleries but the new project is intended to bring the work “in from the margins” to mainstream programming.

An engagement programme with refugees, schools and wider communities will run alongside the residencies and the contribution that refugees and migrant communities make to wider society will be celebrated through exchanges of their work, exhibitions and multi-disciplinary events.

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“The emphasis of the project is to platform artists, bringing them from the margins to the heart of mainstream cultural programming,” said Edinburgh Printmakers’ CEO Janet Archer.

“It is about supporting them to develop their practice and make high-quality work, and platforming this work to wider audiences. In From The Margins seeks to break down barriers and create opportunities for refugee artists and local communities to share and to learn from each other while being supported by the resources and expertise of print studios.”

Archer said the programme would develop the Studios of Sanctuary model which originated in Yorkshire in response to the work of migrant Mohammad Barrangi, an artist and former paralympian from Iran who became resident artist at The Art House in Wakefield in 2018. Barrangi’s exhibition Wonderland will be the first solo show at Edinburgh Printmakers in 2022.

He said: “I arrived in Wakefield in 2018 and my time at the studio in The Art House was a very hopeful and motivating moment for me. Arriving in the UK as a newcomer and being able to continue my artistic work made a huge difference. The circumstances of the residency that were given to me made continuing my artistic career so much easier. Projects like In From The Margins are very promising and fruitful for people arriving in a new country as immigrants.”

To find out more visit the website at www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk