Liverpool’s dot-art celebrates 15 years and also welcomes new high-profile board member

dot-art has welcomed legendary Liverpool broadcaster Roger Phillips, who last year left BBC Radio Merseyside after 42 years, to their board, as they celebrate their 15^th birthday.

As a social enterprise with artists at its heart, dot art have paid almost half a million pounds directly to local artists, through sales, commissions and fees.

Founded by Lucy Byrne in Liverpool in 2006, dot-art’s mission is to support visual artists and champion art as an integral part of everyday life. Over the past 15 years, dot-art has become a key organisation within Merseyside’s arts and culture sector, supporting local artists, working with businesses to put art in the workplace and public realm, running art classes, selling locally sourced, affordable art, and working with schools and community groups in the city region. 

dot-art has provided long term support to over 500 artists through a unique membership scheme which gives access to a package of support and advice, creating and developing artists’ careers. They have hosted over 50 exhibitions of local artists work across galleries, partner venues and other external locations, and rented more than 700 works of art to local businesses. They have employed 25 artist tutors and completed over 25,000 hours of teaching, with artist members teaching classes across a multitude of inspiring local venues.

They have engaged over 8000 schoolchildren and supported over 400 teachers, working to improve the quality of pupils’ art experiences through dot-art Schools, the annual inter-schools art competition. Since the launch of Liverpool Art Fair in 2012, it has shown over 1700 local artists work and welcomed over 50,000 visitors to the event. dot-art has been instrumental in over 30 public and corporate art projects, over the last 15 years, including The Liverpool Plinth, launched in 2017 and Flag it Up, from 2020 onwards.

Lucy said:

“While the pandemic has impacted dramatically on the last 12 months and will continue to do so for some time, there is still much to celebrate. Despite many ups and downs, we have not only survived, but thrived, growing year on year and now sustaining five jobs and a range of temporary roles alongside supporting over 100 freelance artists in their careers. I’d like to thank everyone who has made this possible!” 

Roger Phillips added:

“I’m proud to be joining the board of dot-art because it has a philosophy I’m so in tune with – it is there for everyone: the work in schools is so important; the offering of space for artists; the classes; the support for artists. It’s an all-encompassing offering, unsurprisingly founded by a woman – perhaps helping to alter the balance away from art being often so much a man’s world. In every way, dot-art thinks outside the box.”

For more info on dot art visit the website here.