Helping visual artists thrive and connect with opportunities

HOW I CAN HELP

About Me!

Hello, I am Cristiana Bottigella.
I am an artist mentor & advisor with 20 years of international experience in working with visual artists, particularly those who have socially engaged practices.
My work involves mentoring, advising and signposting artists in practice development and identifying opportunities; website re-design; fundraising & sustainability;  community engagement and international opportunities.
I have CDP certificates in ‘Mentoring the next creative generation’ and in ‘Coaching & Mentoring’. I collaborate with art organisations and agencies like hARTslane and  ArtQuest, to provide 1-to-1 advice and mentoring to artists.
After a degree in contemporary art history and an MA in art management for the visual arts in Milan, I started working at the Cittadellarte – Pistoletto Foundation, where I established and headed the UNIDEE Artists in Residence programmebetween 2000 and 2009. Working with Michelangelo Pistoletto broadenedmy vision of the artist’s role in society and expanded my understanding ofwhat art is and can do.
After moving to London in 2009 and completing an MA in cultural policy with a dissertation on social enterprises in the cultural sector, in 2011 I co-founded Bait al Karama withFatima Kaddumy (local activist) and Beatrice Catanzaro (artist), a women-ledPalestinian cookery school in the heart of the Old City of Nablus, Palestine.Travelling back and forth between London and Nablus for a few years was afantastic opportunity to explore the region, its cultural heritage and foodcustoms. I was in charge of international fundraising and marketing as well asraising awareness about this under-represented area of gastronomy. The projectsits somewhere between art and international development and has been featuredin many exhibitions, award nominations and press.
In 2012, I co-founded and became director of hARTslane,an independent art organisation and project space focusing on community andparticipation. We create and produce meaningful art projects that bring peopletogether and we strive for a more democratic and transparent art system.
Since December 2019, I have also been a director at Artmongers, anart enterprise that creates change-making murals through participatory practiceand is the founder of the London School of Muralism. My role includes strategicplanning, development and fundraising, although I am not involved in theday-to-day running of the organisation or painting!
Between 2020 and 2021, I produced two series of Artists Interviews. With the Lockdown Chronicles, Iwanted to  reach out to artists during this unprecedented times, whilstoffering them an opportunity to connect and share their personal experiences.Thanks to funding from Arts Council England, I interviewed 10 artists with asocial practice to find out about their work and how they sustain theircreative lives. You can read them here. 
For more information about my journey in the art world, please visit my LinkedIn profile.

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