Jaime Humphreys: UK / Japan
Name of your organisation: Youkobo Art Space
Website of your organisation: www.youkobo.co.jp
How is your organisation funded?
Youkobo is privately funded and at present artists are required to pay for the use of our facilities. We do offer assistance where possible to artists applying for grants and funding.
We also receive funding for a limited number of events and projects organized by Youkobo. One example is the exchange exhibition we organized in Istanbul, Ankara, Kyoto, and Tokyo for which we received funding from the Pola Art Foundation. We also received funding from the Nomura International Foundation and The Daiwa Foundation for a traveling artist show at Queens Street Studios Gallery in Belfast and at Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo.
Explain what your organisation is about (to somebody who does not know about it).
Youkobo Art Space is an independent and dynamic creative center. It provides a unique space for wide-ranging international exchange and cross-cultural experience, where foreign and domestic artists and people from the local community can meet and communicate with one another through exhibitions, workshops, lectures, and a variety of other events, using Youkobo’s residencies, gallery, and community lounge.
The AIR program at Youkobo is focused on providing overseas artists with the opportunity to expand the scope of their activities through a prolonged stay in the metropolis of Tokyo. In addition, it also provides the people of the area with an opportunity to experience and enjoy a variety of genres of contemporary art.
Describe how your organisation is engaged in international cooperation and exchange.
Youkobo has been an active participant in a number of art symposiums and conferences Japan with the aim of building its network of artists and other people involved in the arts. These have included the Fujino International Art Symposium, Nasu International Sculpture Symposium, Tachikawa International Art Exhibition, Yokohama Art Museum Art Gallery, and traveling group exhibitions in Tokyo, Kyoto, Istanbul, Ireland, and Ankara.
Since the full-scale start of our Artist-in-residence program in 2001, we have become an official member of Res Artis, participating at General Meetings held in Australia in 2004, and again in Germany in 2005. The results of Youkobo’s efforts have been recognized in the recent election of our co-director, Tatsuhiko Murata, as a leading Res Artis board member.
We are also an active participant in the Intra-Asia Network and J-AIR Network Forum Committee, which aim to strengthen AIR programs and build a strong network of support for art activities in Japan and in Asia as a whole. We have already begun making direct connections with other AIR programs both in Japan and overseas such as Duende AIR in Rotterdam, and Kultuurikauppila AIR in Finland.
Describe how your art space relates to the local community. If you are about to open an art space, explain how you related to the local community in your previous experiences.
We are actively involved in the local community through the organization of a wide variety of activities. Youkobo Art Space serves as the office of the NPO NishiOgi Machi MEDIA which is working towards the revitalization of the local community and encouraging international communication though artistic activity. NishiOgi Machi MEDIA has sponsored a number of programs organized in connection with Youkobo including ‘Trolls in the Park’, an annual outdoor art exhibition at Zempukuji Park in the local area, and Art Kids, a program of collaborative creative activity between artists and local schoolchildren.
Through this link with NishiOgi Machi MEDIA, there are many more opportunities for resident artists to participate on a local level, either leading workshops at elementary schools, or participating in annual events. There is also an opportunity for artists to take workshops in Noh Dance, as Youkobo is also involved in the organization of an annual Takigi (performed by firelight) Noh outdoor performance held at Igusa Hachiman Shrine.
Youkobo also has a growing resource library for resident and local artists to research about AIRs and art-related symposiums in Japan and overseas.
What are the major internal and external challenges your organisation is facing?
For independent creative art spaces like Youkobo in Japan, there are very few avenues through which to secure funding to sustain our activities.
Youkobo does not have strong financial backing. And yet, the dilemma is that in order to get continual support from the Japanese government, the choices we make in terms of who we accept on our program will be limited to those artists that can clearly be recognized as successful and established. This goes against our aims as an organization, to support emerging artists.
In relation to this, the scope of exchange programs is sometimes limited in that as an independent creative art space it is difficult to offer the same support for artists as our European counterparts who have strong financial backing.
What are the main achievments and strengths of your organisation?
Perhaps our biggest achievement is maintaining a high level of satisfaction from the artists that reside with us. Our AIR program is perhaps unique in Japan in that we can accommodate artists for long residence periods, up to six months.
We offer a-lot of support for the artists that stay with us, trying to accommodate each artist’s professional needs through the strong network that we have built up on a local and national level.
We have also enjoyed success in the various exchanges that we have organized, such as the Tokyo-Belfast exhibition, and the Istanbul-Tokyo exhibition. Our annual outdoor art exhibition ‘Trolls in the Park’, is seeing increasing popularity and greater participation from international artists; This year there are five international artists and five Japanese artists participating.
We have achieved success in our involvement with Res Artis and the J-AIR Network Forum committee, where the information shared with other like-minded organizations in the Res Artis Network can be utilized in the J-AIR discussions.
