About — The Auxiliary

The Auxiliary Project Space is an artist-led National Portfolio Organisation. Based in a 11,000 sq ft warehouse including artist studios, exhibition and workshop space, it emphasises artistic development, large scale exhibitions and community participation. The Auxiliary will undergo a major refurbishment in May 2024, thanks to the DCMS Cultural Development Fund and Mayoral Development Fund.

Click on the menus to get a better idea of what we do and how we do it.

How MAW works.
MAW is a visual arts festival, with a curated core programme by Liam Slevin, Kypros Kypraniou and other invited guest curators. Alongside the core programme there is an open invitation to organisations and self organising artists to be included in the programme brochure.
Each year the festival sets out a set of themes and ideas explored under an overarching title. Autonomous spaces are welcome to also explore these ideas but this isn't a requisite to participation.
MAW's core programme invites a mix of regional and inter/national artists. We work with artists at all levels.
Through the core programme, we use our own space (The Auxiliary) as well as numerous pop-up spaces across the town. Access to space changes, so each year the festival manifests itself in various spaces.
Each year we offer a number of open calls. The largest is the North East Open Call. This is for artists at all levels and includes various support mechanisms. Each year we try to reduce the workload of artists, because as artists ourselves, we understand the time constraints and frustration that open calls can present.
The festival has a budget for 50k for its programme. 40% is spent between the NEOC and New graduate Award, thus supporting as much NE based artists as possible.
Space, we offer local and regional artists exhibition space through open calls. Our main gallery programme is curated by Liam Slevin, with nominally a year's worth of exhibitions planned. If you have an idea, talk to Liam, but please understand it's challenging to support everyone.
Bid writing support. We continue to work closely with Arts Council to develop meaningful ways of engaging artists and breaking down the heady Arts Council process and intimidating Grantium portal.
Artist fees. If we show your work at an Auxiliary curated exhibition, you’ll get a minimum of £250. We see this as a day rate, paying you to come and drop off a work.
Talks, if you deliver a talk at one of our events, we offer a fee £150.
Chats. The real work. We are available to talk through artist projects & proposals, help sign posts and identify other funding opportunities.
Networking, often viewed as a dirty word, again we’re here and happy to engage and signpost. As we grow and slowly self- institutionalise , and ultimately become gatekeepers we must remember where we’ve started and our responsibility to artists. So let's get a heap of keys cut and open as many gates and doors as possible.
Small commissions. Through MAW/SAW open calls, we sometimes offer small commissions (1k-3k) Check Socials for updates and news.
Big commissions. Check back on the FORGED project.

Our Team

Liam Slevin - Artistic Director

Liam Slevin is the artistic director of Middlesbrough Art Week. After graduating with a Fine Art degree from Limerick University in 2007, Liam opened his first gallery, theSPACE, in Cork city. In 2009 he opened TACTIC gallery, the first curator led gallery space in Ireland outside Dublin. In 2011 he moved to Berlin and ran several pop up spaces including Klo, and worked with groups such as Salon Bruit and NK Studios. He has taken part in residencies in Iceland, Detroit and Berlin. He moved to Tees Valley in 2016. Liam devises and manages the artistic programme of the The Auxiliary and the Middlesbrough Art Week.
Anna Byrne - Strategy & Operations Director

Anna Byrne studied scriptwriting and film at Galway Institute of Technology. After graduating she worked in costume and set design in theatre and directed several short films. She moved to Berlin in 2011 to focus on writing and film making. She moved to Tees Valley in 2016. She is the managing director of The Auxiliary and Middlesbrough Art Weekender
Rachel Deakin - Marketing & Comms Manager

Rachel Deakin is an artist based in Middlesbrough, her projects are inspired by her immediate environment and include photography, collage, found objects and elements of the everyday. Rachel is co-founder of photography collective WAX and studio holder at The Auxiliary Project Space.
Will Hughes - Project Manager

Will Hughes is a freelance project manager at the Auxiliary and a multi-disciplinary artist based in Teesside. Their work is conceptually driven by their lived experiences as a queer, non-binary person in the UK, mixing pop culture references with material language to construct moments. They wish to seduce the viewer through often using repetitive mechanical movement, glossy/shiny surfaces and the lens of glamour as a means of storytelling.
Sue Loughlin - Community Connector

Sue Loughlin is an artist whose work is rooted in sculpture, painting and installation, and encompasses education, social engagement, curation and project production. Sue works extensively with art organisations and Cultural Learning Partnerships across the North East and is the founder of MOTHEROTHER, a mutually supportive network for artist parents and carers in the region and has 15 years of experience delivering and leading art education both regionally and internationally. Sue was awarded a Creative Development Fellowship by Sunderland Culture in 2019, completed The NewBridge Project's Collective Studio Programme in 2020, and the UNION 23 Social Practitioner Programme from the Northern School of Creativity and Activism in 2023.
Fiona Cameron - Marketing Assistant

Fiona Cameron studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Art. Her practice is multi-disciplinary ranging from painting and drawing to installation. Fiona has recently exhibited in shows such as Spaghetti Factory’s ‘Now that’s what I call Art 3’, Pineapple Black’s ‘Summer Show’ and The Word’s exhibition as part of Middlesbrough Art Week 2023