About us

Our Impact

Our mission is to be leaders in the arts, striving for equity and supporting artists to excel.

Our vision is for learning disabled people to be recognised, celebrated and valued in the arts and in society.

Sally Hirst

An abstract print created by Ahmed Mohammed in shades of green, blue, red and yellow

Ahmed Mohhamed

A young female artist working on a ceramic pot

Supporting Young People

Artist Amy Ellison stood behind a desk at the Manchester Museum Shop pricing items. She is smiling at the camera.

Cultural Enrichment Programme

Every year the Venture Arts team mentor over 200 artists across a wide range of specialisms. Collaborations and partnerships are integral to what we do. Our studio artists exhibit regionally, nationally and internationally and work is represented in collections worldwide.

We develop young artists through our Young People’s Art Club and school projects, and our ground-breaking Cultural Enrichment Programme of placements in galleries, museums, cultural venues and festivals increases representation and makes our cultural sector a fairer, more equitable place.

We work alongside learning disabled artists to create exciting new collaborative visual art work using a range of art mediums including illustration, photography, moving image, animation, textiles, printing, ceramics, 3D and paper art and multimedia.

Each year we deliver over 1,700 in house visual art sessions. Our studio is a social, safe and inspiring environment where our team of professional artist tutors nurture individual talents and creativity, supporting all our participants to discover and develop their unique artistic identity.

We are passionate about showcasing the amazing work that our young artists create so these projects are regularly exhibited in local high profile venues and spaces like The Lowry, Salford Quays.