What if we completely redesigned the degree show format?

As degree show season approaches, artist, curator and Short Supply co-director Mollie Balshaw calls for a shake-up. In this excerpt from 517 DEGREES – a new publication marking five years of the MADE IT graduate art prize – Mollie explores how degree shows are stuck in outdated traditions, and imagines what they could become. With a focus on access, collaboration and joy, they champion a future where emerging artists are empowered to take the lead.

Degree show season is a very particular moment in time for creative students. It’s a scramble to make the most impressive (and probably most expensive) piece of work you’ve ever made. Beyond the obvious access problems this process perpetuates (students with more money can afford to take more risks), and in many ways this ironically becoming the perfect experience to train emerging artists for the conditions they’ll face out in the art world, it makes me question what exactly this is meant to achieve?

If it’s meant to be a polished spectacle to impress the art world, where professionals will supposedly come to scope out what you’ve done, and you get to begin that transition out of academia and into the art world, I wonder just how many students actually experience this. It seems more and more that the professional art world isn’t even showing up, let alone investing in students’ learning or buying their work, and they’re not offering opportunities like studio spaces or exhibitions.

Who are degree shows really for?

If it’s meant to be a genuine celebration of the students’ work, their growth, and their unique voices, why is every year treated with the same homogeneous approach? Students are given little control over what should be theirs to shape – how the show is curated, what they exhibit, the narrative they wish to create. Instead, it’s mediated by tutors who “know better.” I’m not sure who it’s serving for the shows to look slick and perfect, but it’s implied they are delivered this way to keep up an important industry standard… one that is so out of date, that perhaps it’s started to feel like touching it would be inappropriate, to damage something sacred, like signing off a new Banksy in St Paul’s Cathedral.

It’s no secret that formal art courses are underfunded, understaffed, lacking in time, support, and resources, and because of this the degree show too often fails to deliver on its promises.

2024's Made It exhibition cohort

Alternative education models on the rise

In recent years, particularly since 2020, we’ve seen a boom in alternative education models. They’re all at it – Tracey Emin has started a painting school in Margate, Mark Leckey an art school in Redruth (both neglecting to acknowledge that despite their original working-class backgrounds, they might have some art world privilege which makes their attempts to actually ‘shake up’ the arts education system a little defunct…) and more seasoned models like Turps Art School, The Other MA (TOMA), Open School East, The Collective Studio (by The Newbridge Project), Make Your Own Masters (MYOM) and School of the Damned.

The knowledge these various schools can offer is diverse and robust, each addressing different elements of what formal education lacks, but certainly having their own unique pitfalls as well. Nonetheless, I can’t help but feel like if all of these alt-schools got together and made one mega school - the pop supergroup of art schools if you will – then arts education would really have a shot at flourishing widespread. That’s one for another day.

Imagining something new

So, what exactly do I imagine for the future of degree show season? In an industry which is supposed to be all about the cultivation of ideas, why do we keep going back to that same white room?

It’s about that time. Let’s bring some imagination back into play.

Here’s my alt-degree show ‘Top of the Pops’:

Billboards for 'Made It' 2023, photography by Joe Smith

Play, risk and collaboration

In short, I see a future of students who are able to run amok, but in the most productive and collaborative way. Let them make the experience more bloody fun. Do this by taking the pressure off and being more realistic about what these shows achieve, and let them call the shots. Better yet, not just encouraging them to self-organise, but supporting them in doing that using the resources, influence and power you have as an institution.

Students who are empowered with the ability to look around at each other and see the strengths of their peers as their own strength would make for more dynamic, meaningful, and ultimately more memorable experiences for both artist and viewer. It might even make a dent in the art world one day.

Self-organised degree shows don’t just offer students creative control though – they offer ownership over their transition into the art world. Instead of stepping into it blind, they get to test the waters, to understand what they’re up against, and to flex their muscles in a way that’s both authentic and impressive to the professionals who do care. It becomes a learning experience with real stakes, one that equips students with the skills they’ll actually need once they’ve left the sheltered confines of academia.

This not only takes the pressure off universities, but serves as a better learning experience for students. They would learn to problem-solve, confront real-world challenges, and get a head start on what it’s like to exist as an artist post-graduation.

Final thoughts: enjoy it while it lasts

In my most hopeful moments, I imagine the multitude of ways that art gives people permission to be playful. I think this playfulness is what I’m seeking from degree shows; I want creative students to enjoy them more and take risks without fear of judgement, and I want people who come to see them to not fret over ‘getting it’.

After all, that period of time is all so temporary. While they have that small window of opportunity to be imaginative (and maybe inspire others to see the world a bit differently too), I say let them grab the bull by the horns. Do the dance, have the show on the bus, be brave. Enjoy it while it lasts.