Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp Receives Hauser & Wirth and Spike Island’s Engagement Fellowship for South West-Based Curators
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, 2025. Photo: Anton Larkin
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp Receives Hauser & Wirth and Spike Island’s Engagement Fellowship for South West-Based Curators
Hauser & Wirth and Spike Island are delighted to announce Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp as the recipient of the first Engagement Fellowship for South West-Based Curators 2025 – 2026.
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp will work alongside Spike Island and Hauser & Wirth Somerset’s programming teams to develop and deliver ‘Ecotones: Where the Urban & Rural Embrace,’ a year-long program of events and activities as part of Spike Island’s Engagement program in Bristol, UK.
This opportunity is one of three Engagement Fellowships for South West-Based Curators taking place between 2025 and 2028. The three-year initiative connects Spike Island Engagement and Hauser & Wirth’s Learning programs, aiming to support the professional development of artists, young people and independent art workers based in the region.
Since 2014, Hauser & Wirth has been committed to inclusive Learning programs that instigate a dialogue between art, artists and diverse audiences with a focus on first-hand experience. Our ongoing global projects are centered on three core pillars: to engage with communities; enrich academic programs; and foster better access to art careers through a series of meaningful partnerships.
Each partnership is focused on increasing access, support and expertise for professional development within the arts, as well as engaging broader communities with art and artists. These initiatives allow us to work in tandem with our partner organizations over a sustained period, adapting and developing these programs together in order to create long-term meaningful change and a positive impact.
‘We are incredibly excited to roll out this new three-year partnership with Hauser & Wirth Somerset. From Clevedon to Cornwall, the South West has such a wide breadth of emerging curatorial talent—fellowships like this are integral in fostering it.’—Nicole Yip, Director, Spike Island
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp and Cigdem Aydemir, The Ride, 2019. Courtesy Cigdem Aydemir
About ‘Ecotones: Where the Urban & Rural Embrace’
In ecology, an ecotone is where two different environments meet, embrace and transform one another. This year-long program explores the ecotones between urban and rural environments from an intersectional and inclusive perspective. Questioning pervasive assumptions about urban and rural spaces as divided and disconnected, the project aims to unearth the layers of relationality and connectedness between them. Working alongside interdisciplinary artists, this program invites local young people, queer and disabled communities, and global majority audiences to explore notions of belonging, untold histories and relationships with the more-than-human world, producing alternative modes of connection with their localities.
About Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp is a Bristol-based writer, curator and producer. Her recent Techne-funded doctoral research considered the ethics of interspecies relations in contemporary art and performance from an intersectional perspective.
Fitzgerald-Allsopp has curated and produced projects across visual arts and performance for cultural organizations including Cove Park, Helensburgh, UK; DAS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; CCA, Glasgow, UK; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; In Between Time, Bristol, UK; Cirque Bijou, Bristol, UK; and Smithson Projects, UK.
Fitzgerald-Allsopp’s book ‘Interspecies Performance,’ co-edited with Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, was published in 2024 by Performance Research Books. Her writing has been commissioned by artists and galleries internationally, including SLQS Gallery, London, UK; Co-Prosperity, Chicago IL; Handmark Gallery, Hobart, Australia; and K-Gold Temporary Gallery, Greece.
About Spike Island
Spike Island produces and presents contemporary art and culture in Bristol, UK. Its diverse artistic program includes free major exhibitions, events and engagement activities taking place on-site and online. Championing outstanding work by emerging and underrepresented local, national and international artists, the program enhances access to contemporary art for audiences from all backgrounds.
Alongside its public offer, they support artists through new commissions, over 70 subsidised studios, and sector-leading artist development opportunities that widen access to its program and facilities.
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