Phoenix Brighton runs a gallery, an education programme, residencies, events, and over 100 artists’ studios all under one roof. Working with local, national and international artists, Phoenix aim to provide a place for where imagination, experimentation, and discussion.

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In January 2012, BRINK, will be presenting the works of seventeen local and regional artists in a new showcase at The Tiltyard in Leyes Lane, Kenilworth.

From Monday 16th January until Sunday 11th March 2012, Tiltyard visitors will have the opportunity to view works by established and emerging artists, portraying local landscapes and nature.

Illumini will take you on a journey of Victorian London hauntings, explore the dark side of a city long forgotten. Take torch light tours beneath the haunted streets of the city. The event will launch with a free grand opening night, full of entertainment, costumed performers and light shows. The event will display artworks, props and the history of Victorian culture and hidden spectres, with guided tours and evenings of ghost stories.

What do you do with an empty shopping centre? The Upper Level of the Bargate Shopping Centre, Southampton has fifteen units and ten of them are empty. Two that are occupied are used by creative organisations; Artswork use a small unit as offices (with desk space for a dozen people), and the SoCo Creative Hub uses one large unit as a music workshop and venue.

What would you do with one of the ten empty shops? The challenge is to suggest a creative and sustainable use of one of the spaces. Could your organization relocate here, working alongside Artswork and SoCo in a vibrant city centre creative hub? Could you manage a space, delivering services to the city? Or would you just like a pop-up shop to try something out?

We’re not going to give you the keys – this is just part of the Empty Shops Network’s action research project Pop-Up People, which will produce a report into the creative use of town centre spaces. We’re looking to find out what people would do with space.

The UK’s first professional Shop Front Theatre is to re-open its doors again after closing briefly during the late summer.

Theatre Absolute have announced a new three-year lease for one of Coventry's empty shops has been secured with Coventry City Council. Julia Negus and Chris O’Connell from Theatre Absolute founded the Shop Front Theatre in City Arcade, Coventry in 2009. The 18-month pilot programme was a huge success with over 2,000 people visiting the shop, previously an empty fish & chip shop, as audiences, actors and participants.

Through an initiative by London Borough of Waltham Forest with Design for London, with the owner and tenants of Wood Street Indoor Market, coordinated by Gort Scott Architects, the Market is offering

16 self-contained secure units for free for 3 months to anyone with a great idea of how to use a unit

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She Makes War is the solo project of Laura Kidd - who I recently bought down to artistsandmakers.com HQ in Worthing. She's a multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker and video director, photographer, blogger, and sometime session musician (previously for I Blame Coco, Tricky, Alex Parks and Lil' Chris).

While the artistsandmakers.com office has been reverberating to the turned-up-loud sounds of her grungey dystopian gloom-pop, that's not the most exciting thing about Laura; that's her take on DIY culture and creative collaboration. We spent an evening at Worthing's Coast cafe plotting and planning.

It's one example of something big that's happening in the UK's arts, creative and culture sector right now. Watch this space as artistsandmakers.com (here in pretty much the same format since 2003) changes in 2012. But for now, enjoy something from She Makes War...

Jerwood Visual Arts is delighted to announce the mentors for the 2013 Jerwood Painting Fellowships: Marcus Harvey, Mali Morris RA and Fabian Peake. This is the second year of the Fellowship scheme which aims to promote and support emerging painters in the first five years of their professional practice. The purpose of the Fellowships is to offer structured development opportunities in two distinctive areas: studio practice and professional development.

Many of you may have already seen the knitted phone box currently drawing attention on Steyne Gardens, Worthing.

So...who are The Graffiiti Knitters?