Established in 1972, the Barbican Arts Group Trust (Bagt) has helped hundreds of artists develop their craft through their affordable studio spaces and outreach programmes offering employment as workshop leaders or mentors.

Originally based in two flower warehouses next to the Barbican, the trust now has two studio buildings, one in Hertford Road, Dalston, which has been in operation since 1989, and another in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, which opened in 2008. With 28 artists currently on their books, this new E17 venue has proved immensly popular, and this week sees the launch of their public project space with an inaugural exhihibition.

Explaining further about ArtWorks Open 2009, Bagt director Mark Wainwright, who has been involved with the trust as an artist since 1988 and in an official role since 1995, tells me: “The idea is that it’s an entirely open exhibition for artists in the London wide and South East area working in all two-dimension media. There were no limitations as to who could apply, and I can guarantee everyone that has submitted a work will be in the show.”

ArtWorks Open 2009 includes a mixture of mediums, such as painting, photography, print and even some relief sculpture and Mark himself will be one of the 150 artists exhibiting.

“I’m showing a screen print on plywood entitled Talkin’ London,” Mark, who studied at the Ruskin School of Drawing at Oxford University, explains. “It’s from a series of prints that reflect something of our current times and situation. This particularly print is taking from a photograph of the side of the post office off Oxford Street which is adorned with quite a dramatic piece of graffitti which reads, ‘One Nation Under CCTV’.”

Mark’s fellow Bagt alumni, Timothy Hyman, an artist and writer who regularly contributes to The Times Literary Supplement, and Charlotte Hodes, the 2006 winner of the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize, will serve as judges for the show. The accomplished pair, who both still work out of Bagt studios, will select two artists to share the prize of a two week exhibition at ArtWorks Project Space.

Summing up the project, Royal College of Art graduate Mark concludes: “I hope if we can get this respone from a space that has no track record then this leads to bigger and better things. What’s next is to encourage people to contact us about having shows and studio space.

“We want to provide a focus for people who want to be involved in art actively, through our workshops or through studio space, and we want to cater across the board, from seasoned artists to those who haven’t ever painted before.”

ArtWorks Open 2009 runs from Thursday, June 11, until Thursday, June 25 at Blackhorse Lane Studios, Walthamstow. Details: www.artworksproject.com