A roster of 16 photographers, including Jodi Bieber, Nadav Kander and Simon Norfolk, has joined a newly-set-up cross-platform agency, BJP can reveal.

The Institute for Artist Management, founded by former VII Photo managing director Frank Evers, is aimed at helping photographers develop their careers beyond editorial assignments and resale.

'We're taking a different approach than photo agencies, which only look after editorial assignment and resale,' Evers tells BJP in a pre-launch interview. 'We're into artist development. We're helping photographers and visual artists be successful in everything they do. We can work on book deals, exhibition plans, funding proposals, films, or even on contract negotiations with fine art galleries. Most photo agencies are not having these conversations. We're like managers.'

Evers left VII Photo in May 2008. 'I wanted to go back to technology,' he says. 'I had a couple of ideas, but one of these needed $25m, and in the current economic climate, I wasn't able to raise that. And then, a year ago, came up the idea of artist management.'

'We've been operating in stealth mode for the last month and a half, but we're now officially launching. Most of our clients are already aware of our existence, but we can now officially unveils our roster of artists.'

Initially, the Institute, as it is being referred to, will represent 16 photographers - Jodi Bieber, Rena Effendi, Lauren Greenfield, Rob Hornstra, Nadav Kander, Gillian Laub, James Longley, Gerd Ludwig, Joshua Lutz, Amanda Micheli, Richard Mosse, Zed Nelson, Jehad Nga, Simon Norfolk, James Pomerantz and Paul Shambroom.

'I know a lot of these people,' says Evers. 'They are photographers whose work I'm attracted to. They are very deep thinkers and all use a documentarian approach.'
The Institute is still in discussions with five other photographers, with further announcements expected for the 'days and weeks to come'.

'We take each photographer as he or she is,' adds Evers. 'For example, Jodi Bieber, we understand her long-term project. We understand what she wants to do. Each artist is very different. Some want to be in the fine art space, others in the commercial space. However, they all have an itch for photography. And we're helping them achieve what they want to do.'

While the Institute now exclusively represents the majority to its initial 16 photographers, some retain their current partners. 'They are some who have existing partners. We're not asking them to cut these ties,' says Evers. 'In fact, we're working with these partners. Our focus is very much on the macro, the overall profile of these artists. With Zed Nelson, for example, we're getting his book on the radio, in the magazines. It's really about filling most of the gaps. It's about providing the right platform for these photographers.'

He continues: 'We're trying to identify more opportunities for them. Story telling is very different today than it was five years ago. We find that clients are not just vertical now. They have multiple platforms that need to be catered for. We can help them with this.'

An early example of the Institute's cross platform work was with The New York Times. 'We did something about Dubai with them,' says Evers. 'The paper's Lens blog published a portfolio of work by Greenfield [Ever's wife]. But it wasn't just about doing a story on the blog. We've worked with James Estrin to develop a news story about Dubai. We gave him the photographs, and it made the front page of the paper and was on the homepage of the site. The New York Times got an amazing magazine story, and it got more comments than any before,' he claims.

Estrin is a New York Times photographer and one of the editors of Lens, a blog dedicated to photography.

Ever adds: 'I find myself talking not only to the editors, but also to a magazine's web and media people. For example, I'm working right now with a large media company, which owns an important newspaper, about a cross-platform project with involves filmmaking, photography, book and magazine publishing, as well as the web. All of these opportunities are coming from one single editorial idea.'

The Institute currently employs four people, including Matt Shonfeld, who is director of European sales and operations. 'We also have two people in Los Angeles with me,' says Evers. 'They take care of the administration and marketing. 'And we're looking to hire someone in New York, but we still haven't found the right person.'

Evers expects to employ up to seven staffers by the end of January, to represent 20 photographers. The Institute will also be working on a series of educational initiatives on 'how we do what we do.'

For more information, visit instituteartistmanagement.com.