“The success of artist-led initiatives…demonstrates perhaps that our institutions could learn a great deal from the way that artists organise themselves. Their outlook is often different, non-linear, more democratic and less structured than traditional visual arts bureaucracies, They are frequently highly energetic, synergetic, inspirational and broadly based: qualities often ground out of large cultural institutions. Haven’t artists earned the right to be trusted, for once, with guiding their own destiny? Real risk taking in the arts is likely to involve removing the burden of accountability from artists and replacing it with a more sophisticated sense of responsibility, developing a working relationship with [other arts professionals] that is based more on trust.”
“Why are artists increasingly left out of the cultural advisory and discussion processes in the UK? …Surely the key players in any discussion about culture are artists and audience, working closely with and supported by mediators and funders? Everyone has a role, but we need to refocus the part played by artists and audiences in the decision-making and – crucially – to pay both for their involvement in the process.”
Mike Collier, VANE Journal 1997, republished in Portrait of the Artist, a-n Publications, 1999, a-n archive
