- Venue
- The Spa
- Location
- North East England
Black Dogs was pleased to receive an a-n bursary to attend the Art Party Conference. Here are some of our thoughts form the day.
VIEW 1: IN SUM
It was good to see so many artists and groups come together for an event that was about more than just self-promotion. The lack of definition and broad agenda had the benefit of making it feel quite open and collaborative. That said, there was a distinct feeling of preaching to the choir which led to questions about who the audience for the event were. Some of the more nuanced discussions about that which constitutes artistic/aesthetic education, and alternative models or radical upheavals in the face of cuts were missing. So the event had a fairly conservative reformist vibe overall, despite its announcement as being anarchic and ‘political’. Still, it was a pleasant outing and, as always, a good chance to meet and chat with like-minded artists. I guess the question is how many opportunities to meet and chat do we need to have before some concrete organising and ‘becoming the change we want to see’ happens.
VIEW 2: A BIT LONGER
Our first impression of the Art Party Conference was a hodgepodge of stalls – artists, collectives, education organisations and advocacy groups. Some came with a clear message (or at least some printed literature). Others (including ourselves) were keen to see what the day would become. The event tagline we’d picked up on was: “what is the future of the arts in today’s climate of spending cuts and changes to the education system?” Education was high on the agenda, but notwithstanding a-n’s contributions, there was not as much focus on funding cuts and existing as an artist post formal education.
In the main hall things kicked off with Bob and Roberta Smith reading his ‘Letter to Michael Gove’. It was funny and well argued, still we couldn’t help wondering whether slagging off Michael Gove’s dress sense would endear him to the letter’s wider criticisms. Then Lesley Butterworth from the NSEAD expounded the value of art and design in school and outlined the NSEAD’s current work attempting, as we understood it, to engage with Gove’s policy but mitigate it’s pernicious effects. It’s a false simplification but the two provocations made me think about a contrast between artists, who like to poke fun and play with ideas, and educationalists who must be pragmatic about a current political climate based upon targets, outcomes and economic value.
Artists and educationalists are, of course, often the same people (and members of our group Black Dogs are both) but the sense of speaking different languages or holding different frames of reference pervaded the ‘conversation’ event “How should art be taught in schools?” Critic Mark Butterworth recalled Basic Design’s role in revolutionising art education in the 1950s; Sheila McGregor, Director of Axis, gave an anecdote about her daughter retrospectively making GCSE course work; Sam Cairns of the Cultural Learning Alliance asked “why teach art” (because it’s a legal requirement and improves health and economic outcomes for both child and society) and artist Richard Wentworth situated art more broadly, asking questions as diverse as “why is Europe rich?” (because of it’s material resources) and considering the development of flying, cinema and cubism alongside one another. His contribution was the most engaging and entertaining but at times was circuitous. It felt rather like four individuals saying their piece, not a conversation. This was a shame and perhaps a missed opportunity given the range of people in the room. One audience response related to the value of the now defunct Creative Partnerships scheme which provided a link between the world of education and of the professional artist. A potentially interesting discussion about whether the arts should be considered cross-curricular, or if this risks foregrounding a kind of non-specific, generalised creativity at the expense of specific and critical artistic enquiry was unfortunately cut short due to lack of time. The discussion also touched on the issue of class and how people from middle class backgrounds will probably have access to culture outside the classroom but that schools have a vital role to give creative opportunities to everyone.
Throughout the event, as well as provocations from advocacy and education organisations there were contributions from well known artists telling us, for example, what turned them on to art in the first place. This was enjoyable, particularly if there was an artist whose work you like (we were excited to hear John Smith talk and see his films), but how did it sit with the other artists attending? Is it necessary to have figureheads? Wouldn’t it be better to have contributions from a broader swathe of artists following different routes and with varied criteria of what being successful means? This, we suppose, was the point of the ‘stands’ (that hodgepodge that first struck us) and of some of the surrounding programming such as contributions from Crescent Arts studio holders and a video screening programmed by Axis, including wonderful work from Robert Forster, Mitra Saboury and Black Dogs’ very own Yvonne Carmichael. The beauty of the event was that you could navigate your own way through it. We had a great time talking to other artists and groups, both that we had and hadn’t met before. The downside was that the sheer mass of stuff going on meant that there was not a sense of a collective umph, of galvanising disparate groups to a common aim. Perhaps this will come later, from conversations that began in Scarborough. Several people we spoke to expressed a wish to see the event happen again – and we’ve seen the event variously referred to as ‘inaugural’ and ‘the first of it’s kind. Plus there will be a documentary film to follow from the event. Others have already commented on the tension between being part of a conference and part of an artwork/performance/film by the artist Bob and Roberta Smith. However if the film acts to further promote the arts and education and invites more debate, then we will look forward to seeing it.
AND A FEW MORE THOUGHTS
“All of the conversation about education made me think back to my own primary-schooling and doing activities including clay, weaving and batik. I took these for granted and didn’t think of this as ‘art’ but it definitely gave me a sense of my own agency and ability to create things.”
“The passion speakers and attendees had about the value of the arts was palpable, along with their derision for current government policy. But was it a case of preaching to the converted?”
“I like the idea of a mass of artists descending on a space and taking it over for the day, so from that point of view it was great.”
“I couldn’t help feeling a bit like I was on a ferry; wandering around a vast, carpeted space full of people and wondering if I was missing the best of the entertainment. Plus there were lots of bars!”
“It was good that organisations like a-n and Axis offered bursaries, allowing some artists to attend who might not have been able to otherwise.”
