On the train to London, in between passing round snacks and thinking of things to draw, we talked to Judith about artist development schemes in East Anglia. For several years Wysing Arts Centre has been running the Escalator scheme. The scheme was initiated by, and is still funded by, the Arts Council. In the scheme’s current form artists apply to take part in residential retreats at Wysing where they are brought together with students from the Royal College of Art curating course.
Judith pointed out that underlying this model of artist development is the notion of the itinerant artist, the neo-liberal operator, willing to travel to wherever the work presents itself, belonging to a shifting network rather than to a particular place. If the participating artists then make the necessary trips to Manifestavenicekasselistanbul they are likely to cross paths with the by-now-qualified curators they were introduced to at Wysing. A career may take flight.
An alternative to this Permanent Mobility model is to support the development of artists in the places where they live and work. This was the approach pursued for over a decade by firstsite. In the era before it moved into a new-build in Colchester town centre, firstsite as an organisation was committed to meeting artists in Essex and Suffolk, learning about their practice and providing support and opportunities. This support was responsive to the needs of the artist rather than an external view of ‘success’. The philosophy was about creating a vibrant, critically engaged culture within the regions rather than sucking the selected few into a global pot.
