MEASURING THE EXPERIENCE #19
Because they are not primarily concerned with business values or running their organisations in ways which mirror the way mainstream institutions operate, artist-led organisations may not show a willingness to fulfil the range of expectations and aspirations funding bodies and others have for them. There is, therefore, a potential for conflict between artists and funders. Although funders may perceive that the solution lies in encouraging artists to be more businesslike through providing of training and advice from experts, artists may feel that this doesn’t acknowledge the inherent value of their creative practice or their reasons for pursuing it.
Looking across at current attitudes within the business world provides some useful cross references, in terms of locating artist-led practices within current arts strategies. Sir Ernest Hall has noted that in order to be a successful entrepreneur “one needs to think like an artist”.[1] Such a philosophy is held by many management specialists who are encouraging businesses to adopt artistic approaches to their thinking and the organisation of work.[2] It is based on the view that ‘ideas’ and having the ability to think creatively, to adapt and change according to new circumstances, are more relevant to business success than the implementation of proscribed organisational structures or hierarchies.
Businesses are encouraged nowadays to focus on the dynamics which occur when people get together for the express purpose of developing ideas, and are encouraged to think in ways which are very different from those which occur when working in isolation. Examples include equating ‘managing’ a business with running a carnival, jazz jamming sessions and presenting improvisational theatre. Businesses should expect to undertake ‘creative audits’ of their organisation, to identify how and where ideas are developed and thus to maximise creative potential within it… The term “creative capital” is used to describe the innovation which arises from investing in people’s ideas.[3]
Artist-led organisations in general are cited within the case studies as having the ability to generate this essential resource. They are said to demonstrate “ambitious, innovative approaches to the creation and presentation of work” (TEA), to be “interestingly non-institutional, very productive and [gain] the respect and support of audiences and artists” (TEA), “pro-actively seeking out new areas of work, being experimental and risk taking in order to produce work that breaks new ground” (The Pioneers), “take greater risks… have a stronger sense of artistic vision and direction” (Space Explorations), “play an active role in stimulating and contributing to debates around specific areas of visual arts practice” (Space Explorations) and “have a passion which drives them to succeed” (ArtSway).
In artist-led organisations, because artists do their own mediating, negotiation, fundraising, etc, other professionals become engaged with the process. Although an immediate outcome may be focused on decisions to allocate resources to a specific project, the dynamics of such a situation provide the potential other kinds of outcome which are as much to do with long-term cultural change as with any immediately quantifiable benefit.
In such a situation, artists are playing a crucial part in developing and sustaining a ‘visual arts critical mass’ within a locality. This is created when opportunities for new ideas and relationships to be tested are contextualised within the framework of a dynamic interchange between professionals and communities. This has the potential of impacting not only on the quality of visual arts practice per se, but also on the broader fields of cultural and environmental planning.
[1] In his introduction to the 1995/96 Annual Report of Yorkshire & Humberside Arts Board
[2] See Jamming: the art and discipline of business creativity, John Kao, Harper Collins, 1996; Liberation Management, Tom Peters, Macmillan, 1992 and ‘Business needs artists’, Birthe Warnolf, Artists Newsletter, October 1996
[3] Jamming: the art and discipline of business creativity, John Kao, Harper Collins, 1996
