MEASURING THE EXPERIENCE #40
There are, however, tremendous differences between the ability of a new group and a well-established one like Artspace to handle the development curve which is necessary. Artspace has had many years to develop its organisational and communication structures and work out how to manage studio space which houses artists with a range of interests and who come and go according to their career needs. A new group needs time to assemble the right mix of personalities and interests, to hone its vision, to assimilate the skills and contacts and, above all, to decide if it wants to think that big.
If it does wish to access lottery funds, with its requirements for formal constitution, an artist-led organisation has to move very quickly to sharing both leadership and vision with others who will have their own motives for getting involved. If such a collaboration becomes a meeting of minds, it is all to the good. But if it doesn’t, the danger is that an organisation is established which may not ultimately be in tune with the artists’ vision and which artists will subsequently reject. This raises the issue of the difference in speed between the way that arts managers and artist-led organisations operate and develop, with the underlying assumption, perhaps, that artists tend to act too slowly and need to be chivvied along to fit various deadlines and strategy plans.
Conversely though, the holistic approach which artists take means that decisions on one aspect of activity need to be set into the context of their practice as a whole, and all aspects of its impact carefully considered before major decisions are made. It may be in some cases that a group will decide to remain small and flexible, even if it means it loses opportunities for public funding. Within the case studies, for example, although Red Herring would like a permanent studio base, within the group there are mixed feelings about whether to pursue this in case their working practices and the ethos of the group are unduly influenced by the requirements of funding bodies.[1]
However, it could be argued that if artists want access to public funds, they simply have to get real and accept the conditions attached to them. Some comments within the case studies reflect such opinions. An alternative view however, is that it may be that a more vital and responsive arts infrastructure will be developed in the long-term if the value of artist-led organisations is more fully acknowledged, and a more flexible and sympathetic approach taken to enabling such groups to fulfil their artistic vision.
This may include reviewing the conditions under which funds can be made available, as well as the processes for monitoring and accounting for them. In addition, as the requirements for dealing with and accounting for National Lottery funds appear to be particularly complex to handle for smaller-scale organisations where staffing levels are deliberately kept low and much work is done voluntarily, it could also be argued that a more ‘user-friendly’ system needs to be evolved which recognises this.
[1] Brighton & Hove Groups case study
