In his keynote speech at Arts Development UK’s Creative Economies seminar, creative consultant Tom Fleming stated: “It is commonly acknowledged that the arts are the bedrock of the creative economies”. Judging by the day’s focus on organisations rather than sole traders, what is perhaps less commonly acknowledged is that the bedrock of the arts is artists.
So, if the day was, as billed, a ‘timely national seminar investigating the role that the arts can play in economic development and the regeneration of communities’, where do artists, as individual sole traders, currently fit within these processes? Are they viewed as an essential component, to be consulted on key decisions, or merely a tool to be utilised when needed, and discarded once their use has expired?
The Arts Council have gone to great efforts recently to include visual artists in their discussions. Unfortunately, unlike State of the Arts 2012, no bursary schemes were on offer to practitioners for this seminar – and at £135, it wasn’t a cheap day out for an individual artist.
An array of different speakers presented a variety of models for strategic commissioning and best practice delivery. Mary-Alice Stack (Director of ArtCo Projects at ACE) explained the new partnership between the East London Small Business Centre and Arts Council England. Creative Industry Finance will offer small loans and practical business advice and support. Individual artists can apply, provided they have set themselves up as a business and have at least six months trading behind them. The fund is essentially self-generating and loans are repayed at 10% APR, with the interest being ploughed straight back into the kitty. It seems like a good idea.
One thing that Stack didn’t make clear, though, was what happens if you can’t repay your loan?; Is the Arts Council going to send round a bunch of heavies to repossess my drawings if I miss repayments? ‘Alan Davey Debt Collectors Ltd’ – now that’s a scary thought!
Creative Industry Finance shifts the funding structure away from grant giving, and I wonder what impact this could have on the type of work recipients produce. Even Stack admitted that successful applicants might have a great business plan rather than a high quality artistic proposal. This seems problematic. Obviously artists need to consider the economic validity of their portfolio of activities, but surely creativity should be the platform (and purpose), not how much your artwork can improve your bank balance.
It will be interesting to see how many individual artists are successful, and in turn what type of work they produce as a result. The scheme is currently being piloted solely in London with an investment of £200,000. A second region will be announced in September.
Ruth Jarratt of MeWe360 introduced another business-focused scheme, providing access to “funding, mentoring and incubation”. The scheme combines a not-for-profit network (MeWe House) that provides subsidised support and development, and a fully commercial investment arm that aims to invest in the “best of the businesses”. They do have a pretty large fund to distribute (£1m), but I’m not sure their language of “clinics and business incubation” will endear them to many artists, and I found Jarratt’s repeated references to Dragons’ Den pretty unnerving. Thankfully Duncan Bannatyne didn’t make a guest appearance.
Jarratt explained that through MeWe360’s venture arm they will invest up to £200,000 in five promising new projects. Again, this will be off-putting to the majority of visual artists. How many artists know how to write a business plan for such vast amounts of money? I’d wager a pretty limited number.
Andrea Stark (ACE Area Director South East and East), in her keynote speech, briefly mentioned a new scheme to be announced in the autumn from the Arts Council, working with “cultural employers across the country to offer paid internships and apprenticeships for unemployed young people”. I don’t want to jump the gun before the full announcement, but aren’t those called jobs? Bearing in mind a great many artists supplement their freelance activities with work in galleries and museums, I wonder what impact this will have. Does it mean that artists, because they are self-employed, will be excluded from the scheme?
Stark spoke about “supporting individual talent and helping it survive.” However, it is the smaller knock-on effects that continue to be misunderstood. These could have the biggest long-term impact on the sector.
I took two key things away from the Creative Economies seminar. Firstly, the creative industry needs to offer more support and advice for artists as sole traders. Secondly, the creative industry needs to better understand the jobs artists as sole traders actually do. Andrea Stark commented: “We need to get real about individual talent and how we can help that survive.” A closer alliance with visual artists is a good starting point.
From the a-n archive
Creative Industry Finance loan scheme launch: Read on
Guide to becoming a self-employed artist: Read on
Links
Applying for Creative Industry Finance – www.artscouncil.org.uk
MeWe360 – www.mewe360.com
Creative Economies seminar – artsdevelopmentuk.org
Twitter tag: #aduksem12
