Love them or loath them, at this time of year it’s hard to escape them. So, look away now if you’re in the latter camp as five people with very different roles in the arts share their thoughts on the year ahead.
Mark Robinson, arts consultant, Stockon-on-Tees
Predictions:
Newcastle City Council will climb halfway down their mountain of self-harm and not cut 100% of their culture budgets. There will, though, be large cuts to most of their organisations and 100% to some, probably smaller, organisations. This will set some sort of an example to other local authorities, and a huge challenge to Arts Council England, as essentially one leg of the funding model for many galleries becomes shorter and shorter.
Those local authorities that do want to remain engaged with culture will become increasingly flexible with their use of non-revenue funding – e.g. capital investment into resources and loan-funding. Most arts organisations will take a while to get up to speed with what this can mean for them, but should turn to some of the developers of artists’ studios for tips.
The debate about cultural value will become more complicated but more useful as we realise life is not an either/or but a contradictory, paradoxical both/and. Accordingly, it will be about academic debate and coal-face argument. Occasionally, the two will come together. The centrality of artists and creative people to the cultural ecology will be much more widely acknowledged.
Artists will increasingly say ‘No more hidden poverty in the name of culture’.
My new book of poems will poke its nose nervously into the watery light of an English summer thanks to the good folk of Smokestack Books, and take the world by storm. (NB: see resolutions.)
Resolutions:
To remain absurdly optimistic. I am by nature such a misery, it’s being so cheerful as keeps me going.
To talk more about how much I get out of going to galleries and museums of all sizes and types.
To stop being sarcastic about how visual artists write.
Dave Moutrey, Director and CEO, Cornerhouse, Manchester
Predictions:
On the downside… Arts funding will continue to be reduced as local authorities and Arts Council England have to respond to the Government’s small-state driven cuts agenda; as a result, more arts organisations will close; the coalition will continue to cock things up.
On the upside… Austerity Britain will produce more politically-engaged art; Manchester International Festival will be a highlight of the year; the coalition will continue to cock things up.
Resolution:
To keep making the case for the importance of art and artists to our economy and social fabric.
Hand in Glove, emerging artists and curators, Bristol
In 2013, Hand in Glove will be using all four fingers to support the artists we have met in 2012 and helping them to develop exciting new work for presentation in public spaces, a gallery, an arts publication and a social club.
We’ll be weaving together the feedback from Interplay to make a relevant and innovative follow up to the event, and thumbing through this year’s south west and south Wales degree shows for a fourth PLATFORM exhibition of promising artists.
Hand in Glove also hope to build on the relationships we have started with other artist-led groups and spaces, larger organisations and both regional and national arts networks, to expand the reach of the string between our mittens.
There will undoubtedly be various little catastrophes and unexpected bumps along the way, but with the helping hand of our mentor, Louisa Fairclough, we’re hoping to make 2013 the year of the Glove.
Leo Fitzmaurice, artist, The Wirral
In the space where I work I have two statements taped to the wall. They are both printed out in large uppercase fonts. They are intended as notes to myself and at first reading make me appear arrogant. They read: DO LESS and DO WHAT I WANT. The notes have now been up for many years and I have come no closer to achieving their aims. So my resolution for 2013 will be to head towards these encouragements with renewed conviction.
Hilary Gresty, visual arts policy and advocacy expert, Ely, Cambridgeshire
Having gone through a testing time professionally, 2012 was a year of reflection on the whys, wherefores and – perhaps most of all – on the politics of the artworld. So my resolution is to make sure that I put all my experiences, good and bad, to positive use in 2013. Meanwhile, as the cuts bite deeper, those at the helm need to remember the very human costs of restructuring.
