Canopy Arts
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Clients
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Contact

Arts Blog

What are artists worth? Funding, friction and the future of art [UK]

6/24/2013

0 Comments

 
As artists find themselves at the end of the food cultural chain, Susan Jones suggests a new activism to reaffirm their status. Monday 24 June 2013 Guardian Professional  by Susan Jones

The so-called golden age of arts funding has given way to debilitating austerity, particularly for artists who find themselves at the end of a long food chain, divorced from arts funding and policy decision making. But when did these divisions start and how can artists use activism to create meaningful change for the future?

The millennium saw arts funding increased through imaginative strategies and policies. Artists and the artist-led flourished. With the lottery-financed arts buildings came a new wave of curatorial positions – and in 2006, the advent of cultural leadership roles designed to "nurture and develop dynamic and diverse leaders to equip them for the challenges of the 21st century" (although scant few of these went to practitioners). Divisions between artists and the public were apparent too.

In 2013, the widening divide between rich and poor is manifesting itself clearly in the arts. Contributing to debates on more imaginative ways to measure cultural value, Louis Barrabas says: "The creative sector is full of scuttling scavenging bottom-feeders." What he's describing are the middle people whose infrastructural preferences over recent years have by default resulted in a steady nibbling away at budgets, resources and recognition factors – things that used to be the territory of artists.

In the arts infrastructure developed since the early noughties, artists weren't invited around the table with the curators, directors and consultants. Peer review was abandoned by Arts Council England as it was deemed too expensive, long-winded and subjective. In the arts ecology of today, it's almost as if artists have to be held in suspended animation, waiting for someone to need them. Read More
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome to
    Canopy Arts Desk
    Picture
    Tammy Hampel (Isaacson)
    News and information about Arts and Culture, Arts Administration, Communications, Development and Non-profit Management

    Archives

    January 2019
    February 2018
    January 2017
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    June 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Advocacy
    Art Galleries
    Artists
    Arts Education
    Arts Summit
    Audiences
    Boards
    Charities
    Contests
    Cultural Industries
    Cultural Tourism
    Digital
    Distribution
    Festivals
    Funding
    Fundraising
    Heritage
    Jobs
    Management
    Museums
    Music
    Nonprofits
    Pauline Johnson
    Photography
    Poetry
    Poll
    Public Art
    Publicity
    Research
    Social Media
    Summit
    Sustainability
    Theatre
    Venues
    Workshops

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
cc Canopy Arts 2015
Website Design and Maintenance by Tammy Hampel (Isaacson)
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
  • Clients
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • Contact