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Artists and policy-making: the English case

2011; Routledge; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10286632.2011.577213

1477-2833

Paul Glinkowski,

Social and Cultural Dynamics

Abstract The 1980 UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist emphasised the importance of including artists in the policy-making process. However, 30 years later, evidence suggests that artists often have only marginal involvement in the policy-making of UNESCO member states. This paper explores how visual artists in England relate to arts policy-making. An overview is provided of how artists fared in arts policy during the 50 years following the creation of the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) in 1946. A more detailed account is then given of how visual artists featured in the policy-making of Arts Council England (ACE) and the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) during the period of the New Labour government, 1997–2010. The conclusion is drawn that, despite an official rhetoric which claimed artists occupied a priority position within English arts policy during this period, in reality artists continued to lack visibility and influence. Keywords: visual artistsartists and policy-makingEnglish arts policy Notes 1. The main recommendation of the Enquiry was that a permanent Arts Council should be set up in Britain, but by the time its conclusions were published the creation of the Arts Council had already been announced. 2. The public’s expectation that artists, perhaps uniquely amongst professional groups, should give their labour for nothing is a key theme of Abbing’s book Why Are Artists Poor? (2004). Following social anthropologist Mauss (Citation1990), Abbing therefore refers to artists as operating within a ‘gift economy’. 3. The NAA ‘Code of Practice’ states that: ‘EPR refers to the payment of a fee to artists for exhibiting in a publicly funded space. The principle behind EPR is that artists provide a public service by exhibiting their work, for which they should be recompensed’ (Corner Citation1995, p. 11). 4. The nearest attempt was research commissioned by the Arts Council which culminated in the report, ‘A balancing act: artists’ labour markets and the tax and benefit systems’. However, its scope was limited to an analysis of existing (and imperfect) data sources combined with data from focus groups held in five English cities. The report makes it clear that ‘national data sources do not capture adequately the working patterns most associated with those in cultural occupations’ and that they have been used for the purposes of the research ‘with substantial reservations’ (Galloway et al. Citation2002, p. 14). 5. Prime Minister Blair’s ‘Cultural speech at Tate Modern’ on 6 March 2007 (Blair Citation2007) was promoted via the DCMS press office under the strapline ‘Prime Minister hails “Golden Age” in the arts’ (DCMS Citation2007b). This strapline was echoed in headlines in the national broadsheet newspapers on the following day: The Telegraph, ‘Is this a “golden age” for the arts?’ (Reynolds Citation2007); The Guardian, ‘Blair reminisces about Labour’s “golden age” of the arts’ (Higgins Citation2007); and The Independent, ‘Blair hails a “golden age” for the arts’ (Jury Citation2010). 6. Frayling said, in his speech to the RSA on 18 February 2005 (which was subsequently widely disseminated as a stand-alone publication): ‘Ladies and gentlemen, the “Golden Age” is, I believe, happening right here, right now’ (Frayling Citation2005, p. 11). 7. Chris Smith was the first of five Secretaries of State for Culture, Media and Sport during the New Labour period. Smith (1997–2001), was followed by Tessa Jowell (2001–2007), James Purnell (2007–2008), Andy Burnham (2008–2009) and Ben Bradshaw (2009–2010). 8. In publishing its first ‘manifesto’ document in 2003, the Arts Council acknowledged the need to articulate its policy-thinking in a more coherent and publicly accountable fashion than previously. ‘In the past, the Arts Council had many policies and strategies,’ it says: ‘Now we have this manifesto. It states clearly what we want to do and replaces other general policy statements’ (ACE Citation2003a, p. 13). 9. The other priorities listed are to: help funded organisations ‘thrive rather than just survive’; ‘place cultural diversity at the heart of our work’; ‘prioritise young people’; and ‘maximise growth in the arts’ (ACE Citation2003a, p. 2). 10. I contacted ACE to ascertain how it had audited its 2003–2006 commitment to ‘prioritise individual artists’ and whether any performance-related data existed. ACE replied: ‘there was little attention to detailed documentation, data gathering and evaluating progress against targets … we are currently developing a performance management framework for the whole organization which should address this lack of reporting in the future’ (Stead Citation2010). 11. As a Visual Arts Officer at the Arts Council during this period, I was part of the Artists’ Development team that drafted the ‘National Framework Plan’. 12. Abbing’s book Why Are Artists Poor?, includes a section called ‘Art Markets are Winner-Takes-All-Markets’. According to Abbing, winner-takes-all markets, of which the visual arts is an example, exist wherever a large proportion of consumer spending ‘ends up in the pockets of a small number of producers, while the majority of the producers earn little or nothing at all’ (Abbing Citation2004, p. 107). 13. When Hewitt left ACE, the Council included the novelist Diran Adebayo and the multi-media performer and producer Keith Khan (also Head of Culture for the London 2012 Olympic Games). A third Council Member, Tom Shakespeare, was involved in creative writing and performing but is better known professionally for his work in the area of public engagement with science (ACE Citation2008). As at 2 December 2010 the artist representation on the National Council remained as is described here. 14. A ruling coalition of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats was announced on 12 May 2010, a day after the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, was confirmed as the new prime minister.