Artsmonkey Blog

Whilst grateful to to Arts Council England South East, for the opportunity to network and get ‘on message’ at their annual, smoothly oiled ‘Spring Briefing’ this years offering has left me with a gnawing feeling of doubt - are they really listening? Apart from the wonderful food, the smorgasbord on offer for our delectation and absorption came under six headings (oh okay, if you must know; work related learning, catalyst for change, creating the conditions for excellence, the great outdoors, increasing engagement, stengthening the visual arts) The buzz-words of the day were ‘risk’ and ‘excellence in the arts’. Patrick Sandford (Nuffield Theatre) and Andrew Nairn (Modern Art Oxford) think we should be aiming higher, striving for excellence, treading the path of the great masters who have gone before, and that Brian McMasters’ paper on ‘Excellence’ is on the money. However those of us whose work is perhaps less ‘product’ focused and more focused on the process, the journey, the experience - weren’t so sure.

Simon Fanshawe hosted the day and I loved his plea for Regionally Funded organisations to not sign their Arts Council funding contracts but to draw up their own agreement and reinstate the artistic integrity and aims at the beating heart of the organisation so the contract allowed for more of a dialogue (all very well for him to say perhaps - he’s leaving!) but there’s plenty of actors’ agents and business managers who would agree that a contract is a working dialogue that should be shaped and formed to reach a comfortable state of agreement, a plateau of understanding, if you like.

The day was full of mixed messages: we were told at the start of the day that ‘all the innovation in digital media is driven by the market’ and yet the presence of digital media at the conference amounted to the showing of a few short films (sorry Glyndebourne yours didn’t move me other than to consider the pun on ‘photo-stitching’ and to remember to get my hoover fixed) and the brief titles on the power point (must we still be doing this?) When asked at the end if any of us knew about ‘twitter’ (only one example of how social media is used in business and communication these days) just four people raised their hand. Does this mean, as artists, that we are ignoring the vast and creative use of digital media in the arts and at what cost? Or does this simply reflect an ignorance at management level in the arts rather than at grass roots?

We were also invited to discuss ‘excellence’ in the arts but despite Gavin Stride (panel member and Regional Council Member) admitting it’s not a word in his artistic vocabulary and that he is more likely to think about the ‘ambition’ of the company the panel seemed to think this was an acceptance of the need to put the word ‘excellence’ at the centre of our working ethos. Indeed who really is prepared to think of themselves as being ‘excellent’, as artists we always strive for something more, something unattainable perhaps? To me excellence smacks of ‘ego’. But I was reminded this week that we all have differing perceptions of the meaning of a word, I was challenged over my use of the word ‘celebration’ which to me was to laud and reflect but to another conjured up visions of a more vigorous applauding. Whatever excellence is, it is unlikely to be ‘excellence’ that people aspire to - more likely to be the best, the chosen, commercially viable or good, or satisfying/pleasing/rewarding.

In one of the workshops ‘catlysts for change’, some of us were invited to meet Jon Adams, a visual artist who having struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia has only in recent years had the confidence to apply for funding and pursue a career as an artist. By his own admission, his art is hidden because he considers himself disabled by his lack of confidence - therefore his disability is a ‘hidden’ disability - you can’t see it, touch it, smell it. How, I can’t help but wonder, would he ever have come into the light, if all we focused on was ‘excellence’ which smacks of ‘the chosen few’ - oh yes it does, the ‘winning team’.

Does the word ‘excellence’, best serve the arts? Is it the concern of most artists? For those not in the arts world would the embellishment ‘excellent’ sway their decision to attend/participate/purchase/view/support. Surely many artists are striving for originality - how can something untried and untested be labelled ‘excellent’? Bill & Ted (who were whispering in my ear all the way home) “Most excellent, dude”, use it spuriously to express their pleasure at something, there is no quality in their judgement. After all, who is to say what is excellent - the market drives art through it’s utter abhorence of it (Damien Hurst - pickled sheep/ Gone with The Wind - The Musical) or it’s placid acceptance of it (anything Shakespeare/The National Portrait Gallery/Angel of the North) or it’s sheer exuberent love (although not always lasting) of it (Street Dance, Jordan - the autobiography, Disney, Eastenders etc.) Being the nation’s favourite artist, artform or art icon is gratifying I’m sure but does it automatically imply excellence? I don’t know. I understand where Patrick Sandford and Andrew Nairn are coming from, I totally supported Sir Peter Halls outcry at the lack of vocal skill that a rising number of actors fail to command during their live performances in theatres. I want to witness skill and craft not least in theatre, I witnessed a street performance during a festival some years ago that left me breathless at the performers skill in delivering their entire show before a threatened tumultuous downpour that was so impressive and crafted that the audience would have happily stood wet but ecstatic in the thunder and rain just for five minutes more. But there has to be room for experiment, for fumbling journeys of mistakes (through which we learn) and innovation and originality.

As someone noted at the event, most of the great masters were not recognised as such when living, only when dead. Their concern whilst living, was the exploration of their art, their style, their revoloution in their art-form, breaking barriers, challenging perceptions, breaking new ground. And what of the young, the unconfident, those not percieved as gifted and talented? Where does excellence lie in their vocabulary?

I am seriously fascinated by social media, the accessibility, the randomness, the fun and yes, even the geekiness of it - learning about IT issues and concepts and software ( I always thought a widget was the clinky thing at the bottom of a can of Guinness) such as Digg, del.icio.us, stumble(upon)it, trackback, technorati - all new words of wonder to me.

Today I started on Twitter, skipped to frogblog and tripped over a ‘blogroll’ of intreaguing titles such as “CULTUREMAKING” and “Herd - the hidden truth about who we are” and on to “The Buzz Bin/Transparent Bundles/Logic+emotion/Edge Perspectives, stopping at Digital Influence Mapping Project” It’s a roller coaster of interesting reads, mind expanding concepts and the totally unfamiliar but exciting unknown territory - all just a click away.

I got sidetracked by an article on ‘How stuff spreads (4) The bottle-glass trick’ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qHO3TQfXz5A  and the quote “ Things are - or seem to be- constant motion…whenever you lift the cover, the thing you expect is not there. Bottle or glass?” but eventually i found my way back to Tim Leberechts frogblog site and his article ‘The Future of Business is Social’. Well here in the Arts world we’ve always thought that, so maybe our time is coming round again…

I’m coaxing thoughts into being about an online youth arts event, with podcasts and live web conversations so audiences can watch from the comfort of their youth club/school/home etc., but ask questions and help shape the event through their ‘real-time’ feedback or watch it later via podcast or as a ‘you -tube’ post - I’m picturing lap-tops and web camera’s wirelessly transmitting away, twitter feeds and twitter clouds floating in the internet ether and then, humbly, I realise that this is neither new or exciting to the social media literate and what a way I have yet to go as a social media ‘beginner’ - Bronze level but aiming for Gold.

Funny old world, the Arts. We crave to be taken seriously, strive for excellence (in an accessible and all embracing way, whilst often also seeking to rebel and revoke). Recently sat thru a meeting where a new job post was discussed. The suggested pro rata fee was 25k per annum (minimum Arts Council Officer level) Horrified to hear senior managers from the youth arts sector suggesting that they couldn’t possibly pay someone that level of pay (for a job which demands a high level of experience, range of management skills and ability to be one third super-human) as they had other senior posts which commanded lower levels of pay and therefore would put the balance of ’status’ out of kilter and they would rather split the salary between say, two lower paid posts, most likely part-time.

For those of you who are not familiar with the Youth Arts sector of the Arts, funding is often offered on a project by project basis usually lasting anything from 6 months to three years. Thus, core staff teams are often small (1 - 5 people) and most staff employed by an organisation are employed per project and the level of pay for staff set by the amount of funding attracted (raised) to each individual project. Arts organisations often have more than one project ongoing in order to keep funds incoming. In effect, a very experienced staff member could be working in the same organisation as a less experienced staff member who is on a higher rate of pay because that particular project attracted a larger funding stream. So what’s the problem?

The problem is, that we will never be taken seriously whilst we continue to work at extremely low rates of pay without striving to raise the bar and when the opportunity arrives for an externally funded staff post to be offered at a fairly decent salary level - we sneer at it and balk at the chance to start making change.  We have to start somewhere. It is widely recognised in the arts that ‘a high level of pay’ often, in no way reflects ability, experience or success rate but audacity, arrogance and ego (sometimes it does) - so it surely is time to start setting a few bench marks from the bottom up, isn’t it?

No wonder consultants and colleagues in business shake their heads in disbelief when they try to get their heads around the workings of Arts organisations.

Maybe this doesn’t reflect your experience, or you have another take on this? DISCUSS


Last September, to celebrate the achievements of the first two years of the Art Award we launched a season of master classes across the south east. Recently I was invited via facebook to join the group ‘masterclass’ set up by the Theatre Royal, Haymarket and if you haven’t visited the masterclass website and are interested in theatre then I urge you to do so: www.masterclass.org.uk. It’s the way forward, giving aspiring young theatre practitioners (or actors and directors and writers, ‘creatives’ perhaps would be a good word) the opportunity to listen and meet ‘face-to-face’ in a thriving, professional working environment (as opposed to the sometimes more precious environs of drama school) with some of theatre’s heavy weights. These ‘down with the techno-theatre bods’ have also produced a useful DVD for aspiring drama students AND there is a link to their ‘rehearsal blog’ featuring video-casts of said rehearsals for the musical Margueritte starring Ruthie Henshall. Masterclasses may seem an old fashioned concept but mixed with some creative interactivity can be inspiring and affirming experiences. Here’s an extract from an article about our first master class last year: What do I do when I have to stop dancing? The basis for offering a master class was to build on an Arts Award national poll, where in the south the top ten names included admirable but largely dead artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Bob Dylan, Jane Austen and Peter Kay (obviously he’s still with us) as the nations favourite Arts Heroes and Heroines. The challenge being to attempt to ground the current thirst for quick fix fame and fortune and offer some balance against the desire to worship celebrity ‘idols’ rather than appreciate and value our gifted grass roots ‘artists’.
Our launch event at Brighton Dome featured a ‘creative industries panel’ where young people had the opportunity to learn more about the wider creative industries sector led by young people from Peer Productions in Woking, some of whom were amongst the first to achieve their Gold Awards in the South East and where participants got to meet face to face with people who had a proven track record in their careers and could demonstrate for example, that once you can no longer work as a dancer there are other opportunities open to you. Stars of that event were: Dave Philpot from Skint Record Label who came with freebies (smart move Dave) and John Manning, Freelance Casting Director who just about managed to escape with his integrity intact from the question, “so if I haven’t been to Drama School would you consider me for casting?”. (more…)