Arts funding

Sluice arti­cle masthead

Effec­tive strate­gies for retain­ing the artist-led as a vital ingre­di­ent in social and arts well-being in future involves artists seek­ing out allies and syn­er­gies beyond the restric­tive hier­ar­chies of the con­tem­po­rary visu­al arts. 

Read “Seen but not heard: the artist-led quandary” in full

Arts Pro­fes­sion­al arti­cle introduction

Gov­ern­ment and Arts Coun­cil Eng­land were praised in the Covid19 emer­gency for fast imple­men­ta­tion of ad hoc strate­gies for finan­cial sup­port for arts and cul­tur­al insti­tu­tions and job reten­tion schemes for salaried staff. Despite the equal­i­ty and diver­si­ty rhetorics of the fund­ed arts, analy­sis of respons­es to the DCMS Inquiry into the Impact of Covid-19 reveal that indi­vid­ual free­lance visu­al artists will suf­fer worst unless addi­tion­al reme­di­al actions are taken.

Read “Artists’ livelihoods in freefall” in full

Case 4 Cul­ture data

Data set from Case 4 Cul­ture free­lance survey

“We can­not be con­tent to go back to what was before, as if all is nor­mal… there needs to be a res­ur­rec­tion of our com­mon life.” Justin Wel­by, Arch­bish­op of Canterbury.

The East­er ser­mon – opined from the Arch­bish­op’s kitchen and dis­sem­i­nat­ed via social media to some 18,000 peo­ple – pro­vid­ed the cue for a dis­cus­sion on how to ensure artists’ sur­vival in an arts and cul­tur­al envi­ron­ment poleaxed by Covid-19. 

Read “Treating the rash or investing in a cure: the future of artists’ livelihoods” in full

50 Per­cent Rule

Although 77% of visu­al artists are reg­is­tered as self-employed (CCS, 2012), this bald sta­tis­tic belies the nuance of how liveli­hoods are made up. This short text in the Covid19 port­fo­lio con­tex­tu­alis­es artists’ income sources and con­cludes with a call for arts fun­ders, arts organ­i­sa­tions and the High­er Edu­ca­tion sec­tor to advo­cate strong­ly to ensure visu­al artists receive the sup­port they deserve dur­ing the Covid19 emer­gency and in future. 

Read “An exceptional case: visual artists and self-employment” in full

Artists emer­gency hashtag

“We must see the cul­tur­al ecosys­tem in which every per­son, every organ­i­sa­tion, every cul­tur­al expres­sion, has a legit­i­mate place.” Fran­cois Mataras­so, Let’s use this breath­ing space wise­ly, 25 March 2020

Strate­gic arts pol­i­cy fund­ing inter­ven­tions premised on equal­i­ty and co-oper­a­tion are key to sus­tain­ing visu­al artists’ liveli­hoods over a life-cycle. This text in the Covid19 port­fo­lio com­bines sec­ondary data analy­sis with cross-ref­er­ences to pri­or and new research to offer six ref­er­ence points for the eco­nom­ic val­ue of artists’ prac­tices with­in the arts and cre­ative indus­tries includ­ing indi­ca­tion of their income sources in broad terms. It con­cludes with an argu­ment for vital new struc­tur­al arts pol­i­cy and advo­ca­cy mea­sures to ensure that many visu­al artists – not just a few — sur­vive through the imme­di­ate peri­od of the Covid19 emer­gency and dur­ing what is like­ly to be a sus­tained peri­od of eco­nom­ic reces­sion beyond. 

Read “Artists’ emergency: arts policy’s role in the future of artists’ livelihoods” in full

Maia Tweet

After an intro­duc­tion to the spe­cif­ic eco­nom­ic cir­cum­stances of visu­al artists and, mind­ful of the wide and exten­sive impacts of the pan­dem­ic on their work prospects and liveli­hoods, this text in the Covid-19 port­fo­lio includes a four-point ​‘hope­ful pro­pos­al’ that sets out how to ensure artists sur­vive the fall out, and can bring their mul­ti­ple val­ues to ben­e­fit the arts and soci­ety in the decade ahead. 

Read “Do it all, for artists’ sake, now” in full

Susan Jones Zoom

Doc­tor­al research 2015 – 19 that gath­ered qual­i­ta­tive evi­dence from artists in North West Eng­land to define con­ducive con­di­tions for pur­su­ing art prac­tices and liveli­hoods over time. Includes cri­tique of arts poli­cies in Eng­land 1985 – 2015 intend­ed to be sup­port­ive of artists and new insights into bar­ri­ers to sus­tain­ing artists’ liveli­hoods in future.

Read “Artists' livelihoods: the artists in arts policy conundrum” in full

An artist — Evan­ge­line Neo (Eva­comics)

Fol­low man­ga artist Evan­ge­line Neo (@evacomics) on Twit­ter and Instagram.

This resource that includes com­men­tary, evi­dence and advice is intend­ed for indi­vid­ual artists, arts organ­is­ers, com­mis­sion­ers, train­ers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers intend­ed to achieve equi­table and inclu­sive con­di­tions in which indi­vid­u­als can flour­ish. It’s a basis for explor­ing fric­tions and mis­as­sump­tions about artists and pay and under­stand­ing why indi­vid­ual nego­ti­a­tion is a vital to ensur­ing pro­duc­tive exchanges and collaborations.

Read “Artists and pay - 20+ inspiration and information sources” in full

Cov­er: Work­ing artists aspect of arts and labour

This essay for the 2014 Seoul Art Space, Seoul Foun­da­tion for Arts and Cul­ture Inter­na­tion­al Sym­po­sium briefly cov­ers UK arts poli­cies for sup­port to artists’ devel­op­ment, com­ments on their impact on artists’ social and eco­nom­ic sta­tus and sug­gests a rethink­ing of the artists’ intrin­sic role in soci­ety as a vital part of secur­ing and sus­tain­ing con­tem­po­rary visu­al arts in the future.

Read “Rethinking artists: the role of artists in the 21st Century” in full

In reac­tion to gov­ern­ment arts fund­ing cuts, Leeds Met­ro­pol­i­tan Uni­ver­si­ty in part­ner­ship with Cul­ture Vul­ture and the Audi­ence Agency, ini­ti­at­ed a pub­lic debate at which a pan­el of indus­try experts debat­ed what arts fund­ing is for and who is most deserv­ing of it. A short provo­ca­tion by Susan Jones argued for more recog­ni­tion and resources for artists and indi­vid­u­als to coun­ter­act the slow, pon­der­ous­ness of insti­tu­tions whether for the arts or oth­er­wise. View the whole event includ­ing the audi­ence ​‘ques­tion time’ at the end using the link provided.

Read “A case for the arts” in full