Professional practice

Con­di­tions for motility

“This is a moment fraught with pos­si­bil­i­ty.” Isabelle Tra­cy, Par­al­lel State: State of the Nation pod­cast 27 March 2020

This text in the Covid19 port­fo­lio is on the future of artists’ liveli­hoods. It starts by evi­denc­ing the impact of exter­nal trends on visu­al artists’ liveli­hoods. It then iden­ti­fies some of the pol­i­cy mis­as­sump­tions and struc­tur­al bar­ri­ers that lim­it artists’ liveli­hood prospects before demon­strat­ing that visu­al artists as a ​‘spe­cial case’ with­in the arts work­force are deserv­ing of indi­vid­u­alised atten­tion with­in arts poli­cies. It con­cludes by out­lin­ing the core qual­i­ties for pur­suit of liveli­hoods through art prac­tices that enable many artists to con­tribute to soci­ety over a life-cycle as a point of ref­er­ence for pol­i­cy-mak­ing dur­ing the Covid19 emer­gency and into the uncer­tain decade ahead. 

Read “From myths to motility: doing better by artists” in full

Susan Jones

Although nego­ti­at­ed rela­tion­ships forms one of the three core con­di­tions enabling artists’ pur­suit of liveli­hoods over a life-cycle, the over-com­pet­i­tive and dis­parate nature of con­tem­po­rary visu­al arts acts as dis­in­cen­tive to achiev­ing them. This sem­i­nar on offer to artists aims to pro­vide ratio­nale and tac­ti­cal tips for achiev­ing a ​‘win-win’ situation.

Read “Negotiating better - seminar for artists” in full

This paper com­bines argu­ments first pre­sent­ed by Susan Jones at an engage annu­al con­fer­ence in which she ques­tioned the effi­ca­cy of our insti­tu­tion­al­ly-dri­ven visu­al arts ecol­o­gy with new research and enquiry into future cul­tur­al, dig­i­tal and social envi­ron­ments for the arts. It calls for adop­tion of a more open, imag­i­na­tive, lat­er­al, col­lab­o­ra­tive and respon­sive approach­es to cre­at­ing cul­tur­al val­ue, premised on build­ing rela­tion­ships and rap­port with the dif­fer­ent kinds and band­widths of audi­ences and with the enablers and the mak­ers of art. Links updat­ed 17/05/2018

Read “​Creativity at the heart: the holistic approach” in full

Modes of prac­tice postcard

This provo­ca­tion com­mis­sioned by Stoke Air­space for an Artists’ Soup Kitchen address­es and con­firms the impor­tance of the role and val­ue of artists with­in cul­tur­al and social change. The four sec­tions are designed to open up a dis­cus­sion on ​‘what now?’ and – more impor­tant­ly – ​‘what next?’ for Air­space and artists and future artists locat­ed in Stoke.

Read “​Bite the hand that feeds you” in full