A new qualitative, longitudinal study surprisingly demonstrates how the lives and artistic prospects of many visual artists improved in pandemic conditions and by doing so, provides clues to the infrastructural shifts needed to honour and sustain the talents and vibrancy of this diverse constituency in future.
Read “Telling tales: artists' pandemic stories” in full
‘Work and Social Justice in Art, Craft and Design’ with Dani Child, David Hesmondhalgh, Kylie Jarratt, Susan Jones and Jade Monserrat, convened by Dave Beech, Reader in Art and Marxism, University of the Arts London.
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In the pandemic, government and Arts Council England built a defensive hedge around the most visible aspects of the arts infrastructure. Staffers in institutions got time, space and money to address fragile business models and secure their futures. However, the emergency arts funding schemes for freelance artists failed to address their artistic, emotional and livelihood needs.
Read “Artists’ precarity not just about pay” in full
A public conversation in November 2021 commissioned by Proforma for Desire Lines and facilitated by Chris Bailkoski brought together Jack Ky Tan and Susan Jones. Read extracts from this discussion that explored how misconceptions and imbalances in the arts ecology limit artists’ status, pay and livelihood chances and what needs to happen to ensure artists can live a flourishing life through art practices over a life cycle.
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The exclusive and short-term emergency arts funding schemes from government and Arts Council England to freelance artists failed to address their livelihood needs, with the majority allowed to fall through the cracks. Early evidence from a longitudinal study surprisingly demonstrates that the lives and artistic prospects of many artists positively improved in pandemic conditions. This offers clues to the substantial shifts in arts infrastructures necessary to honour and sustain the talents and vibrancy of the diverse artists’ constituency in future.
Read “Artists' pandemic stories” in full
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
Essay analysing flaws and impacts on artists of the UK’s extreme neo-liberal arts economy with suggestions for challenging and redressing the inequities caused.
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Text exploring the impacts of Covid-19 on artists’ livelihoods and the divergent perspectives on creating a healthier, more productive and inclusive arts ecology in future.
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Delivering ‘human thriving’ in and through the arts, including fair pay for artists, in a pandemic world calls for substantial shifts in how arts policies are made and where they are realised.
Read “Leave no stone unturned, for artists’ sake” in full
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
