"Broadly Appealing": Where Public Arts Meets Personal Practice
"Broadly Appealing": Where Public Arts Meets Personal Practice
"Broadly Appealing": Where Public Arts Meets Personal Practice
Lisa Temple-Cox
2010
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Broadly Appealing
where public arts meet personal practice
Most people now accept that you cannot breathe new life into cities, towns
and communities without culture. Sometimes the cultural element alone
becomes the driving force for regeneration
(Tessa Jowell, from Culture at the Heart of Regeneration)
Introduction
The purposes of these projects may be manifold, but at their basics they
are generally intended to fulfil two premises: to generate a wider interest,
understanding or appreciation of the arts, and to allow the public and
community at all levels to participate in some form of creative activity. The
second premise also holds the caveat that culture and the arts are, in
economic terms, a tool for regeneration within communities, and this is
something that must be taken into consideration when structuring or
responding to an arts project brief.
Given that culture may be used as a tool for urban regeneration, for
creating a sense of community, or for engaging the public, one sometimes
finds that these outcomes are a by-product of the original project proposal,
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which may simply be to decorate or commemorate a site or occasion: the
public input into the whole selection process is extremely variable.
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individuals, and on the other being a categorisation of industry types. (Holden
2007) Indeed, the term creative industries is itself a relatively recent concept:
The core of culture [is] still creativity, but creativity [is] produced,
deployed, consumed and enjoyed quite differently in post-industrial
societies from the way it used to be (Hartley 2004)
In fact, urban studies theorist Richard Florida recognised the effect of what
he called the Bohemian Index namely that when artists move into
underdeveloped areas, bringing with them a certain amount of cultural cool,
this effects a form of community renewal and urban regeneration. This is in
essence the effect that Jowell refers to in her introduction to the DCMS paper
Culture at the Heart of Regeneration. Moreover, culture and artists are
being used as tools to effectively give a community a sense of itself and its
worth. This sort of cultural economics is seen as bringing in job creation,
tourism, and visitor numbers, and these are figures that can be quantified, and
thus given a value: this accounts for and legitimates expenditure in these
fields.
Ironically, it seems that cultural success has, for the artist, an economically
inverse value: in their 2008 paper, organisational theorists Bohm and Land
consider that if an artist reaches a mass audience or enters into
standardised, industrialised production, then his or her status as an artist
becomes questionable. This then is the dichotomy of the working artist: to
maintain ones credibility, but have difficulty in earning a living, or to enter into
a partnership with the forces of economy, and be perceived to have sold out.
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Arts in a social context
Arts in these cases may be a means of bringing people under the same
banner, unifying them to a governmental or societal idea of what is normal,
what constitutes community. Ironically, these workshops and projects do not
truly allow them self expression, as much of what they are allowed to do is
proscribed: I have often found myself saying to young people that you can
draw/paint anything you like, as long as its not rude or illegal - the bottom line
being, of course, that I have to consider the needs of the organisation that is,
ultimately, paying me to work with them.
In fact, many public or community arts projects are often simply a vehicle
for getting a childs or a member of the publics actual, physical input on the
finished artwork, by whatever means. This manner of working seems to be
popular with many community organisations who believe that this allows
everyone participation in creating a piece of fine art which it does.
However, what often emerges is not necessarily a work of art, but a work
that serves a function to the community. If your organisation is working with a
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fine artist, a writer, indeed any arts specialist, they should learn something
from that process that they could not have done themselves: there should be
a legacy, not only in the final artwork which, in terms of a piece of fine art,
should necessarily be something that the community could not have done
themselves; this is after all, why they brought the artist in originally but also
in the process. The community or school should benefit from the experience
of working with that specialist, by learning something new that they would not
otherwise have been able to do.
This is the gap that the autonomous artist working within a social context
needs to straddle: to create work that has integrity, and leave a legacy that
runs deeper than a child being able to look at a product and saying I put my
finger on that.
Despite this emphasis on process, the school is usually quite keen to have
a product as well, and there are few arts practitioners that would not want to
see some kind of physical outcome at the end of their residency. Projects of
this kind allow the artist to intersect their personal practice with the needs of
their business or employment.
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My experience as an arts practitioner within a social context has, broadly
speaking, fallen into the role of being the commissioned artist working for an
organisation that has a particular need. When not invited into an artist
residency by bodies such as Creative Partnerships, I look for arts
opportunities on sites such as the Arts Councils Arts Jobs, or similarly in
Artists Newsletter. These types of projects tend to have a very specific brief
which is drawn up by the commissioning body, be it school, local council, or
regional council, and these briefs are then advertised nationally.
Tendering for work in this way is not of course limited to the creative
industries, but for a self-employed artist it is often a matter of weighing up the
time invested for a project one may not even be notified of a failure to be
short-listed for. Sometimes, and this is certainly true of larger scale projects,
the short-listed artists are paid for the interview, and often to develop a
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proposal and present it: however, the amount of time invested in a speculative
application is by many artists dependant on the overall fee: these are some of
the decisions an artist must make before even drafting an application.
Artist Steve Downey was formerly, among other roles, Arts Development
manager at Essex County Council. Now a full time artist, he has found that
the experience of being on both sides of the commissioning process have
been invaluable in both roles. The experience of being an artist helped him, in
the office of Arts Development , to understand the needs of the artist, and he
found that this understanding allowed him to give the artists that he
commissioned a lot of freedom and to trust in their vision not something that
is common among council officials, even in the arts.
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of the project and the organisation commissioning it, and it communicates the
merits of the project to outsiders such as venues, investors, or collaborators.
If you substitute the words project proposal for business plan, then this
makes perfect sense, especially as a self-employed artist, where one must
synergise the needs of ones creative practice with ones business. Costing,
funding, viability, budgetary control: these are all themes that must be
addressed in a proposal.
Such a plan must include: your goals for the enterprise, both short and
long term; as description of the products or services you will offer and
the market opportunities you have anticipated for them; and finally, and
explanation of the resources and means you will employ to achieve
your goals in the face of likely competition. (Barrow, Barrow and
Brown 2005)
Although a plan like this may not be an immediate passport to success and
sources of finance, it will help you to communicate your ideas to others in a
way that will be easier for them to understand and to appreciate the
reasoning behind your ideas. (Barrow, Barrow and Brown 2005)
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Insurance and Clearance
It is also vital for any artist working in a public sphere to have public
liability cover. The current minimum amount of cover required currently stands
at 5 million: a figure that has risen steadily in the years that I have been self
employed. Artists Newsletter, recognising that its readership is increasingly
required to operate in public spheres in order to earn a living from their
practice, offers its members this amount of public liability cover as part of its
subscription fee through its online community AIR (Artists Interaction and
Representation). This has proven to be on the one hand a useful tool for
increasing its subscriptions, and of huge benefit to its members. This is, in
fact, only one of the many services that AN provides for the working artist.
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been issued by another Essex authority, as otherwise they would have had to
make a new application a process which costs money and takes several
weeks, during which time the artist is unable to begin work.
From the point of view of creating a public profile for oneself as a self-
employed artist, continuing to apply for a variety of arts projects is the useful
from the point of view of introducing or keeping ones name and practice
within the radar of commissioning bodies.
Artist Nicola Burrell, who is an experienced and successful artist with both
a public and personal practice, says that the self-employed artist looking to
earn a living in this field must keep ones hand in by engaging regularly in the
application process: You may have to apply for ten things to get one job. But
its worth all those failed applications, because even with the ones you dont
get, people will see your name, and remember it next time it comes up. And,
if you persist in applying for a range of projects, those people often Arts
Development officers or Arts administrators - will consider you a serious and
committed artist with an interest in public art and community engagement.
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Despite having a solid body of work in this field, Carsberg felt the need to
broaden her ideas and practice, as did I. We had worked together before, on
a residency in the Auvergne in France called Chantiers des Arts: fees for this
project did little but cover costs: however both of us felt that it would be worth
having on our CV, and thus the investment in terms of experience and
exposure more than compensated for the projects economic shortfall.
The fact that this was, at this stage, a non-specific brief neither in terms
of what kind of artwork it was looking to commission, where it was to be sited,
or indeed how many artworks were required meant that this allowed for a
very open interpretation of the brief: the organisation commissioning it
evidently had little idea of what they wanted, other than that it should be
broadly appealing.
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Funding options
Should the public arts commission not meet the artists needs in terms of
professional development, or if the artist sees an opportunity for a public or
community based project that they wish to take creative control of, there are
many funding options available. It has to be said that many of these grants
and funds do specify some kind of community or public engagement in the
project, and often require the artist to match fund or raise in-kind
sponsorship. However, creating your own project naturally allows one a
certain autonomy in terms of vision, aesthetic, and outcome.
Nikki Betts is a dance artist who works both as a freelance artist and as arts
coordinator for others: she finds that as an individual the work involved in
selling ideas to and convincing funding bodies is more difficult and
complicated than as an arts organisation:
When managing a project for someone else she considers the main
difference is in the amount of support you are given. Ideas can be shared and
discussed something which is also a benefit to artistic collaboration, as
mentioned previously. Therefore, she says, I try to work as an individual in
the same way I work as part of a group. Planning and organisation need to be
at the forefront of development and adopting this discipline proves to gain
greater results. This, again, echoes the experience of Downey when
approaching a commission.
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There are a number of grants available to individual artists, from the
Elephant Trust, which offers small grants to fine artists wishing to develop
their practice, to the Winston Churchill memorial trust, which allows for travel
bursaries of at least four weeks overseas in a number of different fields,
including the Arts, Crafts and Music.
Local councils also have a number of grants available for projects that meet
their criteria, and perhaps the most popular and well known source of funding
for artists and small business people of all levels is the Arts For All Award,
which is supported by the Arts Council England, the Big Lottery Fund, the
Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England Council. This will fund everything
from specialised equipment needs to the costs of large-scale public arts
projects, but is especially geared towards projects that promote education,
the environment and health in the local community. (Essex Works, arts
funding file)
One such recipient was Michael Goodey, who devised a project entitled
Signs in the Landscape. In collaboration with firstsite and Colchester
borough council, he applied for a Grants for the Arts award to cover the cost
of his project, from research and development to construction and installation.
In this application he was assisted by Colchester arts organisation firstsite.
According to firstsite, In reducing a specific landscape or series of views, to a
set of re-arranged symbols, Goodey is creating a journey that is both literal
and conceptual.
In this case, the concept made the project interesting to the cultural ideals
of firstsite, and the notion of these artworks becoming part of a cycle trail the
Viewfinder Trail, taking in key tourist locations in the area - was doubtless a
factor in its interest to the Arts Council. The project continues to be popular
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with both the public and local authorities: images of his work being used by
Essex County Councils Summer of Art campaign on all kinds of promotional
material, from leaflets to beer mats. Goodeys original idea and design was
straightforward enough to have the kind of mass and cultural regenerative
overtones that made it a perfect candidate for public arts funding.
Ironically for Goodey, the original grant did little to cover his fees, and while
remaining popular, the project failed to provide the artist with an adequate
income.
Arts council funding is also available for specific tools or material needs,
not just public arts projects: at the other end of the scale, hand-weaver Jason
Collingwood successfully applied for a small grant of 1500 to purchase a
loom. As his practice required a specialised, and relatively rare, type of shaft-
switching loom, and weaving is a craft that is relatively under-subscribed, the
grant was awarded unconditionally: that is to say, he was not required to
demonstrate any public or community engagement aspect of his practice, or
put up any funds in kind.
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None of these grants and bursaries are available to students: however a
careful knowledge of the guidelines, criterion, and anticipated outcomes of each
means that one can prepare for future projects while still undergoing a course
of study.
Personal applications
For the purposes of my proposed practical research, I may well look to the
Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between
Cultures which seeks proposals for activities and initiatives that support
intercultural dialogue in the 37 Euro-Mediterranean countries. Their programme
is co-funded by the European Union and the 37 members of the Euro-
Mediterranean Partnership, and as part of my research is looking towards
exploring the history of the medical museum in Europe, and working within
them - with staff and visitors it may be a possible source of financial support
following completion of my studies.
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There are a great many precedents for artists inspired by the aesthetics
and materials of scientific display: Damien Hirsts early immersions such as
The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living catapulted
the artist to worldwide notoriety, and his later installations such as Pharmacy
continue to reference these themes of medicine and the Vanitas. More
recently, film-maker Amanda Schiff had an exhibition of curiosity boxes in the
Grant Museum of Zoology at UCL: her intimate, curious works were displayed
in amongst the bones and wet collections of the museums permanent
displays.
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Conclusion
It has often been the case for the self-employed artist that the community
project, teaching, workshops and public arts are only one side of the creative
coin: on the other side is the autonomous artist, who needs the means to fund
his or her studio practice. The one intersects, develops and feeds into the
other, so they are not completely separate: nevertheless, they have a different
end goal and context. In my personal life, these two practices have been
divergent: the type of work I made in order to earn a living was visually and
philosophically very different from the work I would make in my studio.
However, as I develop and mature as an artist, I find that these two strands
of my work increasingly intersect - resulting in both a richer personal practice,
and a more creatively interesting approach to the public art project. Recently,
my public artwork has had more emphasis on the forms and aesthetics of my
studio practice, as evidenced in the work I made for Colchesters Creative
Conveniences project, and the upcoming George Yard Memory Box.
(appendix 5)
In their 2007 paper on cultural value, Bohm and Land consider that:
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building works, it is sometime possible for the artist to intersect their own
practice with the needs of the public without compromising their integrity, and
the benefits of working within a social context is that there is a clear
opportunity for ones project to leave a legacy. One should never
underestimate the effect that your work may have on the people who interact
with it, nor fear the intersection of ones practice with the needs of both
earning a living and fulfilling ones vision with integrity.
culture and the arts are, after all, fairly autonomous zones that will
always exist in an ambiguous relationship to society and capital (Bohm
and Land 2007)
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References and bibliography:
Interviews/in conversation:
Webpages:
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2010/02/pandoras-box-curiosity-
and-dangerous.html
www.a-n.co.uk/air
www.a-n.co.uk/jobs_and_opps
www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/grants-arts
www.artsjobs.org.uk
www.creative-partnerships.com
www.creativitycultureeducation.org
www.creativityforlife.co.uk/Steve Downey.html
www.elephanttrust.org.uk
www.essex.academia.edu/ChristopherLand/Papers/106795/No-
Accounting-for-Culture--Value-in-the-New-Economy
www.firstsite.uk.net/page/3097/Michael+Goodey
www.miller-mccune.com/carousel/for-contemporary-art-context-is-
counterproductive-9220/
www.visiteastofengland.com
www.wcmt.org.uk
www.wellcomecollection.org
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List of images:
Cover: Creative Conveniences, Mens, (in situ ) Lisa Temple-Cox
Page: 1 Creative Conveniences, Mens, (details) Lisa Temple-Cox
2 Signs in the Landscape, (detail) Michael Goodey
4 Wickford Library mural project, Lisa Temple-Cox
5 Creative partnerships/ Tyrrells School, Lisa Temple-Cox
6 Enrichment week, Colchester Institute, Lisa Temple-Cox
7 Steve Downey (various)
9 Crack:under pressure, Lisa Temple-Cox / Mary Wiendling
10 Nicola Burrell (various)
11 Natasha Carsberg (various)
12 Share 2010, Nikki Betts (project organiser)
13 Signs in the Landscape, Michael Goodey
14 Jason Collingwood
15 Immersions and moulages, (maquettes), Lisa Temple-Cox
16 top: The physical Impossibility of death... Damien Hirst
centre: Amanda Schriff (various) from Pandoras Box
17 Lisa Temple-Cox, private commissions
18 Lisa Temple-Cox, Immersion 1 (detail)
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