Make the public central to the future of the arts

[Roger Tomlinson]

I don't understand why almost all coverage, and quotes about the impact of the cuts on the arts, reports on the implications for artists and arts organisations instead of the impact on the public on reductions in their fragile arts provision.

I also don't understand how the Arts Councils in England and it also appears Scotland are prioritising cuts to audience development and engagement at the very time when we need to maximise the relationship with the public as audiences and participants. Sorry, but the Arts Council in England continues to behave as the Artists Council and actually does not properly deliver its chartered objectives.

Jeremy Hunt's talk about emphasising the role of philanthropy in arts funding, while being ludicrous as a quick fix alternative source to Government funding, does have some validity long term, since we do need the public more engaged as champions and fans of the arts. But, "Catch 22", they won't be thinking about donations or persuading their corporate colleagues unless they are more closely engaged.

So can we stop talking about the impact on artists and arts organisations and point out the reductions in provision, access, and public benefit and how the public will be affected. A lot of people really value their theatre,music, dance, visual arts, etc. And we have the kind of in-depth research which Alan Brown is starting to do in the UK after his experience in the US in really identifying the value in their lives to people as individuals of their arts experiences. We need them - the public - to speak for us.

We have got Audiences UK as a body to focus on audiences, and a national network of audience development agencies, so we need to start sooner rather than later on helping the voices of the public be heard. I agree we need joined-up campaigning with all the relevant bodies, but can we make the public central to the future of the arts?

We have all these "Friends" organisations too. What are friends for?

Roger

[Marcus Romer]

Roger

thanks for this

I have just visited the site for Audiences UK to see how the news and engagement agenda is working

this is a link to their recent news page

So far no mention of the current situation or ideas on how we might move forward collectively as a joined up sector

I think that we do not want to stop talking about the impact on artists and arts organisations as you put it, as without the provision and creation of the work what in reality will be enagaging our audiences with?

We need to stay connected and not divide between sectors or disciplines within the 'arts' and in times of difficulty demonstrate our shared visions and voices

[Mark Robinson]

This is one of the 'both and' moments isn't it, not en 'either or'? I was disappointed to see the public engagement work being postponed and scaled back, though in the circumstances I can understand the decision. It is vital to long-term sustainablity though, and I do think progress has been made in recent years that won't just be rolled back as money gets less.

While agreeing that the voices of the public should be heard, we do need to keep in mind that 'the publics' for the arts are very various. Yes, it's audiences, of course, and they are not heard enough - but it's also business benefitting from inovation, teachers and students in education, everyone in the healthcare system, etc - having a strong articulation from those publics would also add richness to the voices of artists.

[Roger Tomlinson]

Thanks for the comments Mark and Marcus. Yes I agree with the "and" impact on both 'the public' and on 'the arts'. I was blogging in the context of Dave Moutrey's points about "choosing your battles". I don't think lobbying by the arts against large scale sweeping cuts to DCMS and local authorities is going to be productive, especially if it is seen to be self-serving. So actually we need to start lobbying the public.

US style philanthropy and particularly personal giving is fundamentally based on people valuing the arts and it is vital to secure that individual and personal support. Yes Audiences UK is only part of the solution - at least its starts as a UK network of agency member arts organisations interested in audience development - and I know the Arts Councils want to hang on in there and hopefully work with them to achieve more public engagement. But we need everyone to galvanise the public involvement right now. And ironically, Jeremy Hunt ought to want to support that process...

Roger

[Nick Sherrard]

It does seem odd to me that Friends groups, and wider arts audiences are not being mobilised more. It is a real missed opportunity too

I've just been sent this by a Canadian campaign which is very public facing (although partly because they are in a bit of a last chance saloon)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoGnsU27OCE

And this campaign in Maryland seems to be interesting too;
http://www.mdarts.org/

I'm not sure it is all about agencies like Audiences UK but also individual groups finding ways to use their audiences and supporters to make sure the message gets across that people love what they do, and that they will be wanting answers from politicos and departments if anything stops that work continuing.