'The new Culture Forum - a 'Big Conversation' or rather more selective?'

[Katriona Beales]

Follow the link below to read for yourself the make-up of the new Culture Forum (don't confuse with the 'New Culture Forum' a centre-right culture lobbying group), which has been set up to give “the sector an opportunity to engage in the Government’s call for a national debate on the cultural economy” [source: Arts & Business website].

I am troubled by the fact that it appears that none of the Culture Forum members are arts practitioners - all appear to be arts professionals. This is despite the fact that 6 members were later co-opted by Arts & Business "to ensure the Culture Forum had representation from all regions and all major art forms". Careful thought obviously went into the make-up of this group and yet still there are glaring omissions - no practitioners.

The voice of the artist appears not to be represented here.

Is this the fruit of a fundamental assumption that artists can't speak for themselves?

It appears that the same old hegemonies are at work - that the hierarchies of the arts worlds, again, leave the actual artists, makers and practitioners, out of the biggest debates that directly affect us. I am a member of AIR (www.a-n.co.uk/air), along with over 14,000 other professional visual artists. I'd like to suggest that #cultureforum considers a representative from AIR, who will be able to feedback and bring comments from the wider membership.

I struggle to see how the Culture Forum can claim with integrity, to be able to "feedback on the impact and effects of proposed cuts to the arts sector", without a membership involving actual arts practitioners, alongside arts professionals. At present there is no-one who could directly comment on the experience of the artist in the current climate. In the light of statistics like 72% of artists are self-employed, and have been given no specific support in the recession as 'sole traders' or 'small businesses' [source: AIR], surely artists' voices have to be given space in the debate, and at least one place at the table.

http://artsandbusiness.org.uk/News/2010/july/culture-forum-represen...

[Patrick Hussey]

Hello everyone, Patrick Hussey from A&B.

We really do welcome thoughts and comments and accordingly I will point out this blog to the Forum.

[Katriona Beales]

What troubles me as well Jonathan is timescales - the Culture Forum is due to have 3 meetings and then present a report to government. Can 3 meetings really be sufficient? With all these #artsfundings cuts I feel the government is trying to rush change through so that there isn't time for debate to be had... If the Culture Forum is independent then it could not demand longer timescales to enable more debate to happen?

[Katriona Beales]

Thanks to Patrick for positive response to debate

[Jack J Hutchinson]

AIR SUBMITS FORMAL REQUEST FOR ARTISTS REPRESENTATION ON CULTURE FORUM

A formal request has been made from AIR: Artists' Interaction and Representation for artist representation and intelligence on the Culture Forum. This will ensure the knowledge and needs of individual artists are considered within the forthcoming debates on arts funding and policy development.

The Culture Forum was set up to ensure leading cultural minds have a direct line to Government following the Chancellor’s call for a ‘Big Conversation’. Of the 26 representatives from England, none are arts practitioners.

The forum will "discuss views, ideas and actions on how to reenergise investment and funding for culture in England." AIR feels this in not possible without input from actual visual and applied artists.

[Katriona Beales]

I think Jonathan's point above is really interesting. I feel it's important that we don't allow pressures on the sector to become divisive - arts administrators and artists have different viewpoints but also much in common. As a sector we need to be responding in a joined up way...

Also great news from AIR on the formal request for artists' representation. Please let us know what comes of that! I think we also need to be thinking wider here - where are other forums where artists' voices are not part of the debate? And why aren't they?

[Lucy Carolan]

It might seem to be a bit late to be militating for an extra representative for artists when the voting for culture forum members was (eventually) open to all and the results announced on 21st July. But when A&B published those results, it also announced that an extra six members had been added to the twenty already selected "to ensure the Culture Forum had representation from all regions and all major art forms".

Many of the 26 culture forum members are professionals involved in performance and (mainly) music based arts organisations (15 at my count). While I doubt that will necessarily be a problem, in the interests of achieving a better balance of representation, I really hope the culture forum will accept AIR's request above.

[Lucy Gibson]

I think it is also important to work with get artists to get them to understand that they have a role to play in opposing the cuts and actively demonstrating the importance of the arts. Some do understand this but I would suggest many don't: activating the mass voice of UK artists is going to be very important in the next few years. All organisations that work with artists need to take a part in helping them to raise their voices over the general din. Artists and those working with artists can add their thoughts to Axis's debate - Arguing for Artists http://www.axisweb.org/fundingcuts - we will then bring take this into discussions with other groups, such as AIR, to make the artists's voices heard.

[Katriona Beales]

Thanks for your comments Lucy - I am a member of both AIR and AXIS. One of the things about AIR is that it is artist-led. I don't know about the structure of AXIS, but maybe AXIS could have representatives who are member artists so that AXIS isn't speaking on behalf of artists but rather facilitating artists to speak for themselves.

[Lucy Carolan]

Hi Katriona, are you suggesting that both AIR and AXIS should have places on the culture forum?

[Matthew Rowe]

Thank you for your comments Katriona, as the sole visual arts representative on the forum I should like to explain that I am keen to represent the sector as best I can and that I should welcome the opportunity to continue my dialogue with contemporary artists through AIR. Based in the South East I have regular contact with Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva the local AIR representative and in May Towner hosted an artist consultation day on behalf of Turning Point South East which was the beginning of a more constructive dialogue. Turning back to the make up of the Forum I think it is worth reminding ourselves that the catalyst for the Forum's formation was the new coalition government Emergency Budget and Comprehensive Spending Review with its proposed cuts acorss government departments. Arts & Business and the National Campaign for the Arts invited their members to stand to serve on a group that would meet three times to formulate a paper that would make the case for the arts in the context of the CSR. All organisations of the forum are directly affected by these immediate funding decisions, Towner for one is facing the perfect storm of cuts to our two principal funders (local government and the Arts Council) and the abolition of Regional Development Agencies and the MLA. In addition all organisations on the forum directly represent the artists they work with in a daily basis, A&B and NCA had to draw the line somewhere in order to have a coherent group, if artists were directly represented then what about composers, authors, musicians, playwrights, poets, choreographers, actors, dancers, and singers to name but a few. The Forum is by necessity narrow but each member has agreed to consult within their sector in order to ensure a broad case for the arts so I am keen to represent artists and would welcome your thoughts. Several of the comments above talk of policy development - for me that is what the DCMS and the Arts Council are engaged in as evidenced in the imminent publication of the interim findings of the ACE consultation on their new 10 year strategy, Great Art for Everyone, which I hope you commented on. The role of artists in making the case for the arts is critical and I know that their voice needs to be heard alongside that of arts organisations' audiences that demonstrate the social value of the arts in the era of 'The Big society'. Therefore opportunities for the visiblity of artists must form an important part of the advocacy that must take place between now and October on both a national and local level. I look foward to a continuing dialogue at this critcal time for funding for the arts.