Kinda strange considering the deal the Lib Dems have done their deal with the Conservatives. Have you read about the deal? If you haven't you can watch it here and when you do, spot the reference to the Arts... you'll have to cut and paste the below link;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FCOvu2NDio
There Is No Mention Of The Arts...
There is the reference to the deficit I was talking about yesterday..
"The parties agree that a plan for deficit reduction should be set out in an emergency budget within 50 days of the signing of any agreement; the parties agree that modest cuts of £6 billion to non-front line services can be made within the financial year 2010-11, subject to advice from the Treasury and the Bank of England on their feasibility and advisability..."
There is no specific or explicit mention of the Arts for good reason. The Arts Council tried to avert what is almost inevitable.With the Conservatives finally in government, and the country facing a deficit of over £950.4 billion* (see yesterday's blog) the Arts will almost certainly suffer a very heavy loss as a "non-front line service" (they are hardly going to get a promise of an increase of funds, are they??). Now that's bad. Real bad for me, for the Dance Artist, bad for the UK arts scene.
Or is it?
We have been exceedingly lucky in this country. For decades we have benefitted from a funding system that few countries in the world have. A system I believe has caused a comfortability in the dance artist. "The arts should always be funded..." this outlook has caused a slowing of innovation and creativity in the UK as artists across the board chase funding by diluting their creativity to fit the funding criteria. Some of the greatest art works have been created by people who were facing the greatest life challenges... Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Martha Graham... I could go on...
(We could debate the artistic qualities of these individuals and end up naming far more. The reason why I used these particular individuals is to highlight the artists who are generally accepted as major artistic talents in their fields and whose creativity spanned their entire lifetimes).
None of these artists had the luxury of having an equivalent of the Arts Council in their respective countries to help them to become artists. They just were.
Given the current climate perhaps there needs to be a new way of creative thinking that places the artist right back where they belong... in the creativity seat. What I am suggesting is that the Artist becomes entrepreneurial. Use the talents inherent to create fluidity in their funding to fuel their artistic vision. With the Arts Council hanging in the balance (given it's omission from both the Conservative manifesto and the coalition deal made with the Lib Dems) the Artist might not have much of a choice. Perhaps with this new approach of self-funding which will allow the Artist to find ways of developing themselves and their audiences, bringing about new ways of approaching their artistic process.
I will engage with my artistry using an entrepreneurial approach. In ages past the question of funding has been an artistic challenge. One that the UK has not really experienced in decades. I believe there will be very little of the Arts Council left after 2012. And if I want to be a dancemaker, I'll have to start right now to investigate ways I can fund myself. It might work, then again it might not. However to be artistic means you have to take risks... without risks there is no innovation. I consulted by new best friend (Chambers dictionary) to find the definition of...
Innovation; to introduce something new
to renew, alter
a season's new growth
check this out... cut and paste!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apnNtpo81_g&feature=player_embedded#!
When was was the last time you were genuinely excited by a dance work from a UK dancemaker? What was it about the work that made it exciting? How many times would you see it? And how long do you think that the creator will remain at the vanguard of the UK dance scene? 1 year? 3? 10? 40?
To be an artist is a life long commitment. So for the artist, innovation should be of concern for the duration of a lifetime. Arts Council funding has never reflected this line of thinking. To a certain extent it never could.... in the UK we just presumed it would.
I have in my time seen some mighty odd artistic choices afforded maximum funding by the Arts Council based on an extremely well written funding application. Simply because you have a well written application does not mean you are an amazing artistic talent. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Can you imagine Martha Graham having to write an application to the Arts Council outlining how her work fits the four assessment criteria?? (for those of you who don't know about the Arts Council assessment criteria here it is):
For those of you who don't know who Martha Graham is... GOOGLE IT!!! And start looking at dance history in the UK. If you understand what's gone on before you can allow that to inform you artistic future. By looking in the past you don't keep re-inventing the wheel in the present which means greater creativity for the future.
It's a hopeful time... I am taking a risk. I will engage with the funding issue by rising to an artistic challenge which will hopefully benefit my creative dance practice by becoming the creative entrepreneur... what will you do?
So my question to you is... when was the last time you were really excited by a dance work from a dancemaker from the UK?
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