New Work Network

The Social Project

Posted by: NWN

At last year’s NWN AGM (Dec 2008) and the Chewing the Fat session held in January 2009, members expressed a desire to have more opportunities to meet face to face and to be able to network in the physical world as well as online. (See the Gristle forum thread)

In response to this Tim Jeeves, a member of NWN, approached the NWN team and offered to organise a series of member meet-ups to take place bi-monthly in London. This forum is a space for members to discuss things that they would like to bring to live meet-ups

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: timmyfatlips

Yes indeedy, as the wonderful NWN states above, I’ve been wearing my organisational hat these last few weeks and am in the process of putting together a programme of opportunity for face-meets-face exchange.

To ensure that there’s some structure to the meetings the plan is to use open space technology, and we’re hoping that the forum space here can be used to decide the topics on which each of these bi-monthly discussions will focus.

For the first meeting – at Stoke Newington International Airport on 30th April at 6:30pm we thought we’d propose the topic of:

‘Artist-led culture. Leading culture where?’

What do you think of that? A topic you’d like to discuss?
Or is there something more pressing that you think we should be looking at?

Any thoughts very welcome.

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: TimAnselm

Posted by: TimAnselm

Hi Tim,

Well here's a thought or two:

The government has given its support this week to the idea that artists and community groups should use all the "slack space", shops and other space that are lying empty, during the recession. For example, this article.

I've written about it here.

NWNW have kindly put it up as a resource on this site too. There's also a forum post here.

The idea implicit in this is that artists can have a role in revitalising communities in decline.

This model of regeneration has been tried in many places in the UK - Liverpool, Derby, Gateshead, Folkestone, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth and the area round the Olympics development in Stratford spring to mind - with mixed results.

The economic evidence in Liverpool is that the City of Culture year has led to employment and significant income for one of the most depressed parts of the country. It can work.

Is it possible to do this on a smaller, modular basis, high street by high street?

Apart from free space, what advantages would a scheme like this have for artists? (New audiences in high street locations, for one thing).

What responsibilities does it place on artists who take up a subsidised scheme - for example, to ensure accessibility for as many people as possible - where it's not subsidised with money?

Exceptional circumstances have led to an exceptional proposition from government. Though there is a bit of direct funding on offer too - £1000 per project - it's not like traditional arts funding where, in return for money, artists produce work.

It's a much less clearly defined - but potentially more far reaching - relationship between artists and society.

Artists get space, but there's an expectation they will not only produce art works but contribute to general public morale as well. How is that measured?

I think it's important that these and other questions are explored because this announcement has huge potential. However, like a lot of government policy, there doesn't seem to be any framework to implement it. The structure or network to make it happen has to emerge some other way.

- Tim

Edited by TimAnselm on 16/4/2009 18:22:23

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: timmyfatlips

Hi Tim,
Thanks for your thoughts and signposting.
I hadn't seen about this lark before - and it seems something with quite some potential.

It appears that the role of artist-led culture is being acknowledged by a wider society and that, I guess, can only be a good thing...

Are you planning to come on the 30th? It would be great to see you there to get some face to face discussion happening on what exactly this might mean.

Any other thoughts people have, either on this subject or suggestions of topics for future meetings would also go down an absolute treat.

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: allanstanleytaylor

Hello Tims,

I want to respond to Tim Ansell's point, and it may be slightly tangential, but there is a point in here about why work is funded.

Although artists regenerating communities is a good thing, I often think that the 'artist as social worker' or 'artist as social facilitator' is often a frustrating and fairly limiting way of working.

Funding is often based on these community regeneration projects, and artists can be compromised if they are asked to produce work that is seen as meaningful, or are forced to produce work that is seen to actively help and involve people. Though it sounds slightly cynical, community involvement and artist led regeneration brings to mind a really happy clappy, 'let's make the world full of sunshine and rainbows' way of working. Because as much as we want art to change the world, we have to be able to demonstrate the myriad of positive and negative things in this world, and not just 'help' or facilitate people.

Though I think artist led projects and community specific projects have merit, I feel that working within communities should come from a place that is integral to the artist's existing practice, and can often come across as forced and inauthentic when it has been done in an attempt to gain funding in a way that is loosely related to community. And on the same token, I hate the fact that art has to serve a function- that it has to fit in with political goals that may be at odds with artistic practice. To me that says art has no function unless it has pragmatic worth.

Surely all work that is produced has merit, and helps to define the society we live in by reflecting it back at people through different eyes. So when we say 'artist led culture', I often think of artists as interpreters. They intepret the times we live in and produce work that makes sense to them. As art constantly commentates on the society it is produced in, culture is pushed forward by an artist's interpretation of society.

So really I ask if we're going to be reduced to making work only if it is of use to governments rather than making work in a genuine attempt to communicate and share our intentions with with people?

Allan Taylor

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: RachelGomme

Taking up Allan's point, I have to agree that I have some misgivings about this idea. I'm wondering (a) how much censorship/self-censorship might be in evidence, of either content or perceived 'quality' of work?

And (b), how integrated will artists become into the local economy, in the absence of 'city of culture' type initiatives? If/when the upturn comes, will we be turfed out to scrub around for holes and corners again? I guess this will depend a lot on the kind of projects, how much they have connected with local community, but my (fairly limited) experience of local authorities is that their eye is often more on the economic main chance than any longer-term or more intangible social benefit - at least the bits of them that seem to make decisions over this kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong - I think it would be fantastic to be seeing artists' projects spilling out and inhabiting shopping streets, instead of boarded-up Woolworths. But is there a way to negotiate either short-term stuff where we can follow entirely our own agenda without having to conform to outside demands, or longer-term relationships where projects can be guaranteed sustainability of some kind?

No answers, only questions...

Rachel

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: RachelGomme

Taking up Allan's point, I have to agree that I have some misgivings about this idea. I'm wondering (a) how much censorship/self-censorship might be in evidence, of either content or perceived 'quality' of work?

And (b), how integrated will artists become into the local economy, in the absence of 'city of culture' type initiatives? If/when the upturn comes, will we be turfed out to scrub around for holes and corners again? I guess this will depend a lot on the kind of projects, how much they have connected with local community, but my (fairly limited) experience of local authorities is that their eye is often more on the economic main chance than any longer-term or more intangible social benefit - at least the bits of them that seem to make decisions over this kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong - I think it would be fantastic to be seeing artists' projects spilling out and inhabiting shopping streets, instead of boarded-up Woolworths. But is there a way to negotiate either short-term stuff where we can follow entirely our own agenda without having to conform to outside demands, or longer-term relationships where projects can be guaranteed sustainability of some kind?

No answers, only questions...

Rachel

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: timmyfatlips

Continuing from Rachel's point, and highlighting a couple of issues that have stuck with me from the shindig the other week - it seems that there are at least two distinct types of artist-led culture.

The first is the culture amongst artists - artist-led because is our culture. The creative culture that, whilst never actually being separate from them, is still something conceptually distinct from commercial art and academia. What that is, I wouldn't like to define in specific terms, but it's something that seems central to NWN, as well as numerous other groups and venues (some of whom we're visiting on our social tour).

Secondly, there occasionally comes a time when the wider culture looks to give artists a more foregrounded role - artists leading this broader culture - the project Tim has highlighted being a good example of that.

But as with any pronounced change in the integration and mixing of cultures, the resulting hybrid will be something different from both.
As Rachel says, if we don't want to lose that which we value within the first type of artist-led culture, then we need to be very careful when determining our role within the second.

It would be very interesting to hear from anyone engaging with Hazel Blears' slack space plans.

Re: The Social Project

Posted by: helenabryant

hi guys

i think we may be missing a trick here. the main thrust of the 'slack space' idea , as i interpret it, is not that artists will be required to be social workers etc. but be using their incredible resourcefulness and entrepreneurship in making something happen in a time of economic decline, be it a recession or depression. This in itself reduces some of the ill effects of the recession- eg. an increase in productivity, boosts morale, provides alternative leisure activities to getting drunk etc.

That artists should be willing to extend their activities to engaging non artists - (! shock, horror! ) at least as an audience for the work -(surely something we all want in any case), doesn't seem to me to be a problem. And, in my opinion, we should never cease from considering how work might engage with or effect a wider community. Otherwise- what the hell are we doing it for? This is not the same as having to reach social inclusion targets or proving the instrumental effect of art projects.

Of course, if we want to borrow someones space for free, we're going to having to enter into some kind of negotiation.

There is plenty of literature out there on why art is good for society and lots of hot debate on the question of instrinsic/instrumenalist value of art. Cultural policy makers must take into account all of the convincing evidence and argument- or else they are not doing their jobs.

Holders of the keys to abandoned buildings may not be so enlightened, and will no doubt have their own preferences.

Anyway, the Tories will probably be getting into government within the year. And so it doesn't matter one bit what Hazel Blears says

helena