Arts Group

Dear Mr Willetts,

My Name is Benjamin Westhead. I am the Education Officer working on the sabbatical team in the Students’ Union for the University of the Arts London.

I am writing to you about the recent Higher Education White Paper produced by your department. More specifically I am concerned that the White Paper has failed to acknowledge the application and selection process implemented at most arts universities.

University of the Arts London has around 20,000 students studying a diverse range of creative subjects. However, within this large range of different specialities a common feature of the majority of courses is that they have an application process not acknowledged by the White Paper. I am sure you are aware, as it is with most creative institutions, UAL does not conform to the traditions of A-level and UCAS application system. A large proportion of the university’s student places are awarded in light of academics viewing portfolios, interviews and auditions, then assessing talent on this basis. The new proposal on the manner in which student numbers will be regulated, particularly in reference to ‘AAB students’, fails to account for this difference -  not only the application process that fits the courses we offer, but on a more rudimentary level on learning style.

Our process of application is one that must be preserved as our current system is tailored to fit the manner in which the university and creative sector operates. Many students who excel in the creative arts may perform less well in traditional academic subjects and be even more constrained by the conventions of the standard academic examination process. The current proposal discriminates against the creative sector. It is fundamentally wrong to punish universities and students for failing to meet guidelines that are not applicable.

I urge the government to review their blanket-policy as it has the potential to be devastating not only for my own institution but for creative teaching establishments across the nation. This issue stretches further than Art and Design courses – music and the performing arts will all feel the pressure of this policy. I am speaking not only for University of the Arts London, but even more so for the smaller colleges that may be left with no way to develop and expand to the point of destruction under a system that is clearly biased against them. Whilst the AAB approach attempts to ensure that the most academically able students are prioritised for University places, it does not ensure that the most creatively able students will be prioritised for places at arts institutions.  The White Paper and in particular the proposal to regulate student numbers through the ‘AAB’ approach, must be revised to include flexibility for creative institutions to use the appropriate process of portfolio or performance application to recruit the best and most creatively able students.

The modes of learning and the facilities that are required by creative courses are different to other disciplines, and a different approach should be applied if we are going to get the most talented creative students to the best courses at the best universities.

Benjamin Westhead

Benjamin Westhead SUARTS

Performing arts colleges should be exempt from quota, says principal:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=417162&c=1

Benjamin Westhead SUARTS

Ben

Robert Pacitti next to a model of his flags, Artists taking the lead

Pacitti is one of 12 artists across the UK awarded this grant as part of an Arts Council funded project, Artists Taking the Lead, which has been set for the 2012 Olympics. Critics of Pacitti have raised questions on the artistic value of all 12 pieces, and whether this can outweigh the money that will be spent on their production.

“Will it be any good? And will anybody care?” asks a Guardian journalist at the ATTL launch in March last year. ATTL will be receiving a lot more funding and a lot more coverage than other art projects in line for the Olympics.

It is not a surprise that Artists Taking the Lead, a project which has put £5.4 million into 12 commissions spre

ad across the country, has achieved such scepticism. Cynics are sure to raise their voices when it comes to government expenditure. In this particular case, money is shown to have been attributed to individual artists, and the award of a £500,000 budget may seem a bit like winning the lottery. However these funds will not be feeding the artists themselves but going towards the production of their projects. These are larger than life scale installations that will involve the efforts of many, many practising designers, sculptors, accountants and engineers. In fact these projects are so technically ambitious that a £500,000 budget might not be enough!

Pacitti’s flags and feasts, as a critic called them, may value entertainment over artistic depth, but this is part of a political motive inherent in all the ATTL projects. Each piece does its best to involve the community and to reflect national pride. The Northern Ireland project THE NEST will be a devised musical piece based on objects donated by “the people of Northern Ireland”, which is to be performed in Belfast.

Shauna Richardson, Artists taking the lead East Midlands. c Matthew Andrews 2009

Shauna Williams, commissioned in the East Midlands, plans to build three taxidermy style 30 foot high lions across Nottingham to disseminate the values of courage and nobility, commemorating Richard Lionheart, and “celebrate the region”.

The debate between elitist and accessible art, Ezra Pound over Harry Potter, Tarkovsky over Goddard is made prominent. That the commissioned pieces are neither too obscure nor avant-garde, that no one opted for a gothic performance on male/female deconstruction (followed by an after-party in a Glasgow basement) is part of a deliberate and political choice. Rather this is art that is democratic, it aims to be universally understood.

“Much is being prepared for the Olympics, and a lot of it has received Arts Council funding.” Says an artist commissioned by Art at the Edge, a project organising a public display of sport themed art.  Here, as opposed to ATTL, established fine artists will be creating exhibition pieces, and their audience is restricted to the gallery space. Aimed at the wider public rather than the artistic elite, ATTL becomes dependant on wider coverage, larger scale pieces and accessible ideas.

Words by Lemma Shehadi