Arts Group

Freshly returned from NUS Annual Conference 2010 it’s my pleasure to report on the Arts Group Policy that was passed by the sovereign body of the largest organization of its kind in the western world.

Safeguarding funding for arts subjects

NUS passed our calls for funding to be specifically identified and ringfenced for the subjects that feed the creative industries, in recognition of the continued and growing contribution that we make to the UK economy. In policy 301 of the Higher Education Zone, the conference acknowledged that:

Despite the substantial and growing contribution the creative and cultural sector makes to the UK economy, the Arts Subjects that feed them consistently face disproportionate cuts.

And in response has mandated the organization to:

For NUS to lobby for additional and protected funding allocation for subjects related to the Creative & Cultural Industries, in addition to any STEM Funding priorities

Fighting the exploitation of Unpaid Interns

After months of the National Executive failing to take any significant action on internships, the Conference passed policy endorsing the work of the Arts Group and other campaigns including Intern Aware and Internocracy. Our amendment (611a) in the Welfare Zone commits the NUS to act as follows:

1.  
   1. To work with Interns Aware, Internocracy, and Interns Anonymous to highlight the challenges facing students and graduates on unpaid internships.
   2. To lobby the Low Pay Commission to clamp down on employers who are breaking the law by not paying the national minimum wage where this is entitled.
   3. To work with the TUC to highlight to students their rights at work, and their entitlement to pay, if a person is undertaking an internship for more than 3 months.
   4. In partnership with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) lobby the CBI to implement the Interns Charter across all employers who recruit interns.
   5. For NUS to lobby for a crackdown from the HMRC and other government agencies on unpaid “internships” and other instances of National Minimum Wage legislation being broken.
   6. To work on the proposals for the development of a legal definition of an “internship” and how this may differ from existing work experience and volunteer legislation.
   7. To adopt The Arts Group’s stance that living wage should be awarded to Interns.
   8. To work progressively for more and higher quality work experience and placement opportunities across FE & HE Courses that meet the terms of the Arts Group’s recommendations.
   9.  To ask students’ unions to campaign for a distinction between paid and unpaid internships in University careers’ services.
   10.  To investigate the feasibility of total income (whether from loans, grants, bursaries or payment from employers) for students on placements during their courses to be at least equal to National Minimum Wage for the duration of hours they work.

We can look forward to working with the NUS to make sure that this policy generates tangible activity, despite a poor record from the organization of action on our previous calls for action against Hidden Course Costs, passed at last year’s conference (re-actioned on a wider scale by a motion this year). It’s likely that the best approach for impact on the Internships initially would be the introduction of the Skillset guidelines as a legislative measure, as (despite focussing on National Minimum Wage rather than living wage) they outline a fantastic and clearly thought out system of work-based learning opportunities as well as post-graduation Internships.

In a move that brings them usefully closer to the Arts Group’s remit, Skillset have announced the following:

“Skillset will from the beginning of April join forces with fashion and textiles to create one of the biggest Sector Skills Councils in the UK.

Following a number of changes to the Sector Skills Council network, Skillset, the industry body which supports skills and training for people and businesses in the UK creative media industries, is welcoming the fashion and textiles sector.

Skillset’s footprint already includes TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging and publishing. It will now have a combined portfolio worth more than £45 billion to the economy each year and the move is expected to give employers a stronger lobbying voice on skills issues for the future.

This transition has been seamless and Skillset has a dedicated staff team specialising in fashion and textiles work, many of which have transferred from Skillfast-UK, which previously represented the sector. 

This team will continue to implement the UK fashion and textiles industry-endorsed work programme and Skillset will be able to bid for new funds for training for the sector. The team will include a dedicated Nations manager based in Scotland, whose role is to support work in the devolved nations and a number of qualifications specialists.

Skillset Chief Executive Dinah Caine said: “We are pleased to be expanding Skillset and welcoming new and complementary industries to our sector. There are strong synergies between the skills issues faced by fashion and textiles employers and those in the creative media.

“Shared concerns include the reliance on mostly graduate entry and intense competition from overseas.”

The fashion and textiles sector makes up an important part of the UK economy contributing more than £11.5 billion each year. 

Skillset will be carrying out research to identify skills needs in fashion and textiles and producing an annual assessment of what these are. For a more detailed analysis of the current fashion and textiles skills landscape please read the Strategic Skills Assessment for the UK Fashion and Textiles Sector in the UK at www.skillset.org/research/index/#ssa“

We look forward to working with Skillset in their enhanced remit, particularly our sources suggest the Fashion Houses are far from up to standard in their internship practices and would really benefit from using Skillset’s new guidelines!

A joint international symposium presented by Columbia College Chicago in partnership with the European League of Institutes of the Arts, Claiming Creativity: Art Education in Cultural Transition.

April 21-24, 2010, Chicago, USA

Online Registration closes 14 April, 2010

http://claimingcreativity.com/registration.php

Claiming Creativity seeks to re-position creativity as a driver not only for our economies, but also for art making, for transformational processes, and for social and cultural development and change. The working assumption is that the vitality of our common future is linked tightly to creative practice in many forms. This symposium will place artists, designers, architects and other active “creators,” and those who teach in the creative disciplines squarely at the center of these important conversations along with leaders in industry and commerce who share an interest in the life of the imagination and its value to society.

Educators and other leaders in the arts, business, science, commerce, industry, public policy, and environment are invited to attend.

Claiming Creativity also features an online forum, live and available now to all symposium registrants. Successful proposal abstracts are included on the forum and allow for pre-symposium discourse to begin shaping the Chicago symposium; the forum discussions will also provide additional ideas for special sessions at the Chicago symposium, making Claiming Creativity as interactive as possible for the symposium registrants. Additionally, a symposium “journal” will be published through Columbia College Chicago’s academic press.

Claiming Creativity keynote speakers include Sarat Maharaj (UK), Dany Jacobs (Netherlands), and Amina J. Dickerson (USA). Their vast cultural knowledge and influence will undoubtedly afford symposium attendees new perspectives on “Claiming Creativity” and “the life of imagination and its value to society.”

For details about the symposium, registration, and the keynote speakers, please visit: http://claimingcreativity.com

By Barnaby Tidman

Pre-Registration is now open.

The National Arts Student Summit is open to all representative (from sabbatical officers to course reps) from creative subjects across the UK.

At the Summit you will have the opportunity to debate and discuss the development of Arts Education and Employment from Primary School to the Workplace.

For more information and to pre-register your delegates please click here 

More than 200 new arts jobs across London & Essex have been given the green light thanks to NDotM (New Deal of the Mind).

Working in partnership with a range of arts and cultural organisations including the British Library, Young Vic, Lyric Hammersmith, Notting Hill Mas and the Royal Court Theatre, NDotM successfully bid for funding through the government’s Future Jobs Fund which is aimed at helping find placements for young people who’ve been unemployed for six months or more.

167 people will be recruited through local Job Centres for the jobs in London. Meanwhile, 56 jobs have been created in association with Essex-based Theatre Resource which is one of the biggest disabled-led arts organisation in the UK.

Along with other placements announced previously, this latest announcement means that NDotM has helped identify and secure funding for over 300 jobs in the arts & creative sectors since its launch last March. That’s more jobs than days NDotM has been in existence.

Martin Bright, NDotM’s founder and Chief Executive said, “This is a great start to 2010 and means that 200 young people will be starting work in theatres, libraries, design studios and arts organisations who would otherwise have been stuck on the dole , their creative potential wasted.”

The people who’ll fill the first 30 FJF funded placements at London’s Southbank Centre are expected to begin work in early March.

www.newdealofthemind.com

Two hundred years ago, the arts were seen as a diversion from productive capital. Today, creative industries have a strong role in the country’s economy and accounts for 7.3% of it. What steps do creative projects have to take to ensure the achievement of their final goal? And what obstacles will they meet along the way?

By Lemma Shehadi

These are questions that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport tried to tackle in 2007, with a commissioned report on the state of Creative Industries. This analysis made by the Work Foundation argues for creativity as a catalyst for running businesses. Creative products are assessed and gain popularity by their “expressive value”, a concept which I will explain subsequently.

Originality and creativity, the production of ideas rather than objects is what makes the Creative Industries a “pioneer” sector. Universities and high tech manufacturers, which are hot spots for new ideas, become central building blocks of the economy.  These two contribute to what is known as the knowledge economy. Similarly it is this basis in innovation that gives creative industries that lucrative potential. Furthermore, in the UK, knowledge and creativity fuelled industries thrive better than in other parts of Europe. On a tangent, the reports adds that cultural diversity, as is seen in the highly cosmopolitan cities like London, bring forth a tolerance and openness to new ideas from which the knowledge economy thrives. Creative industries function by commercialising expressive value. This is not limited to paintings and poems but new software, video games etc. “Essentially expressive value creates new insights, delights and experiences. It adds to our knowledge, stimulates our emotions and enhances our lives” (4.7) This commonality also makes creative industries unique in that their products are truly original. Playstations 2, 3 and Xbox for example, are technological enhancements of the original Playstation, however new games that emerge, with new narratives and new graphics are the marketed ‘expressive’ goods. Makers of creative products cannot predict how these will be received. As the report points out, fluctuating trends allow for some products to experience an unexpected vogue, though this is always temporary. But what such products have as a distinguishing quality is that once made obsolete, they can experience a revival. This is very true to the current fad for “vintage” clothing and accessories. A 1970’s kettle, for example, is made useless by newer, faster and more eco-friendly ones. However it is highly desirable as an antique or as a decorative object. The “expressive value” of the kettle comes into play even though its value as a technological product is nought. It becomes also difficult, with the uncertainty of reception, to predict what profits a creative product will make, and creative products cannot be sold until they are packaged and completed. It would be absurd to release half of a blockbuster in cinemas whilst the rest of the movie is still in the making. What happens then is that a lot of money is spent producing a good film with unpredictable revenue and shelf life. A man setting up a barber shop can compete with his peers by ensuring quality and value. He can hire the best hairdressers, give cheap haircuts and build on his reputation. On the other hand, an eminent film maker could ensure that the best actors, the best production team and the latest equipment be used for her film. However she cannot guarantee that the ‘expressive value’ of the film itself will appeal to contemporary audiences. The dissemination of products with expressive value involves many layers of work from various creative industries. At the core are the creative ideas, truly innovative products that earn the need of a copyright. These are disseminated and mass produced by cultural industries such as film or production companies, radio, television. If Don deLillo writes a novel, this is a product of “core expressive value”. It is awarded copyright which protects it’s expressive originality. deLillo’s publisher is the cultural industry that reproduces the book. Another sector in the creative industries, designers and marketers would get involved in producing a cover for the book and advertising such as banners and PR. Politicians and celebrities also make use of this latter sector to create a public image. It is finally important to note that this analysis explores the function of art within an economic framework. The commercial value of artistic expression is subjective to popular demand, though this changes radically and unexpectedly. Creative projects undertake a lot of risks in such an ambiguous market. However, as the report underlines, there is much demand for expressive value in almost every aspect of consumer experience, which allows creative industries to flourish and generate more ideas.

The Guardian has coverage of announcements from Shadow culture secretary Jerermy Hunt indicating what a Conservative victory at the general election could mean for the shape of the Arts. Contrary to claims (last year at the launch of the National Campaign for the Arts Manifesto launch) by Ed Vaizey, Shadow Minister for Culture, it appears our sector may also be subject to cuts in funding in response to dwindling public finances.

The coverage is led by the Tory aspiration to enter into a “Golden Age” for the Arts, through encouraging the emergence of a culture of philanthropy equivalent to our American equivalents. This would seem to set us up for tax-related benefits  as well as other measures recommended by Sir John Tusa’s Arts Task Force in their report (see www.artstaskforce.co.uk ). Whilst undoubtebly a good ideal, this is largely unproven in the UK as a model, and would be a massive step to take from recent year’s reliance of much of the Arts on public subsidy. Whether this would be a phased movement, looking to replace public with private funding is not made clear, though as journalist Polly Toynbee commented at the Bright Blue event in Portcullus House this week – cuts are seldom able to be able to be carried out in the the surgical manner that might be desired to produce the “leaner” organizations Hunt perhaps rightly espouses.

Singled out for criticism by Tory policy is the proportion of state funding that goes on the administration of the Arts grant distributors, with organizations including the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England spending more than 10% of their income in this way. The Arts Council is restructuring to reduce this, but the premise does call in to question the balance of spending across other similar bodies.

The Conservative policy of returning more lottery funding to the Arts is re-emphasised, as is a committment to championing excellence in the arts (perhaps responding to much of the criticism levelled at public art initiatives’ over-emphasis of diversity and localism over quality of practice).

And last but not least, we are assured that free museum entry “is here to stay under a Conservative government”.

Following a warm reception for the Liberal Democrats, who invited us to input on their own Arts Policy, the Arts Group is continuing to speak to the Shadow DCMS team around issues relating to internships and STEM funding following discussions at the Conservative Conservative Arts and Creative Industries Network and other events with Shadow Arts Minister Ed Vaizey. Watch this space for formal responses!

The Guardian article is here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jan/1Following a warm reception from the Conservatives, who have invited us to their network events, and the Liberal Democrats, who invited us to input on their own Arts Policy, the Arts Group is continuing to speak to the Shadow DCMS team around issues relating to internships and STEM funding. Watch this space for formal responses!4/arts-funding-cuts-proposed-conservatives

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

Following the release of UCCA Vice-Chancellor Elaine Thomas’s excellent piece calling for design to be moved into the STEM subject cluster (though the online anagram scramblers inform me this doesn’t generate nearly as neat an anagram – see the incredibly laboured NINJA) it’s imperative that the economic value of design is recognized, and thoroughout our sectors we should seek to push for increased funding support for creative subjects.

In particular, the logic behind the STEM allocation (prioritizing money towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) seems increasingly quesitonable as the creative industries productivity and contribution to the country’s finances has been repeatedly cited over the past few years. In emerging from the recession and looking towards globalized enterprise activity, it is essential that our creative institutions are funded properly, and not just by shovelling in international students. The future of the UKs ability to compete in the global marketplace will depend upon a balanced portfolio of service offerings, and if a core strength of domestic creatives is not in our armoury we will undoubtebly lose out to countries including China, who are openly prioritizing this sector in their strategies.

The UK government must wake up to our art schools and other institutions requiring a degree of resource that reflects the requirements of our intensive education. Learning to design, make, perform, produce and the full range of disciplines encompassed in our practices requires larges amounts of space, contact time with our staff, and a constantly evolving array of facilities and tools. It cannot and must not be reduced to a shoestring budget area, an approach that seems to be worryingly proliferated and pandering to the obselete perception of creative subjects as “soft”.

Click here to visit http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Payinterns/ and sign up to stop the exploitation of unpaid interns in the UK