Have you ever wondered how – the things that matter to Government end up having to matter to you? Well I often wondered this when as a 10 year old I wanted to make, do, promote and present the arts (in a fashion), only to be told “no-one will support that”. I often didn’t really know what ‘they’ meant by ‘support’. I mean, who needed support?
Well as the years went by I started to learn that even though I had gone miles away from even thinking about ‘support’ for any of my work and certainly NOT from public funds; if what others were doing as an arts project was something that could potentially merit charitable/ grant ‘support’ then understanding and awareness would be needed about the current ‘priorities’ as set down by Government in order to allow any such applications for ‘support’ to go forward.
Now – back to my first question in relation to my second point. You need to think what is it that is broken in society or what is it that needs improving in society or what is it that makes for a good policy that might get votes at central Governement? And then you’re getting somewhere close to uncovering how the things that matter to Government need to matter to you – for you to make your arts relevant enough to merit that brass ring of ‘support’.
Naive? Over simplistic? Not really I find. Make your arts relevant to any of those agendas – AND BE ABLE TO MEASURE THE IMPACT – and BINGO you merit ‘support’.
Selling out? Don’t think so. Personally I do think we’re a bit of an ailing society on the whole, but looking at central Government websites it looks like it’s destruction, desolation and displaced people’s all over the place. Maybe it is. So take this as the assumption and go on with my thinking…
Our civil society is in a mess, our children are under achieving, our ‘communities’ are no longer communities, our people are lonely, afraid and isolated living their lives through reality TV programmes, soap operas and enjoying watching Jeremy Kile bully some poorly educated people in the name of ‘entertainment’ and “helping them and others to not make the same mistakes”; people pinning their hopes on a lottery win and coveting the material goods others have.
I still hear “I used to be able to leave my front door unlocked” and taxi drivers say how much they and everyone they pick up would like to leave this Country and never look back.
Gun crime is on the rise, so is unemployment with the West Midlands having the highest rates. Drinking is the highest amongst women (I can’t possibly comment), teenage pregnancies are increasing. As for health, self esteem, confidence and active citizenship forget them. Not to mention the rise in xenophobia.
I’m not for one minute suggesting that the arts are the ‘fix all’ in society, BUT expressing your own creativity is pretty good at helping people gain perspective on things. Ever wrote a letter to yourself or someone else (with the intention of not ever sending it), but somehow finding that the creative exercise in itself has been cathartic? Creative expression and participating in the arts with others especially is widely documented as helping to put the equilibrium back into things on a personal level, and each individual makes up a community and each community makes up a society and so on.
There is one word that matters to me which I have alluded to but not said and it is seldom used and that word is “happiness”. Maybe it’s a bit childish to suggest that just being ‘happy’ makes for a much better quality of life. Well – it does.
So back to the point, community cohesion (people knowing they are part of something, a neighbourhood an area – a community), active citizenship (people knowing they can become involved in local decision making, place shaping, defining the areas they want to live in, knowing their views are important), community empowerment (people knowing they have access to all the things they need to live the lives they want); all these are the common areas that central Government beleive to be the building blocks of society and are the things the central objectives are looking to address.
Now, take a peek in more detail at what the priorities are from Government:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/about_us/our_priorities_and_targets/default.aspx/
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pbr_csr07_psacommunities.htm
You may also wish to note the following which is a quote from Treasury’s website re PSA 21 regarding DCMS’s delivery agreement – ie what DCMS is doing to ensure they meet the target. (Remember DCMS has a funding agreement with Arts Council England.)
“From the smallest village hall concert, local museums and neighbourhood festivals through to national events, the cultural sector allows people to get involved in the kinds of positive activities that can help to create more active communities. Such active communities can be a key part of enabling people from different backgrounds to interact on an ongoing and equal basis.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has a key role in working with the sporting and cultural sectors to ensure that their contribution to building cohesive, empowered and active communities is fully understood by local partners and is delivered on the ground. This will be achieved by giving young people and adults the opportunity to develop their talents to the full and providing the opportunities to enjoy other talents. More specifically DCMS will:
• continue to invest in and work through its NDPBs (including Sport England, Arts Council England, English Heritage, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council) to help create more cohesive and active communities by increasing cultural and sporting opportunities for people of all backgrounds to mix in a safe environment;
• invest in the essential infrastructure and people, including volunteers, to deliver excellent cultural and sporting opportunities;
• maintain a focus for the department and its partners on narrowing gaps in participation between different groups, working throughout the country to raise the level of activity of those with lower rates of participation. DCMS will do this by setting clear a strategic direction to its partners, providing funding and measuring performance. The national Taking Part survey will measure participation of different groups across culture and sport. The evidence base will be used by DCMS and partners to understand the positive effects on communities and target government investments better at all levels and advocate and encourage partners to share best practice in local and regional provision of culture and sport, in conjunction with the Local Government Association and the Improvement and Development Agency (IdeA).”
And finally – ask yourself:
What is my work in the arts trying to achieve?
How does my work contribute to and align itself with the Central Government targets?
What can I do to make a better case for investment in the arts?
And then “Make it so number 1″. (Jean-Luc Picard)
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