Susan Ashmore argues the case for accreditation.
There are many opinions about what constitutes a professional. Is it someone with a degree, a Masters, a PhD? Someone who has published a book or received an award? This kind of elitism is particularly true when it comes to the arts.
How many famous musicians, writers and performers were expelled from institutions without completing their education, and yet maintain a status in society? How many individuals have been awarded doctorates by highly esteemed institutions for simply being well known? Many self-taught artists work for years, unrecognised, filling their lives with the products of their imagination. They paint, draw and perform to find a language and a place for their inner voices and emotions.
What defines these artists is that they lack professional status. Yet most of these people work as though their lives depended on it; as perhaps they do. They work passionately, often for little or no money. They could be regarded as missionaries for the arts! But would we consider them professionals?
It was Eleanor Roosevelt who once said no one can make you feel inferior without your consent and this is something I would reinforce when exploring the definition of a professional or challenging the notions of status in our society. Currently there are three million jobs in the UK that require qualifications. Yet, presumably, the beauty of the arts sector, where the emphasis is on experiential learning and continuing professional development, is its capacity to credit the vocational skills, experience and knowledge many people possess. This is particularly important when we are working with people who may have been unable to progress along the traditional educational routes, perhaps through financial restriction, academic barriers or even their postcode. How many parents feel they have failed their children if they are unable to fund a university place, which many in my generation were fortunate to have been gifted through local authority funding. I think the time is right to reclaim the notion of professionalism and embrace our own code of practice. This would enable us to share common principles of good practice, and demonstrate why and how these should be applied.
For many years, artists working in a diversity of artforms have been working in prisons and various social inclusion settings. This practice has, and is, becoming increasingly known as a sector within its own right. The challenge now is how to benchmark the work, and ensure that we are consistent in our delivery of high-quality services. At the Anne Peaker Centre, we believe that the formation of a Code of Practice could help us to achieve this, by setting out guidelines to support all those working in criminal justice settings, and ensuring that both service users and practitioners get the most out of working together. Rather than restrict ourselves to the narrow standards of achievement classified by formal qualifications, we could create our own scale of achievement against which to measure our work.
I do not suggest we do this for the public sector, the Arts Council or the Government; I feel strongly that we should do this for ourselves. Neither am I suggesting that we consult widely to produce a glossy strategy that can then be shelved. It is integral to the future work of the sector that we draw upon the experiences of practising artists, commissioners and others with whom artists work to inform the principles that underpin good practice. This will enable us to showcase best examples and show how they can work in practice. We do not need approval to do this: there is a diversity of practice and a wealth of knowledge, skills and experience for us to call upon. This is our way of stamping our own seal of approval on the fantastic work that occurs on a daily basis with offenders and ex-offenders.
Susan Ashmore is Chief Executive Officer of the Anne Peaker Centre for Arts in Criminal Justice.
t: 01227 471006; e: ceo@apcentre.org.uk;
w: http://www.apcentre.org.uk