The big picture

As I visited the new Punta della Dogana museum of contemporary art during this year’s Venice Biennale, the impact of the worldwide recession seemed a little remote. The opulence of multi-billionaire Francois Pinault’s collection inside was mirrored by that of the yachts assembled outside. Throughout Venice the parties happened and the wine flowed. The British presence was strong, portraying the complex, globally connected richness of current visual arts practice. The British, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh pavilions were joined by shows from Artsway, Milton Keynes Gallery, De La Warr Pavilion, a group of artists from Peckham, a variety of projects and discussions, and an exhibition by Mona Hatoum at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia. Steve McQueen, representing Britain, is now popularly known not only for the notoriety of the Turner Prize but also for his Cannes-award-winning film, ‘Hunger’. Wales presented an audiovisual piece by John Cale, a founder member of The Velvet Underground. The exchange rate was punishing and added a minimum 10% to costs for UK exhibitors. However Artsway, based in the New Forest, reported visits from around 5,000 international curators and arts professionals in a month at the last Biennale – unimaginable exposure for the commissioned artists back home.
Growing pains
Over the past 15 years the visual arts have grown beyond recognition. Tate is now the most visited contemporary art museum in the world; The Angel of the North is a national icon (not to mention Gormley’s fourth plinth project featuring on The Archers); Richard Wilson’s ‘Turning the World Over’ in Liverpool was viewed by thousands on YouTube within hours, making it possibly the most cost-effective marketing Liverpool has known; Dundee Contemporary Arts, a symbol of bold civic ambition, has averaged 300,000 visitors a year in a city of 142,000 during its ten-year history; new museums and exhibition spaces are found throughout the country from QUAD in Derby to the Towner in Eastbourne, mima in Middlesbrough, the Exchange Penzance and the still to be completed Hepworth, Wakefield, Firstsite Colchester and Turner Contemporary, Margate. The sustainability of this Lottery-fuelled growth over the next decade remains to be seen.
 

Winners and losers
The impact of the recession so far is patchy. Some organisations are cutting programmes by up to a third, others still waiting for the cumulative effects to hit. Audiences are largely up, although participation in paying events is, in some instances, down. According to The Art Fund, collections are opportunistically negotiating good deals within a depressed market. An early casualty was the Southampton New Arts Complex (SNAC), which collapsed last autumn when City Lofts, the developer central to the scheme, went into administration. The project was to provide a city centre home for the John Hansard Gallery as part of the wider arts complex. Whilst SNAC looks for another backer, the Hansard has seized the initiative and looked to its strengths as an international venue for exhibitions supported by critical debate and research. It has decided to open a temporary space in a refurbished shop, whilst retaining its current university location, thus kick-starting longer-term thinking about a permanent multi-site presence that will enable it to be adaptable to future change, engage new audiences and forge new partnerships. Other venues are creating an online presence – for example ‘Project.Arnolfini’, an experimental web space linked to the Arnolfini gallery and curatorial programme. Cornerhouse in Manchester has commissioned thought pieces from Charlie Leadbeater and Tom Fleming to stimulate debate around the creative and financial impact of open working, collaboration and combined intelligence on the quality of exhibitions, artists’ development and audience engagement. Retaining quality in straitened times is a key issue across the board. It is particularly testing for an organisation such as Zoo Art Fair which operates on the cusp of commercial and not-for-profit, emergent and artist-led enterprises and is not prepared to compromise on the challenging nature of the work it supports in order to access new markets. This year they are moving to a space within the East End, diversifying into curated shows alongside the fairs, and looking to develop a local collector base. Stand costs have been reduced by up to a third.
Space savers
Although a grim statistic, the 90,000 empty shops across Britain, together with a £3m Department of Communities and Local Government fund and package of planning waivers, represent a considerable opportunity for artists and cultural organisations. In response, the National Federation of Artists Studio Providers has produced a set of guidance notes to encourage the use of temporary space for artists’ studios “where it paves the way for a longer-term strategy for integrating artists into a regeneration scheme or town centre, and where the presence of artists underpins and contributes to local strategies and arts development”. Gateshead Council is already working on a pilot project to refurbish a high street building, and Harlow Town Council has worked with artist Roman Vasseur to identify a group of artists to whom they can offer empty spaces.
Innovative though the sector may be, an under-capitalised and under-resourced infrastructure is not going to make it easy. Many strands of the mixed economy that supports the visual arts face increasing pressure: local authorities are implementing budget and job freezes, education budgets are overstretched, corporate hires have plummeted and trusts and foundations are cutting and streamlining. Universities now demand full cost recovery and set a high premium on floor space. The Millais Gallery, part of Solent University, lost its venue earlier this year and is now running a programme in temporary locations. Showing the direct impact of the recession, in order to meet the criteria of Arts Council England’s Sustain programme, is a challenge in such a complicated funding environment. Smaller organisations that don’t meet the £75k threshold will be pushed towards Grants for the Arts – which for many organisations is a life line for additional programme support.
A key function of the newly formed/pilot network of Turning Point groups, bringing together consortia of regional organisations, is to foster collaboration and build capacity. They could not come at a more important time, as organisations must find new ways of maximising efficiency, sharing resources and collaborating if they are to sustain the excellence and visionary work for which they are known, and overcome the economic and environmental challenges of the next decade.