An ERICarts Report, prepared by Danielle Cliché, Ritva Mitchell and Andreas Wiesand (2002 ISBN 3 930395 59 2 £17.50 [£21.60 inc p&p])
This is a weighty volume, but well worth the time required to explore its substantial consideration and analysis of the prevailing conditions for creativity in Europe. It is likely to become required reading for policy makers, researchers, government agencies, funding bodies and professional arts organisations helping them gain an overview of the emerging creativity governance trends in Europe.
In recognising the changing climate for creativity in Europe, this report, by the European Research Institute for Comparative Cultural Policy and the Arts (ERICArts), emerges with new identities for “creators”, leaving behind the “myths of the lone creative genius” and proclaiming independent artists as “knowledge workers, entrepreneurs or culture industry units’’. It considers the new working practices artists and cultural workers are creating to transcend traditional boundaries between sector disciplines and functions, and the challenges these produce for decision makers when developing appropriate programmes, funding schemes and legal frameworks. The book explores the variety of systems employed by different countries to govern and manage artistic creativity and cultural innovation and how these are reflected in policies, programmes and partnership structures.
Key issues include consideration of new modes of partnership between public, private and non-profit agencies to support creative initiatives; how the management of artistic creativity is organised and what is being done by contemporary European governments to support artistic work. Part One, quite appropriately, sets the context beginning with a recording of voices from artists explaining the challenges they are facing today. It gradually expands to a presentation of existing measures to support artistic creativity and markets in Europe. Part Two deals with issues in the management of creativity, analysing the role of managers in the promotion of artistic ideas and secondly on the different types of cultural milieu that generate ideas and support their implementation.
You get well over 300 pages for your money but it is refreshing to discover that much of the book is dedicated to exploring the issues through a consideration of a wide range of case studies from different countries to illustrate emerging theoretical analysis. Its findings are worth imbibing, although be warned this is not a lightweight weekend read. I found myself reading each page twice in order to extract full benefit from its considerable wealth of knowledge, insight and conclusions. For those working in the cultural sector as policy makers, seeking funding or simply looking for fresh approaches to creative partnerships it is definitely to be recommended.
Review by Rick Bond, Director of The Complete Works UK Ltd, a cultural consultancy and training provider. w: http://www.thecompleteworks.org.uk
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