Gillian Bates muses on a missed opportunity.
I must confess I was completely bewildered as to why there was recently a vote for a Regional Assembly in the North East of England. If the good citizens had voted ?yes? instead of a resounding ?no? what exactly would this Assembly have done? A quick glance at the Sunday broadsheets elicited a wry grin ? it appeared that the only two areas clearly delegated for regional control were ?arts and tourism?. Ah, now that makes sense? presumably the politicians were thinking that if the new Assembly made a hash of things, no one of any importance would notice?
Then I thought, hold on ? perhaps the region that so proudly welcomed Angel of the North has just missed a trick? What if the Assembly had happened and revolutionised the way that arts were funded and staffed within that region? What if the new Assembly immediately created an arts team that included a ONE STOP funding shop? A bureau with independent funding advisers that would help all artists and cultural organisations understand the complex vagaries of arts funding and encourage them to successfully apply.
What if this team then carried out a ?wages and conditions? audit of the arts organisations and creatives within the North East and then implemented an established and recognised pay scale for all workers? This would include benefits and pension rights and incremental ranges.
What if they had an occasional ?silly season? when all artists were welcomed to seek funding without having to think about strategy, outputs, inputs, targets, income generation, hotel stays, postcode dwelling, job creation, social agendas, political agendas, European Social Funding agendas? What if they funded the arts for the art itself? What if they went subsidy crazy? What if they handed over cheques for core arts activity without making hard-pressed managers go through hoops to find dribs and drabs of funding from differing applications for several projects?
What if they actually trusted arts professionals and used finance to help them to get on with the jobs they are skilled to do, without constantly changing the funding agendas? What if regional control would have immeasurably bettered our sector? I know, pigs might fly? but, hey, the Angel of the North actually looks as if it does.
Gillian Bates is a journalist and arts marketing consultant.
e: gillianbates@gkbmarketing.freeserve.co.uk