Access to art is vital, argues Hilary Gresty. Here, she presents the case for art as a tool to generate an empowered, visually literate, culturally confident and creative society.
Tate Modern is the most popular gallery of modern and contemporary art in the world. Frieze Art Fair saw 42,000 visitors through its turnstiles last year and has established itself as the third most important art fair globally in as many years. At the other end of the spectrum, Tate and the Design Museum are the most popular search engines, after Google, for young people doing their art homework. Despite this unprecedented interest in contemporary art, and an equally unprecedented amount of public investment over the past decade, we can rehearse the litany of the sector?s weaknesses all too well:
? the infrastructure is patchy, as is Lottery investment
? capacity cannot meet the higher expectations ? especially in education
? according to the Government?s New Earning survey in 2000, artists? average gross weekly pay was £401
? funding for commissions and collections is woefully inadequate, and galleries throughout the country generally have to raise funds for each exhibition.
This government has at its heart the core concerns of building prosperity and enterprise, reducing poverty and inequality, and increasing inclusiveness and aspiration. However, the reality of cultural equity in 2005 can perhaps be best captured through the story of art and design in schools. Clore Foundation research1, published last summer, tellingly revealed a growing divide between the well-resourced and resourceful, those schools where adventurous and varied cultural experiences are integral to the curriculum, and those where there are few or no opportunities. This pattern is replicated throughout national visual arts provision. Somehow the circle has to be squared.
The Visual Arts and Galleries Association (VAGA) has begun working with partners across the cultural sector on a long-term campaign to place visual culture more centrally within public policy and, most importantly, within the political debate. Demos2 was commissioned in 2004 to look at the concept of a right to art, not just as a series of entitlements but as an overarching principle to which every one could sign up and which, if founded in public legitimacy, would lead policy rather than follow as an optional add-on. The resulting essay, ?The right to art: Making aspirations reality?, proposed looking at a right to art through the lens of public value, ?public value as an aspect of democracy ? where individuals are citizens not consumers, and ?choice? is not a synonym for the inequalities of individual wealth?. Ultimately, the public value will be found in how art changes and enhances individual lives. The challenge is to create conditions and opportunities through infrastructure, access and learning whereby everyone is empowered ? intellectually and practically ? and equipped to interpret and make choices about the complex and compelling visual world around them.
Gordon Brown is investing in the future with the Child Trust Fund ? just imagine what the equivalent Cultural or Creative Trust Fund for every child might accrue. Just imagine if everyone valued their local art gallery as much as the services provided by the local hospital. What if every school building had space for artists? studios so that children, parents, carers and teachers all had the opportunity to encounter the imaginative, creative, intellectual and ethical spaces of art practice on a daily basis?
We are now looking at an agenda for 2010 (and beyond) ? aspirational actions, which, if put in place, would begin to make headway towards a right to art as expressed through public value and individual choice. Whilst a campaign will undoubtedly have to focus on those with power at the top, it must consider power from below, working actively with individuals, communities, networks, organisations and agencies to demonstrate, or model, right to art in action. We are currently gathering exemplars of this so please contact the VAGA office with ideas and for further information.
Hilary Gresty is Director of the Visual Arts and Galleries Association. e: hilary@vaga.co.uk; w: http://www.vaga.co.uk
1?State of the Art? (2004, Clore Duffield Foundation) is at: http://www.art-works.org.uk/research/about.shtml
2?The right to art: making aspirations reality?, (2004, Demos, commissioned by VAGA) is at: http://www.demos.co.uk/catalogue/righttoartreport