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As the Year of the Artist draws to a close, Nick Capaldi reviews the Regional Arts Boards? stewardship of this nationwide initiative in England.

Someone was bound to ask the question sooner or later. Sure enough, within a month of the launch of Year of the Artist a respected national arts journalist rang to ask me whether the idea of a special Year was simply a monumental admission of failure. ?After all? he observed, ?shouldn?t supporting artists already be your bread and butter work??

Well the obvious answer to that has to be ?yes? ? developing opportunities for artists has always been central to the work of the Regional Arts Boards and Arts Council of England. But the implication behind the question was clear ? shouldn?t every year have been a Year of the Artist? And if artists continue to be amongst the most undervalued members of the arts world, often working on the margins of financial survival, what responsibility should we as the official arts funding bodies accept for this state of affairs?

Renewed appreciation

Looking back over recent years it?s certainly been the case that one of the principal strategies we?ve used for developing arts activity has been to concentrate limited resources on a number of key organisations, largely concerned with arts promotion, exhibition or development. At the same time we?ve maintained a strong commitment to education and training, and devoted considerable time to developing relationships with existing and potential regional partners across the commercial, public and voluntary sectors.

All of this has been valuable and important work. But on occasions our direct involvement with individual artists has sometimes felt to be more partial. Contact might have been limited to those who simply could not be ignored, either because of the undeniable quality of their work or through sheer persistence. However, the majority of artists who fall into neither category could be forgiven for feeling ignored or under-appreciated.

Year of the Artist provided an important opportunity for us to reflect on these issues. It was conceived as the culmination of a decade of celebratory Years. However, whilst previous Years had featured particular artforms in a single city or region, Year of the Artist would for the first time be a nationwide cross-artform event, managed and organised in England by the ten Regional Arts Boards. The aim was to promote the value of individual creativity, raise the profile of the artist, and demonstrate the huge diversity of public settings in which artists work.

Arts on trial

To do this we knew that we needed to win the hearts of minds of the wider public, many of whom might be openly hostile to the arts. But as Regional Arts Boards our starting point was our deep-rooted conviction that everyone has an entitlement to enjoy and experience the arts ? the arts don?t just add to the quality of life, they are part of what makes life worth living. The arts shouldn?t be a small or marginal area of activity, just for an educated or well-heeled minority.

Yet we also knew that we would need to present credible evidence that the arts are relevant to everyone?s everyday life. We?ve always argued that the arts influence and enrich design, architecture, fashion, the media and all the many ways in which we communicate with each other. We?ve always said that even if someone has never been to a concert, a theatre or a gallery, or read a novel, their life has been made richer by the arts. So now was the time to put this to the test.

Achievements

Our goal was an ambitious target of 1,000 artists in 1,000 places across England. A year on, how close to that target did we get?

In the event, we exceeded even our most optimistic expectations. In all, more than 1,700 artists were commissioned to create work in over 1,500 different public places. Over £5m has been spent directly on artists? projects, and those projects have attracted (at a conservative estimate) in excess of 25 million visits and contacts from members of the public.

Truly astounding has been the sheer variety of places in which artists have worked, and the imagination, energy and commitment of the host organisations who?ve commissioned artists and supported projects. We could have predicted that many important projects would take place in arts venues and festivals. However, across the country we?ve also seen over 100 projects in public open spaces, from heritage sites to cliff-tops, beaches to city parks. 200 projects have taken place in schools, colleges, hospitals, day centres and residential homes. Over 50 projects involving collaborations with transport companies, from trains to airports, bus stations to ferries. Some 60 or more artists have focused on projects using new technology and promoting on-line creative activity, while over 100 projects have been set up in work places and retail settings from collieries to farms, corner shops to supermarkets, high-tech engineering to manufacturing.

With a wealth of stories to tell, how successful were we in promoting the profile of the individual artist? Almost without exception, regional press and media have proved to be enthusiastic supporters of Year of the Artist. The national press and media have been a tougher nut to crack. It was perhaps inevitable that some would descend with tabloid glee on stories of artists digging holes in the New Forest or decorated dustcarts in the Cotswolds. And anyone who has listened to the verbal jousting between John Humphries and the Today programme?s artist in residence, Kate Tierney, will know how important it is that we encourage informed public debate about the arts. But it hasn?t always been the intentionally quirky or the eccentric that has dominated attention. We have also heard quieter voices, speaking with confidence and authority about the power of the arts to inspire, question and shape our understanding of the world around us.

A lasting legacy

So as Year of the Artist draws to a close what are we left with? Well at its most basic we?ve the legacy of 1,700 projects and the millions of people who experienced at first hand the excitement, invigoration and fun that involvement with the arts can bring. As arts funders we?ve started to think more carefully about how we promote and support artists work. Standard rates of pay and conditions were set for all Year of the Artist projects across the country. This established an important new benchmark, and has encouraged the Regional Arts Boards and Arts Council of England to work together to see what more can be done to help artists develop their work.

As I talk to my Regional Arts Board and Arts Council colleagues I see a new determination to put individual creativity at the forefront of our thinking for the future. A monumental failure? No. An opportunity to see just what we can achieve by working together to an ambitious national agenda? Yes. And if millions of people across the country have been prompted to think again about who artists are and what they can do, then that seems like a pretty important achievement to me.


Nick Capaldi is Chair of Arts 2000 :Year of the Artist, and Chief Executive of South West Arts t: 01392 218188 e: info@swa.co.uk