Should 'audience development' be an outcome in and of itself? Stephen Pritchard reflects on arts work that goes deeper, supporting people to begin the process of rebuilding their communities.
Creative People and Places has shackled itself to a notion of “place” as an area on a map. An area in which people are said to have “low levels of arts engagement”. This is a revealing turn of phrase that is often fleshed out by attempts to explain that these areas of supposedly low cultural engagement are places in which “evidence shows that people are less involved in arts and cultural activities than elsewhere in England” because they “have traditionally had fewer opportunities to get involved with the arts”. These statements are repeated ad infinitum. The belief is that “brilliant art experiences” can somehow bring communities together. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has and will continue to change everything. There is no going back. Brilliant art experiences aren’t enough anymore. Art is not in itself magical. Is a focus on audiences and participants having a great time watching or doing some surprisingly high-quality art all there is to it? Will that be enough when communities and individual lives have been devastated?'
Super Slow Way don’t think so. Of course, the organisation strives through its curation and commissions, its programming and co-productions, to achieve high levels of artistic excellence and, refreshingly, it’s unashamed of often employing and celebrating contemporary artists and community artists from outside of its Pennine Lancashire area as much as it does those from in and around it. But the Super Slow Way team are also passionately aware of the power of art to regenerate towns and villages and open spaces, to make the not-immediately noticeable and the no-longer visible prominent again, and to raise the profile of an area – its people, its places; its art and its artists. This is not about gentrification, however, nor is it all about chasing audience numbers and participant data... Keep reading on Super Slow Way
Creative People and Places has shackled itself to a notion of “place” as an area on a map. An area in which people are said to have “low levels of arts engagement”. This is a revealing turn of phrase that is often fleshed out by attempts to explain that these areas of supposedly low cultural engagement are places in which “evidence shows that people are less involved in arts and cultural activities than elsewhere in England” because they “have traditionally had fewer opportunities to get involved with the arts”. These statements are repeated ad infinitum. The belief is that “brilliant art experiences” can somehow bring communities together. The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has and will continue to change everything. There is no going back. Brilliant art experiences aren’t enough anymore. Art is not in itself magical. Is a focus on audiences and participants having a great time watching or doing some surprisingly high-quality art all there is to it? Will that be enough when communities and individual lives have been devastated?'
Super Slow Way don’t think so. Of course, the organisation strives through its curation and commissions, its programming and co-productions, to achieve high levels of artistic excellence and, refreshingly, it’s unashamed of often employing and celebrating contemporary artists and community artists from outside of its Pennine Lancashire area as much as it does those from in and around it. But the Super Slow Way team are also passionately aware of the power of art to regenerate towns and villages and open spaces, to make the not-immediately noticeable and the no-longer visible prominent again, and to raise the profile of an area – its people, its places; its art and its artists. This is not about gentrification, however, nor is it all about chasing audience numbers and participant data... Keep reading on Super Slow Way