Sector to grow support for participatory artists

Funders, employers and commissioners of artists working in participatory settings are being called upon to provide continuing professional development and training opportunities for artists, including freelancers. ArtWorks, a Paul Hamlyn Foundation (PHF) initiative aimed at building skills and confidence in the participatory arts sector, has drawn up a series of recommendations related to this and other issues, which “must be taken if we are to see the changes our sector needs”.

The recommendations, which are based on evidence presented in ArtWorks’ final report, are built around three major objectives: increasing training and development opportunities; promoting quality in the sector; and creating conditions for change. Specific actions include detailing opportunities for continuing professional development for artists in all project planning and design; tailoring training and development to suit the way artists prefer to learn; and responding to relevant consultations by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education on subject benchmark statements, to ensure the inclusion of participatory art. The ArtWorks team is also calling upon employers and artists to adopt common standards for work in participatory settings, such as the ArtWorks code of practice principles, to ensure quality in participatory work. And it expresses the need for everyone in the participatory arts ‘system’ to share and learn from one another’s experience of participatory practice.

Over the past four years, ArtWorks has developed training opportunities for artists and gathered evidence around workforce development issues through its ‘pathfinder’ partnerships, as well as commissioned research. The programme comes to an end this year, but the pathfinders and other key networks and umbrella bodies have secured two years’ worth of funding from PHF to create a “strategic alliance”, with plans “to roll out tools and approaches across the sector; reduce fragmentation; and ensure that the learning continues and is more widely shared”. Proposals are invited for grants of up to £3,500 to support projects that apply and embed learning from the ArtWorks programme.