ARTIST EILIS MCDONALD GIVES A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE ON HOW TO MAKE AN INTERNET-BASED ARTWORK.

You might be reading this article in a hardcopy of VAN, but chances are you’ve read more articles online this morning than you’ll read in this entire issue. Every artist that isn’t strictly using traditional media could benefit from knowing how to make an artwork for the internet. Even if it’s not the primary place you want to locate your work, it can be an easy, fun, quick and a satisfying way to express the smaller ideas you might have been saving up while waiting for your next big gallery show.

Last summer I was invited by Lindsay Howard, curator at creative publishing platform newhive.com, to create a piece of work for the site. I already had a number of deadlines at the same time the piece was due to be launched. In a panic I thought of turning down the opportunity – I wasn’t convinced I wanted to take on another commission. Once I was told the artist’s fee (which was more generous than the production budgets I’ve been offered for most gallery shows) I said: “Yes, of course”.

I really wanted to work with Lindsay. I first met her in 2010 when I took part in a group show at 319 Scholes, a Brooklyn-based gallery with a focus on technology and new-media art, where she was curatorial director. She’s been consistently involved in interesting net-based projects, and gives a lot of her time and support to female artists in the genre.

So how did I deliver a commission while juggling deadlines and chronic anxiety? I broke the process down into five steps.

Step 1: HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT YOUR FIRST COMPUTER [Using the internet to choose titles]

I knew I wanted to make a large series of works – NewHive works that way, like a book you can flick through – and I knew that each piece would need a title. The internet can be a busy place, attention is precious, and a good headline produces clicks. So first I set out to choose my titles.

I thought of those clickbait articles we all find when we end up searching the internet for an answer to a question. Searching is a quest, and the internet is based on questions and searches: Yahoo Answers, eHow articles, OkCupid, personality tests, security questions. Everywhere I looked there were quests for knowledge, big and small. When I listened to people speak online it was all questions. Even when there was no actual question there was ‘upspeak’, making everything sound slightly unsure. I took all the questions I was coming across and I removed the question marks so the upspeak became rhetorical and zen-like. Sometimes all those questions don’t even need an answer; it’s enough to know that so many questions are being asked.

Step 2: WHAT KIND OF LIPSTICK GOES WITH LIGHT BROWN HAIR [amassing content – animals, numinous images]

Amassing content was easy. I keep several collections online and offline on my computer: banks of images I find that resonate for unknown/mysterious reasons, playlists of short amateur videos on different themes, .txt files full of ideas, concepts and now some questions.

One of the main elements of the work I made for NewHive is the inclusion of videos from a YouTube playlist I’d been working on for a few years. The playlist is called Animal Research and the criteria for inclusion in the playlist is: 1) there are very few or no humans visible on screen; 2) the non-human creature is interacting with human-made objects or environments; 3) the shot is well composed, preferably accidentally/subconsciously; 4) the being is not performing for acclaim or attention.

Sometimes it feels like my reliance on technology has ‘urbanised’ my mind. Scrolling through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds multiple times a day, consuming content, it’s easy to feel really busy even if you’re not actively producing much except advertising revenue and analytics for others. Gathering materials and ideas during this daily time-wasting has been very productive for me.

Step 3: WHAT IS MY DEFAULT SETTING [using intuition]

So, now we’ve amassed a bank of content we can draw on. How do we know which content to use? What will it look like? How will it feel? This is where intuition comes in.

When I was first setting out to make Is this a test for NewHive[i], I had already planned to use some of my collections of images, videos and text. I knew I wanted ‘the artist’s hand’ somewhere in there too, so I looked to the floor of my studio.

At the time of working on the piece for NewHive I shared a studio space with artist and experience-designer Mark Durkan. We were hoarding materials for years, so the studio sometimes felt more like a shed, a dump or a treasure trove (depending on the mood). One day in the treasure trove I came across a big old bottle of red fountain pen ink. Red has never been my colour, but some unknown combination of factors meant that this particular red seemed to be the most exciting colour I’d seen in a while. The colour started to feel like Sriracha sauce as I worked with it – something you might think you don’t like (“too spicy”) but once you get into it, it can become addictive. There were big red permanent markers too, and they had the same aura of immediate, pigmented importance as the ink. So I got into making these big meaningless red ink drawings on paper, just for the joy of it.

Something I’ve learned from the internet is that if it’s joyful for one person, it will be joyful for others (as they say: “if you can think of it, there’s porn of it”). So I translated the red on red on red drawing process to the NewHives drawing tool. I used the colour #FF0000, a very ‘default’ red.

Step 4: IS THIS A TEST [making intuitive decisions quickly]

Once I had the structure down, and chosen the content/theme, time was getting tight. How could I turn it all into a deliverable work quickly and without being overly literal or obvious? As above, intuition was key. I needed to pick the title, get the feeling I wanted from the drawing, and then choose the content elements.

When I was growing up I used to watch Frank Clarke’s Simply Painting and he had a mnemonic for landscape painting: Have Some More Fun – Horizon, Sky, Middle, and Foreground. I subconsciously followed something similar as I made the pieces: title/question, red drawing/expression, animal action and decorative elements. NewHive makes it simple to place and move content around, so it was really a very painterly process. And like painting, when a piece was done I just knew.

Step 5: WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE SUBSTANCE OF ALL REALITY [putting it all together]

So the hard parts are done, and you’re putting it all together…

You have to accept when making art for the internet that some people just won’t get it, like all art. Haters are always going to hate and slow-coaches will eventually catch up. Disregarding the audience is often an important step in ‘getting things done’. It means I only need to worry about what works for me. I like it better when I don’t fully understand my own work – it means I can appreciate the work as an outsider with intimate knowledge.

On NewHive you can create individual ‘expressions’ or pages, and you can also create collections based around tags. I tagged 20 of my favourite expressions ‘quest’, and the work was done. Next I emailed Lindsay to let her know that the piece was finally finished. She sent out the PR. I took a day off in bed and then I moved on to the next deadline.

CONCLUSION

It’s the sharing of knowledge that progresses our species. I can’t see any reason to try to keep an idea to myself anymore.

[i] https://newhive.com/eilis/collection/quest

Image: Eilis McDonald, HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU GOT YOUR FIRST COMPUTER – Screen Shot 2016-04-04 at 10.52.20, 2016

Source

EMMA DWAN O’REILLY REPORTS ON ‘THE VALUE OF CRITICISM’ SYMPOSIUM, WHICH TOOK PLACE AT THE LEWIS GLUCKMAN GALLERY, CORK, ON 26 FEBRUARY 2016[i]

 In Ireland, practices of art criticism have continued to develop in a changing landscape. Although things remain unsettled with regards to establishing publications and securing funding, there exists a vibrant energy around writing on art in Ireland in recent years. New publications, writers and editors have emerged with fresh initiatives and ideas, and there has been an increased interest in developing new spaces, publishing platforms and audiences, and in cultivating alternative approaches to writing about art.

 ‘The Value of Criticism’ symposium examined the role of art criticism and the critic in determining both the historical and economic value of art. The role of the critic in the changing landscape of art criticism and publishing was also explored, with particular focus on how writers, editors, curators and broadcasters approach and evaluate their subjects and influence public understanding and appreciation of art.

Keynote

Editor of Art Monthly, Patricia Bickers, tackled the definition of criticism, speaking about the historical, temporal jurisdictions that separate art criticism and art history. She dismissed the idea that art criticism exists merely to provide a service to art history: “Art history and criticism are part of a continuum, inseparable and of equal value as in any good relationship but they are all too often forced apart.”

Bickers also raised the issue of class and hierarchy between history, art history and art criticism, explaining that the entrance of art history into the academy divided art history and art criticism, and, consequently, the former was referred to as a discipline, and the latter as a practice, a categorisation that “smacked of trade, the market”. She argued that this categorisation was based on the assumed impartiality of scholarship, a view that’s no longer relevant, as all commentary on art has the potential to be used by the market.

Bickers discussed how writing has helped to shape understanding and appreciation of art, and how theory has further informed art and criticism, contributing to the evolution of both. She closed by stating that criticism has been subject to much analysis and that its conditions are perpetually evolving in response to changes in art and society: “New art begets new forms of writing, which in turn inform art and our understanding of it and its place in our lives.”

Panel One – The Legitimacy of Criticism (chaired by Lucy Dawe-Lane)

Sarah Kelleher opened the ‘Legitimacy of Criticism’ session, referring to art criticism as “increasingly an anxious genre of writing”. She referenced the many events where the anxieties of criticism, its sustainability, influence, rigor and relevance have been debated, and included James Elkins’s proposal that criticism is massively produced and massively ignored.

Kelleher questioned the relevance of criticism in the online era, arguing that much of the anxiety within criticism arises from its lack of influence and authority as well as the uncertain position of the critic. She emphasised the importance of judgement and accepted that authority and influence might no longer apply in the same way, seeing this as an opportunity for critics to evaluate their own role more rigorously. “Though influence of criticism may wane and quality of writing vary,” she stated, “the critic still occupies this role of ambassador, advocate, analyst and appraiser and a contributor to the first draft of art history”.

Taking art ‘personally’ was at the heart of Cristín Leach’s contribution to the symposium. She emphasised the importance of “being in the moment with the art”. While she recognised that the critic has many roles, she stressed that their main role is to take art personally. She emphasised that “the only thing worth writing is the thing only you can write,” explaining that this influences why certain writers become our favourites, that their distinctive style stems from taking art personally, which comes through to the reader in their unique response. Leach suggested that while writers wear a professional mask, thoughts and feelings from their personal lives could materialise in their writing in an invisible way and speak to the reader on a personal level.

Leach argued that the skill in imparting this personal connection or reaction is to do so without using the first person or even the second or third person. “The ‘I’ must be invisible, but always ever present and always taking it personally.” However, later, there was some debate on whether specific circumstances of a particular show could warrant occasional use of the first person pronoun.

 Caoimhín MacGiolla Leith acknowledged the difficulty in categorising the current state or future prospects of the field of art criticism, proposing that criticism and the critic had not one role but many. He considers the audience central to writing on art and spoke about the difference between writing about work that was unknown and work that has already been reviewed many times.

He suggested that criticism could fall into different categories and cited Elkins’s seven categories. Acknowledging that, while this system of classification is still useful, he felt it could “easily be updated, augmented or expanded to accommodate those recently emerging or resurgent forms of art writing that disengage from description, analysis, evaluation and contextualisation in favour of more novel and eccentric modes of address”. Kinds of writing that (here referencing Gertrude Stein), “coexist with the artwork on a parallel plane, rather than just serve it”.

Panel Two – Who is Criticism For? (Chaired by Fergal Gaynor)

Declan Long opened this panel by stating his own personal addiction to criticism, detailing the stylistic characteristics that draw him to certain critics and the learning that can be garnered from reading criticism.

He discussed how, in specialist publications, there are expectations, “not just of shared vocabulary but of shared enthusiasm, shared responsibilities, collective cultural preferences”. He suggested that the writers could be their own first audience: “Perhaps it could also be for me as I write it… I write something I think I want to read”. Long went further towards answering the question of who criticism is for, asking who criticism is advocating on behalf of, rather that who is it against. He concluded that “criticism is against the already decided, the dogmatic”.

Rebecca O’Dwyer steered away from ‘audience’ as a response to the question ‘who is criticism for?’ She peeled away layers of the question, arguing that the ‘who’ is centred on the supposition that the value of criticism is only determined by its ‘use’. She dismissed the value of criticism being evaluated by ‘use’ and ‘being read’, explaining that these stem from the professionalisation of the field and the belief that it should “do something”.

O’Dwyer emphasised the value of both reading and writing in gaining a greater understanding of art and considered how criticism could be for the critic. She came to the conclusion that the act of writing criticism is largely for her, as a writer, while also being “for no one and, at the same time, everyone”.

Brian Fay also considered the idea that writing is a creative process for the writer. He responded to the question of who with “whoever needs it”, proposing that art criticism audiences are heterogeneous, and shifted the question to identifying who those people might be and why they would want it.

Identifying practicing artists as a group that consistently and actively engaged with criticism, with it often informing art production, he presented a model of three stages, from production, to exhibition, to the final stage in which the works invoke a response. He argued that this model failed to take into account that stage three could inform stage one, referring to it as a “twisted cylinder loop”, with criticism, interpretation and evaluation “embedded, entwined in the act of production”.

Fay also discussed the review of finished work, emphasising how artists require resistance, and advocated for the value of criticism as dialogue rather than merely as validation.

Panel Three – The Future of Criticism (Chaired by Chris Clarke)

Opening the third and final panel, Clíodhna Ní Anluain considered how radio and television are often seen as ephemeral and noted the absence of any reference to either in the earlier proceedings of the symposium. She emphasised the importance of story on radio and television, and the power that a broadcasted discussion can have in changing the perceptions of both the contributors and the audience. She considered the significant historical legacy of the spoken archive that RTE has built through its interviews and recordings.

Central to Gemma Tipton’s contribution was the idea that art crosses worlds. She advocated on behalf of writing that brought art and artists’ ideas into other disciplines and conversations. While acknowledging the lines within disciplines and the multitude of contexts in which writing can sit, each with different mandates and audiences, she encouraged separating the idea of the specialist and universal audience.

Tipton emphasised the importance of inclusivity in both language and discourse as the future brought more cross-disciplinary ways of thinking and making. While she understood that specialisms have their own languages, she proposed that technical jargon can be used to hide poor writing, which poses a major threat to art criticism.

Tipton considers the future of criticism bright and advocated “continuing to push for excellence on the specialist side, for cutting through the noise and getting rid of the insecurities, remembering the idea of pleasure”.

Nathan Hugh O’Donnell described criticism as an exchange, mediation between art and some kind of public. The future of art criticism, he argued, lies with magazines, and stated that magazines (including those online) are important because of the way in which they construct publics and have appeared, historically, at every moment when publics have expanded. He contended that publics are heterogeneous, that there is no definitive public: “Most people are crossing disciplines and specialisms.”

‘The Value of Criticism’ symposium built on the legacy of similar events that have attempted to determine the purpose of art criticism as it fractures and evolves at a time when traditional definitions, functions and approaches hold less currency. The symposium had a more optimistic feel to other pulse-checking sessions on the subject. Thankfully, the contributors steered away from the well-rehearsed discussion of the perpetual crisis and towards conversations of inclusion and the value of criticism, giving a sense of a bright future, with space for more voices, audiences and writing.

Emma Dwan O’Reilly is a writer and researcher based in Tipperary.

[i] Twitter proceedings at #VOC16

Image: Keynote by Patricia Bickers; image courtesy of the Glucksman Gallery.

Source

CHRIS HAYES, CO-DIRECTOR OF ORMSTON HOUSE, LIMERICK, DISCUSSES THE TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF ARTIST-LED PRACTICE AS AN INSIDER.

Sample-Studios is an artist-run space in Cork. To celebrate its fifth birthday Artistic Director, Aideen Quirke, organised a three-day festival of events. As part of the festivities a panel discussion titled ‘Artist-Led Island’ tackled the topic of artist-led spaces in Ireland. The panel included Moran Been-Noon from Platform Arts Belfast, Lisa Crowne from A4 Sounds in Dublin, David Dobz O’Brien from the National Sculpture Factory in Cork, Gavin Murphy from Pallas Projects in Dublin, Shelly McDonnell, Communications and Advocacy Assistant at VAI, and myself, representing Ormston House in Limerick.

It was particularly poignant to have the panel discussion held in Sample-Studios, as the building is set to be demolished and a hotel built on the site. Beautiful and spacious as Sample-Studios is, their tenancy was always offered on temporary basis. The history behind their situation is quite specific, yet it’s a story that resonates with artist-led organisations across the country. The reality of and compromise inherent to insecure tenancy leaves many of us simply waiting to be replaced by a commercial operation.

While it’s important for these conversations to acknowledge the problems – the lack of funding, the precarity of space and labour, and the seeming inevitability of burnout – these aspects of the conversation tend to dominate at discussions about artist-led spaces. To paraphrase audience responses I’ve heard throughout the years, it often feels as if we meet simply to remind each other that nothing has changed since the last conversation. The artist-led conversation has, in some ways, been exhausted, ironically reflecting the burnout experienced by the army of volunteers, CE and JobBridge workers who keep the system ticking by.

Discussions about the economics behind artist-led spaces prevail at the events and this is no surprise. In recent years artist-led spaces have been heavily contextualised within the fallout of the recession. So much so that the discussion can feel stifled by cliché. Of course it’s not necessarily inaccurate to situate artist-led practices within the economic trajectory of the last eight years. The economic cycles – boom to bust – mirror the waves of energy behind each artist-led space, with each group of people only able to give so much to a project, as they’re often volunteering to execute their ideas on a shoestring budget.

It’s a story we’ve heard before. Yet, if the best time for artists to get access to buildings is when commercial enterprise is lagging, the crucial question that follows is what role can artist-led practices expect, seek, and demand once the hotels, shops and cafes come back. What is at stake is not simply access to buildings, but the life and legacy of artist-led initiatives.

When interviewing people about the motivations and desires that fuel the artist-led movement in Ireland, one of the strongest common links was what artist-led organisations lack. The hows – funding streams, administrative burdens, logistical problems – seem inevitably to loom over the whys. Of course, there is no point in simply being a poorly funded version of a larger institution, so it is in those moments of defying the lack of expectations, resisting the pressure to follow convention and straying from the familiar, beaten track of the established art scene that artist-led organisations have typically laid their case.

Grappling with the impending loss of the building in which the discussion took place, Aideen Quirke chose not to focus on the negatives, stressing that there was a need for the organisation to become more resilient and prepare for the transition. Sustainability is key, of course, to continuing the support that Sample provides to artists. Elaborating on this, Quirke said: “Artists are staying in Cork because of what’s going on here, and I stayed in Cork because of Sample-Studios. Sample-Studios means that people can stay in an affordable workspace; we purposely price the spaces so that somebody on social welfare could afford it.”

Artist-led organisations are often defined by the role they play as a ‘resource’ to the wider cultural ecosystem. The resources that artist-led organisations offer, not just the art community but the wider community, is less easy to quantify and therefore often overlooked, undervalued and seen as a luxury rather than something necessary for a meaningful quality of life.

Just as artist-led organisations are a resource to artists and the wider public, they can play the same role for the volunary participants of these organisations. The first, more limited, understanding of this is the kind of experience necessary for any career and familiar to every industry: to learn new skills, gain a better awareness of the sector and and to network. The second speaks to levels of involvement, of meaningful engagement with the wider decision making and vision for an organisation. Often artist-led organisations are so small that staff members must take on much more meaningful roles than they would in a larger organisation. Lucy Elvis, who sits on the board of directors of 126, Galway, explained that democracy was at the heart of their organisation’s structure. It’s perhaps the most concrete example of how the practical everyday realities of an organisation feed into it’s creative vision and vice versa. She stated that to “make decisions based on either a majority vote or a consensus prevents one person’s creative vision prevailing… [therefore] keeping the organisation fresh and risk-taking”.

Thus far I’ve primarily spoken about the recent history of artist-led spaces and the impact of day-to-day realities for the broader debate. Despite having its own character and specificity, the situation with artist-led organisations is by no means unique. There’s a long history of these initiatives, both at home and abroad.

Coinciding with their twentieth anniversary, Pallas Project/Studios has scheduled to launch a book titled Artist-Run Europe – Practice/Projects/Spaces. The book features a thorough list of artist-run spaces in Europe, and a selection of critical texts reflecting on artist-led practice. While timed to coincide with their anniversary, the book sets its sights beyond just one organisation, looking across Europe to address the lack of writing, both critical and historical, on artist-led practices. The ambitions of the project are to address the lack of writing on artist-run spaces, and recognise the value of artist-led practice. As Co-Director Gavin Murphy said, “culture doesn’t just appear fully formed in a museum. It grows from the grassroots up.”

When I spoke with my fellow Co-Director of Ormston House, Mary Conlon, about how the present context of artist-led organisations in Ireland feeds into our programming, our discussion quickly turned to how our four-year history – we turn five on the 11 August – is shaping the perceptions and expectations of the organisation.

Conlon remarked: “We had realised last year that there was a shift in how people perceived us, that we weren’t just an artist-led, temporary space. People saw us as something more established, more permanent.” This is all despite Ormston House not having secure tenancy or regular funding, and being run on a volunteer basis. Yet, she added: “I think some people do see us as an institution and maybe ‘institution’ isn’t such a negative word. Why can’t an institution be experimental, be radical and change perspectives?”

While we have serious ambitions to secure to tenancy of the building, in an attempt to grow lasting roots, our conversation ended with Conlon’s reflection on the early days of Ormston House. “What I would say to people who are thinking of starting something today, whether it’s opening a space or developing a project or idea, is to build in a sustainability plan from the onset. And by sustainability I don’t just mean the physical infrastructure, I mean the health and well-being of the staff, of the participants, of the relationships of the people who are around you.” She added: “We’re not there to satisfy the architecture; Ormston House is the team”.

Image: ‘Artist-Led Island’, Sample-Studios; photos by Colm Walsh/Clap Media

Source

NORTHERN IRELAND MANAGER ROB HILKEN GIVES AN UPDATE ON RECENT CUTS TO ARTS FUNDING IN NORTHERN IRELAND.

In October last year 32 arts organisations in Northern Ireland received word that they would each receive an in-year cut of 7% to their budget. Given that the core costs of an organisation are mostly fixed, and that much of the budget had been spent in the first half of the year, many of the organisations were looking at a cut of almost 20% to their ability to deliver their artistic programme during the second half of their financial year.

This in-year cut was on top of ongoing cuts made over the past five years. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI) are currently only distributing just over two thirds of the public money they had in 2011/12. ACNI also distribute funds from the National Lottery each year.

In November over 300 artists, musicians, writers and actors marched on Stormont to protest. The culture minister, Carál Ní Chuilín, later met with some of those protesting to listen to their very real concerns about an arts sector under threat. The in-year cuts were shortly overturned and the sector felt a mild sense of relief, but deep down remain very worried about the future.

This year Northern Ireland faces big changes at Stormont that will have a direct impact on the arts sector. The Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) has been merged with the Department for Social Development (DSD) under the new name of the Department for Communities.

A March 2016 statement has said that the new department will “also take over DEL’s Employment Service and DOE’s responsibilities for Local Government and Built Heritage. In addition, this Department will assume a range of OFMDFM delivery and operational functions in relation to the Social Investment Fund, racial equality, United Communities and Good Relations, disability and poverty, gender and sexual orientation, and North West sites and strategy”.

Many within the sector are worried that the arts will become just a footnote within the remit of this mega-department, which no longer includes the words ‘art’ or ‘culture’ in its title. Not only will the arts have to compete with the traditional party political powerhouses of sports and language within ‘culture’ (as has been the case within DCAL) but now also with social development as a whole. However, some see this time of change as an opportunity to stake a place for the arts at the heart of government.

Earlier this year individuals and organisations were asked to provide feedback on the DCAL draft Strategy for Culture & Arts 2016 – 2016 for Northern Ireland. The sector responded with a massive effort that saw over 2000 responses submitted to the consultation.

Responses from lobbying group ArtsMatterNI, the Ministerial Arts Advisory Forum (MAAF) and ACNI acknowledged that, while the arts can play a big role in tackling poverty, economic development and tourism generation, these must not be the only drivers of government policy. The arts must be allowed to exist, thrive and excel for their own sake if they are to have any impact on other governmental priorities.

Over the last year, Belfast City Council (BCC) have also been working on a new Cultural Framework for Belfast and an Action Plan: 2016 – 2020. There has been extensive consultation with the sector during the development of the draft and earlier this year there was a final opportunity for organisations and individuals to submit a written response before the draft is presented to council.

There is much to admire in the draft document: it endorses skills development, it shows international ambition, it recognises the value of the arts and it demonstrates innovation in its actions and targets.

One area in which both draft policy documents fall short, however, is in explicit support for the individual artist. The ACNI response to the DCAL consultation stated as its number one key point that “support for artists must be at the heart of an arts strategy”.

Our own research in 2016 into artists’ earnings and living conditions highlighted the fact that most artists do not earn a living wage from their professional practice. There is a critical need for local and national government policy to create a climate where having a sustainable career as an artist is not just desirable, but is crucial to delivering strategic goals.

The BCC draft action plan included a general target to support 300 full time jobs by 2020 as well as a separate action point to support 8,000 artists’ contracts per year. It seems evident that there is still some disconnect in understanding that providing more paid contract opportunities will help artists sustain a full time career through their practice.

Despite the cuts to the ACNI budget, they still provide a number of excellent opportunities for individual artists. Their Support for the Individual Artist Programme (SIAP) has a number of strands, including grants of up to £2000 through their General Award, grants of up to £5000 through their Artist Career Enhancement Scheme (ACES), grants of up to £5000 through their International Development Fund and grants of up to £15,000 through their Major Individual Awards programme. There are also awards that support travel and residency opportunities. Most of these grants will be opening for applications during the summer.

The Rosie James Memorial Award is administered by ACNI and awarded to one artist or maker each year who demonstrates excellence and has materials at the heart of their practice. This award of £15,000 allows the artist to make a new body of work that would otherwise not be possible.

There are awards available for artists at all stages of their career and we encourage individuals to speak to arts officers at ACNI to discuss applications in advance of submission. VAI also provide support and guidance in developing applications.

Other support for individual artists includes the Paul Hamlyn Foundation under the objective of “nurturing ideas and people”. This includes the new Ideas and Pioneers fund for artists whose projects deliver social change. The Elephant Trust provides grants of up to £2000 for artists wishing to develop ‘imaginative’ new work, and the Fenton Arts Trust provides grants for early-career artists.

—-

Footnote. All of the documents referenced in this column are available publicly online, however, if you would like to receive copies of any of the documents by email, please contact Rob@visualartists-ni.org.

Source

The 2016 Social, Economic and Fiscal Status of the Visual Artists in Ireland survey was undertaken in January 2016. The survey results are provided with the comparative data from 2011 and 2013. This year’s report will be the first year that specific attention is placed on gender and also the number of years that respondents have been a professional visual artist.  We have found that this latter area is more meaningful to visual artists than taking an age profile, though it is possible to use that breakdown for other analysis outside the remit of this report.

Ireland

Ireland’s GDP[2] averaged a growth of 6% between 1995 and 2007. This figure significantly reduced as a result of the collapse of the domestic property market and the construction industry. As a result of this collapse and due to the budget deficits experienced at the time, the government introduced a series of draconian budgets beginning in 2009.

As the decline continued the budget deficit of 2010 was seen to be the world’s largest deficit as a percentage of GDP. At the end of 2010 the government of the time entered into a loan arrangement with the EU and the IMF to recapitalize Ireland’s banking sector and avoid defaulting on its sovereign debt. The subsequent government intensified austerity measures in March of 2011 so as to meet Ireland’s EU-IMF bailout targets.

Towards the end of 2013 Ireland exited the EU-IMF bailout programme and in 2014 – 2015 the economic statistics show that there was a rapid upturn and GDP grew by approximately 5% per annum. “In late 2014, the government introduced a fiscally neutral budget, marking the end of the austerity program. Continued growth of tax receipts have allowed the government to lower some taxes and increase public spending while keeping to its deficit-reduction targets.”[3]

1.2    Arts Funding

During this period government funding of the arts sector was significantly reduced as the overall Departmental budget has seen an increase.

Figure 1: Annual Budgets – DAHG & The Arts Council

This represents a 27% increase in overall funding for the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht[4], and effectively a 28% decrease in funding for the core work of the Arts Council[5]. During the same period VAI has seen a drop of 37% in public funding, equating to an overall drop of 15% when taking into consideration funding from other sources and self-generated income through memberships, advertising, consultancy, and professional development.

The above statistics have a direct impact on the artistic opportunities for artists. They combine with a significant decline in other areas of work that artists undertake to subsidise their artistic income such as academia, hospitality industry, and other areas of general work and clearly show that during this period there has been a steep decline in the livelihoods of individual artists. Further analysis shows that the “make do” characteristic of visual artists has seen them adjust to the financial reality, and in 2016 whilst we see a small increase in areas of income such as Education and Outreach, we see that the overall incomes remain low, but the number of artists in arrears has shown a decrease.

Figure 2: Effects on Individual Artists’ Incomes

1.3    Work & Life

Artists have expressed simple aspirations. They wish to make work, have the work seen in Ireland and abroad, to be able to put bread on the table, and feel as if Ireland values them for their creativity.

In direct conflict with these aspirations, this report clearly shows that there is pressure on all artists to try and maintain their practice while at the same time gain income from other areas both inside and outside the sector.  Time, funds, and opportunities continue to be the main issues.

Artists who identify as unemployed dipped in 2013 but we can now see a 10% rise between 2013 and 2016. We surmise that the continued cuts across society of both work and opportunities to make a living are having a clear impact. Although 98% of visual artists work in their main area of practice, only 32% have the ability to make this a full time job. The reasons given continue to show that they cannot generate sufficient income from the sector.

We can see that there is an increase in the number of artists gaining income from Education & Outreach programmes with an average rise of 7% and in the median (50% mark) going from 0 to €60 between 2013 and 2016.

In terms of overall income (creative and non-creative work) we have seen an increase in the annual average with a rise from €16,767 in 2013 to €17,848 in 2016. However, the median shows that this increase is at the upper end of the scale as the median for 2016 is €9,000, a drop of €2,000 from 2013.

In terms of our benchmark of €10,000 we can see an overall increase in the number of artists earning less that this amount from 64% in 2013 to 76% in 2016. Taking the 2014 definition of the poverty threshold of €10,926, we see that 76% of visual artists fall under that amount.

Social Welfare continues to be an issue. We can see in this report that there has been a steady increase in artists being required to retrain for other jobs and a lack of understanding of the professional visual artist. Although spread across all levels of experience, we find it of great concern that 60% of the artists with over 30 years experience who applied to social welfare for assistance were placed in that position. There is also clear evidence in this report that artists who have a disability are at a double disadvantage as they fear for their disability allowance if the declare themselves to be an artist.

The Department of Social Welfare have outlined that artists are the concern of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and it has been impossible to arrange meetings to discuss the current situation faced by artists. Independent of this report Visual Artists Ireland’s submission to the 2025 consultation deals with this area in detail, and postulates that the primary need is for primary legislation that recognises the status of the artist in Ireland. From this the many issues that face artists could be solved through a recognised series of initiatives, including using the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht as a bridge to the other government departments who think in a similar manner.

1.4    Gender

The disparities between female and male artists continue to raise concerns. It appears from our results that in terms of income from creative work the median is equal for both sexes at €3,000. We can see the difference arise at the upper income levels when the income is an average of €6,867 for female artists and €8,327 for male artists. This difference continues in the area of exhibition making. The only areas that show a reverse of female artists achieving more than men are in Outreach & Education and other work.

1.5    Years as an Artist

One of the most surprising results from this year’s survey has been the income levels based on the number of years spent as a professional artist.  Support structures are mainly aimed at ‘younger generation’ artists and it is known that the number of opportunities diminish as artists get older.

Figure 3: Income based on Experience

We can see that there is a case for further investigation into how to support artists who are at a later stage of their career but are failing to make ends meet and who don’t have the same opportunities to augment their incomes.

1.6    Funding

We can see a significant shift in the funding structures. Although this report does not go into the detail about the levels of funding, the primary organisations that artists approach remain the Arts Council and local authorities. There is a dramatic drop in the number of artists who have been successful in gaining funding from the Arts Council, which is hardly surprising considering the budget cuts. There is a small drop in the local authorities’ figures. The third place to go to remains private individuals.  Local area giving has always been a consistent source for the visual arts, but we can see a 7% drop in the area of Per Cent for Art and a 6% drop in Private Enterprise. Other government departments remain static and there are small percentage drops across most other sources.

1.7    Artists Payment Guidelines

We can see the introduction of the Artists Payment Guidelines as a significant event that has taken until the financial year 2015 to have an effect. In 2006 Visual Artists Ireland, in partnership with the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild (IPSG) and the Association of Irish Composers (AIC), developed a programme highlighting the need for Payment Guidelines. Unfortunately the project failed to gain traction.

In 2011/2012, VAI created a new project to look at the realities surrounding artists being paid in a professional manner for the exhibition of their work and all of the other areas of work that they undertake in the sector. This combined with the 2008 and 2011 surveys on The Social, Economic, & Fiscal Status of the Visual Artist in Ireland provided the data required to set up a project that would fully investigate how such guidelines would work in a sector that has a wide variety of levels of public funding and also a large number of areas of work that would be directly affected.

Taking research from other representative bodies such as CARFAC, NAVA, and the Scottish Artists Union, and looking at the realities of visual arts organisations across Ireland, the draft guidelines were designed to take into account overall public funding and the turnover of organisations, events, and festivals. The final guidelines were presented to a number of organisations to validate and were then published. A presentation was made to the Arts Council and after a number of months a clause was put into funding letters to ensure that those funded by the Arts Council pay artists in an equitable manner. This has since become part of Objective Three of the new Arts Council strategy document.

With this lengthy history, we feel that 2016 is the first year that we can truly look at the impact of the Guidelines and also look at how equitable payments for artists have been implemented by organisations. Taking the background that there are reduced opportunities for visual artists to exhibit, and also that some organisations and events have moved from having a full exhibition programme to a number of full exhibitions supported by open-submission or competitions, we can see that there are still challenges ahead in assisting organisations to budget for balanced programmes. It is worth noting that in terms of the major open-submission events such as EVA and the Claremorris Open, we have seen a commitment to ensure that the professional artists that they work with are paid in an equitable manner. In the case of the Claremorris there is a commitment to removing the submission-fee which in many other situations is seen by artists as yet another fee that they have to pay with the majority failing to have their work shown. These administrative fees accumulate in terms of the number of applications in the year and it can be clearly seen, with low incomes, artists find that it is untenable to make many applications.

1.8    Other

Although it is not the typical way of presenting such a report, we felt that rather than fully summarising the responses which are the direct voice and needs of individual artists, we present them in this report with some redactions which might endanger the artist’s anonymity or might mention specific instances or organisations that might make them identifiable.

The report is offered as a continuance of our work in advocating on behalf of individual professional visual artists and we hope that we can build on this in our role as a member and mediator of the visual arts sector.

^[1] 126, Galway; The Crawford Gallery, Cork; EVA, Limerick; Highlanes, Drogheda; IMMA, Dublin; Solstice, Navan; Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin; and The Limerick City Arts Office

[2] Gross domestic product: The monetary value of all finished goods and services produced within Ireland. This is used to define the growth rate of a country, but excludes sustainability of the growth as it doesn’t cover stock as it focuses on flow. However, it is still a key economic indicator in the health of a country. On the expenditure side, household consumption is the main component of GDP and accounts for 44 percent, followed by gross fixed capital formation (19 percent) and government expenditure (17 percent).

[3] The World Factbook – updated on February 25, 2016

[4] Based on figures taken from Annual Reports on DAHG Website

[5] Based on figures taken from Annual Reports and Funding Reports on The Arts Council Website

The full report is available to Survey 2016 – ROI. You can purchase a bound print copy through lulu.com

Source