And the sun shone...What next?

3 May 2013

(Photograph: Billy Rowlinson)

The What Next conference brought together 650 delegates to encourage a much wider range of people to support the arts and culture.

The context of the imminent comprehensive spending review was a factor but there was a longer term perspective of cultivating individuals and communities to become more deeply engagedin the practice of the arts and the work of professional arts organisations.

The structure of the day worked well. Smaller meetings took place at venues on the SouthBank and places close to Shaftsbury Avenue all within easy walking distance of the Palace Theatre for the afternoon session.

I met new people & old friends & the sunny day was conducive to standing chatting in the street. This was all very positive. A gathering that enables colleagues to confirm their commitment and passion to the work they love is important and necessary.

What next?

The afternoon began with some videos. Sir Ken Robinson appeared from a hotel room in Las Vegas. He spoke with the typical clarity that characterises his communication every time I hear him speak. This is now mainly on a large video screens at conferences, either pre-recorded or live, that seem to give him a more powerful presence than him actually being in the room.

He outlined that this was not a new conversation. He referenced key reports; Drama in Schools (70s), Arts in Schools (80s), In from the Margins (1997), All Our Futures (1999). And he made a couple of points;

1. The need to avoid talking about the arts as being the same as Culture (culture as in the way of life in a community). Art is a dynamic force within culture but not synonymous with it. Art invigorates the evolution culture through imagination and creativity.

2. More important than influencing the political debate is to encourage arts development at a grassroots level. Successful organisations sustain their environment and feed their community and in return their community feeds them.

This is all well and good and the video is well worth a watch. He also makes a point about not labouring too hard to change the views of those politicians who don't get it.

What next?

There were further points of view in the afternoon, discussion on twitter #WN2013, pledges and when we came out of the theatre more chat in the sun. And there are numerous blogs on Arts Professional.

For example;

Lost in translation by Nick Williams - We need to use language that is meaningful to our audiences and participants - the evaluation of the Cultural Olympiad is strong evidence of this.

Awkward Questions by Eleonora Belfiore - We need to think about the economic argument (2.5 million people employed in the creative industries, 10 percent of GDP) but also beyond that. It's not just about measuring the economic value of the sector but other types of cultural value and also asking the question "for whom does the sector generate value?"

What next?

Here at A New Direction it's more a question of What Now? The day after the conference I was in Ealing working with the Music Hub to develop local, grassroots activity that reaches places of need; more and better arts and culture for Young Londoners.

The next day I was in Wandsworth seeing the new development at Oily Cart based in a school in Tooting.

What next? Trips to Croydon, Bexley, Redbridge, Sutton & Hounslow. These visits are part of particular programmes strengthening cultural provision in places where there is need; working with local authorities and with schools as cultural commissioners.

We also have programmes that strengthen the voices of those working within the education and participation departments of organisations; work that links the arts with the wider cultural landscape, as outlined through Darren Henley's Cultural Education Review, with Film, Heritage, Museums, Libraries and Archives; and work that brings gives creative industry jobs to young people, bringing new and different types of people into the creative workforce.

And all our work impels us speak with those people outside the sector where ever possible, for example Education, Health and Youth Services.

It may be hard for A New Direction to form a What Next group itself as we have a pan-London remit and the local and grassroots, as Sir Ken makes clear, is what it is about; however we would like to hear about What Next groups in places where there is less cultural provision.

What Next?

The sun is still shining as I write this. I'm reminded of the Samuel Beckett quote, "The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new."

Sir Ken is right; the ideas behind What Next are not new. However artists and organisations need, like Beckett does with his sentence, to re-phrase and to re-organise themselves to make themselves effective for contemporary contexts; What Next is a good, but not the only, approach to this. And we all need to feel the warmth of the sun and warmth that comes from feeling part of a shared mission or purpose.