Christmas and cuts
I could do a fairly standard bah-humbug post, but I rather like Christmas and as such will be rather disappointed to taint it with Scrooge-esque noises. However, the run up has been difficult. It's been a testing time for anyone working in the Arts, and we are seeing the first flurry of snowflakes that precede the avalanche of cuts. We'll know more post January when we find out if we've retained public funding. To move beyond a personal, parochial viewpoint, more important is that post January we will see where the other cuts fall. There have been the beginnings of noises from local councils, such as Somersets total cull and Birmingham's very elitist slices which include de-funding organisations that support those sectors of the community hardest to reach with arts works.
There's an echo of the (misguided, wrong-headed) idea that the private sector will provide the jobs cut from the public sector in how these cuts are falling, though we can't see the full picture yet. Somehow, Philanthropists will take up the mantle. Even if you think that the ancient system of patronage is a good idea and generates good art, it's not as if everyone has been leaping into the fray. Maybe they are feeling the cuts too? After all, we are all in it together.
The tedious argument that art isn't valuable should have been hung, drawn and quartered ages ago, but it still persists. As does the idea that any sort of art can be managed by any sort of people. It really can't. These are actual jobs that require actual experience, knowledge and skill. It's not about poncing around pretending to be a tree. Seriously. Yet, a hodge podge of make-do and mend is the order of the day. ACE found itself holding the baby for museums and libraries a week or so ago, after the MLA was executed mafia style. This is an industry already squeezing a lot of value out of very little. The motto "do more with less" is one that the arts have been dedicating themselves to since before boards existed to tread.
There's an echo of the (misguided, wrong-headed) idea that the private sector will provide the jobs cut from the public sector in how these cuts are falling, though we can't see the full picture yet. Somehow, Philanthropists will take up the mantle. Even if you think that the ancient system of patronage is a good idea and generates good art, it's not as if everyone has been leaping into the fray. Maybe they are feeling the cuts too? After all, we are all in it together.
The tedious argument that art isn't valuable should have been hung, drawn and quartered ages ago, but it still persists. As does the idea that any sort of art can be managed by any sort of people. It really can't. These are actual jobs that require actual experience, knowledge and skill. It's not about poncing around pretending to be a tree. Seriously. Yet, a hodge podge of make-do and mend is the order of the day. ACE found itself holding the baby for museums and libraries a week or so ago, after the MLA was executed mafia style. This is an industry already squeezing a lot of value out of very little. The motto "do more with less" is one that the arts have been dedicating themselves to since before boards existed to tread.