http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/bloggers/state-of-the-arts-creative-convocations.2012104647http://reflectionsonacreativescotland.com/2012/09/27/guest-blog-from-kenneth-fowler/
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Arts chief admits problem
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/arts-chief-admits-problem.19134206
Published in The Herald, Saturday 13th October
Article by Phil Miller
Sir Sandy Crombie, chairman of Creative Scotland also revealed two board meetings, on October 22 and December 6, will play a crucial role in the future of the arts funding body.
Sir Sandy, responding unexpectedly for the second time in a week to the damning letter from more than 100 artists asking for change at the body, struck a notably less combative tone than his letter earlier in the week, which was described as "inadequate" by artists, with a tone of "patrician emollience".
His first lengthy response to the artists had said that "in choosing
to be concise, you have of course sacrificed the provision of detail at a
level that my board colleagues and I can investigate" and also stated
"they who provide the money have a right to ask what will result from
that investment". Both phrases, among others, antagonised artists.
However, in his second letter, days after a brusque "sort it" message from Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop, Sir Sandy admitted: "A number of artists and representative groups are taking issue with how we at Creative Scotland do things and how we relate to them.
"The board and senior management team are hearing these concerns and right now are taking stock and absorbing what has been said. I want to give my personal reassurance that all matters brought to our attention will be thoroughly considered and, where possible and necessary, that improvements will be made."
Two inquiries, made up of board members, one led by journalist Ruth Wishart, a columnist for The Herald's Society page, and the other led by Barclay Price, chief executive of Arts and Business, will look into the funding body's operations and its lottery funding.
The two committees will report before Christmas and major changes at the organ
isation, including in personnel, are expected to be prompted by their work.
Creative Scotland's problems have been prompted by not only the removal of "flexible funding", or fixed-term funding, for more than 40 organisations, but also its use of business language, its commissioning role, and its structure.
Creative Scotland is now also considering establishing a new "consultative forum" to help inform on issues affecting artists and organisations.
Sir Sandy, former chief executive of Standard Life, said: "It is also my intention that we will take informal soundings from a range of those who care deeply about our role, and how we discharge it, about possible approaches to dealing with issues before final decisions are taken. I do not want to put pressure on those we consult by calling them representatives. However, I hope it will be possible to find approaches that give us confidence the feedback we receive is representative."
Last night, the leading playwright, David Greig, responded: "This is a very encouraging statement. I get that sense that the specific concerns have been heard at Waverley Gate [Creative Scotland's offices in Edinburgh] and a process of practical change is being put in place.
"Rebuilding trust with the sector will be a more difficult matter. It will take time but, for the moment, this statement feels like a step in the right direction."
Yesterday, Ms Hyslop told The Herald: "I strongly believe in direct communication, that there will be a resolution and a way forward.
"I have made it clear to the board what I expect. They are taking it very seriously and I expect to see results."
The chairman of Scotland's national arts funding body admitted in a conciliatory letter it has a major problem in its dealing with artists.
Published in The Herald, Saturday 13th October
Article by Phil Miller
Sir Sandy Crombie, chairman of Creative Scotland also revealed two board meetings, on October 22 and December 6, will play a crucial role in the future of the arts funding body.
Sir Sandy, responding unexpectedly for the second time in a week to the damning letter from more than 100 artists asking for change at the body, struck a notably less combative tone than his letter earlier in the week, which was described as "inadequate" by artists, with a tone of "patrician emollience".
However, in his second letter, days after a brusque "sort it" message from Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop, Sir Sandy admitted: "A number of artists and representative groups are taking issue with how we at Creative Scotland do things and how we relate to them.
"The board and senior management team are hearing these concerns and right now are taking stock and absorbing what has been said. I want to give my personal reassurance that all matters brought to our attention will be thoroughly considered and, where possible and necessary, that improvements will be made."
Two inquiries, made up of board members, one led by journalist Ruth Wishart, a columnist for The Herald's Society page, and the other led by Barclay Price, chief executive of Arts and Business, will look into the funding body's operations and its lottery funding.
The two committees will report before Christmas and major changes at the organ
isation, including in personnel, are expected to be prompted by their work.
Creative Scotland's problems have been prompted by not only the removal of "flexible funding", or fixed-term funding, for more than 40 organisations, but also its use of business language, its commissioning role, and its structure.
Creative Scotland is now also considering establishing a new "consultative forum" to help inform on issues affecting artists and organisations.
Sir Sandy, former chief executive of Standard Life, said: "It is also my intention that we will take informal soundings from a range of those who care deeply about our role, and how we discharge it, about possible approaches to dealing with issues before final decisions are taken. I do not want to put pressure on those we consult by calling them representatives. However, I hope it will be possible to find approaches that give us confidence the feedback we receive is representative."
Last night, the leading playwright, David Greig, responded: "This is a very encouraging statement. I get that sense that the specific concerns have been heard at Waverley Gate [Creative Scotland's offices in Edinburgh] and a process of practical change is being put in place.
"Rebuilding trust with the sector will be a more difficult matter. It will take time but, for the moment, this statement feels like a step in the right direction."
Yesterday, Ms Hyslop told The Herald: "I strongly believe in direct communication, that there will be a resolution and a way forward.
"I have made it clear to the board what I expect. They are taking it very seriously and I expect to see results."
The chairman of Scotland's national arts funding body admitted in a conciliatory letter it has a major problem in its dealing with artists.
Friday, 12 October 2012
Summit to discuss Creative Scotland
Summit to discuss arts funding body
Artists from across the Capital have been invited to a summit to discuss recent criticism surrounding Creative Scotland – their main funding body.
The publicly-funded arts investor has been condemned
for lacking transparency but a meeting is being held at its Edinburgh HQ
to debate concerns.
Artists from all disciplines including theatre, music, storytelling, visual arts and film are invited to attend, and anyone can put forward a topic for discussion. The discussions will also be written up as reports and posted online so that conversation can continue.
It is hoped that other open meetings will be set up, creating a pool of artist-generated information across Scotland.
The meeting will be held on October 26 between 10am-7pm on the first floor of Creative Scotland’s offices at Waverley Gate. It is free to attend and interested parties should visit http://artistsopenspace.eventbrite.co.uk/ts’%20Open%20Space
Artists from all disciplines including theatre, music, storytelling, visual arts and film are invited to attend, and anyone can put forward a topic for discussion. The discussions will also be written up as reports and posted online so that conversation can continue.
It is hoped that other open meetings will be set up, creating a pool of artist-generated information across Scotland.
The meeting will be held on October 26 between 10am-7pm on the first floor of Creative Scotland’s offices at Waverley Gate. It is free to attend and interested parties should visit http://artistsopenspace.eventbrite.co.uk/ts’%20Open%20Space
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Creative SCotland 'must be pulled apart' say campaigners
LEADING figures in the campaign against the management of Creative Scotland have urged culture secretary Fiona Hyslop to begin moves to “unpick” the flagship arts funding body.
A dramatic overhaul of the fledgling organisation led
by former Standard Life chief executive Sir Sandy Crombie has been
demanded by key cultural figures – with Ms Hyslop insisting she was
taking the criticism levelled at it “very seriously”.
Despite Creative Scotland having “arm’s-length” status, Ms Hyslop was forced to make the latest in a series of interventions last night, declaring: “It is imperative that these issues get sorted.”
It has emerged an internal review was triggered last month after Ms Hyslop called for action to be taken to “strengthen relationships and build trust”.
But critics insist she needs to do much more to tackle unhappiness and distrust with Creative Scotland, which has an budget of more than £83 million. Sir Sandy, who has offered to meet leading figures in the campaign, has fuelled anger by insisting “they who provide the money have a right to ask what will result from that investment”.
Playwright David Greig condemned the official response to a letter of protest from 100 artists as “totally inadequate” and said artists were being treated like pupils being summoned to see the headmaster.
He said there was a growing clamour for Ms Hyslop to order a proper review into the running of the agency, saying it should be stripped of key responsibilities to focus on the funding of core arts.
Mr Greig accused Sir Sandy of using “emollient” and “patrician” language to dismiss the complaints from the 100 artists.
He added: “The key issue is that Creative Scotland is not the providers of this funding, they are merely the administrators of it. They are running it like it is a business when it is not.
“Creative Scotland is now completely bound up with the so-called creative industries and we have an industrial quango. It has got to the point where somebody within the Scottish Government needs to start to unpick Creative Scotland. Fiona Hyslop could ensure some good comes out of this crisis.”
Janice Galloway, winner of the Scottish Book of the Year award, said: “Sir Sandy’s response to our letter was a masterpiece of resentful condescension and showed how little Creative Scotland understand the concerns.
“Nobody is asking Fiona Hyslop to interfere in artistic decisions, this is purely about policy. This letter from Sir Sandy is an exemplar of the kind of change needed in Creative Scotland. It’s not their money they are demanding a return on, it is public money. And they still refusing to accept the scale of the problem by trying to use bigger words and insisting artists simply don’t understand them.”
Ms Hyslop said: “I am taking very seriously the criticism of Creative Scotland. That is why I have asked the board to engage directly with the sector, to address the point
s raised and communicate what action is already being taken.
“The concerns raised relate to internal workings and wider relationships that need to be dealt with. The government cannot and does not interfere in Creative Scotland’s artistic decisions.
“Sir Sandy and I have had constructive exchanges and I know he understands what I expect of the organisation.”
Meanwhile, Creative Scotland said it is producing a “plain English” guide for staff after being accused of using too much “business-speak and obfuscating jargon”. A spokesman said the guide had been in the pipeline for months following repeated criticism of official guidelines and application forms.
Creative Scotland 'must be pulled apart, say campaigners'Despite Creative Scotland having “arm’s-length” status, Ms Hyslop was forced to make the latest in a series of interventions last night, declaring: “It is imperative that these issues get sorted.”
It has emerged an internal review was triggered last month after Ms Hyslop called for action to be taken to “strengthen relationships and build trust”.
But critics insist she needs to do much more to tackle unhappiness and distrust with Creative Scotland, which has an budget of more than £83 million. Sir Sandy, who has offered to meet leading figures in the campaign, has fuelled anger by insisting “they who provide the money have a right to ask what will result from that investment”.
Playwright David Greig condemned the official response to a letter of protest from 100 artists as “totally inadequate” and said artists were being treated like pupils being summoned to see the headmaster.
He said there was a growing clamour for Ms Hyslop to order a proper review into the running of the agency, saying it should be stripped of key responsibilities to focus on the funding of core arts.
Mr Greig accused Sir Sandy of using “emollient” and “patrician” language to dismiss the complaints from the 100 artists.
He added: “The key issue is that Creative Scotland is not the providers of this funding, they are merely the administrators of it. They are running it like it is a business when it is not.
“Creative Scotland is now completely bound up with the so-called creative industries and we have an industrial quango. It has got to the point where somebody within the Scottish Government needs to start to unpick Creative Scotland. Fiona Hyslop could ensure some good comes out of this crisis.”
Janice Galloway, winner of the Scottish Book of the Year award, said: “Sir Sandy’s response to our letter was a masterpiece of resentful condescension and showed how little Creative Scotland understand the concerns.
“Nobody is asking Fiona Hyslop to interfere in artistic decisions, this is purely about policy. This letter from Sir Sandy is an exemplar of the kind of change needed in Creative Scotland. It’s not their money they are demanding a return on, it is public money. And they still refusing to accept the scale of the problem by trying to use bigger words and insisting artists simply don’t understand them.”
Ms Hyslop said: “I am taking very seriously the criticism of Creative Scotland. That is why I have asked the board to engage directly with the sector, to address the point
s raised and communicate what action is already being taken.
“The concerns raised relate to internal workings and wider relationships that need to be dealt with. The government cannot and does not interfere in Creative Scotland’s artistic decisions.
“Sir Sandy and I have had constructive exchanges and I know he understands what I expect of the organisation.”
Meanwhile, Creative Scotland said it is producing a “plain English” guide for staff after being accused of using too much “business-speak and obfuscating jargon”. A spokesman said the guide had been in the pipeline for months following repeated criticism of official guidelines and application forms.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/arts/creative-scotland-must-be-pulled-apart-say-campaigners-1-2567606
Fiona Hyslop tells Creative Scotland to sort out criticisms
By Brian Ferguson
http://www.scotsman.com/news/arts/culture-secretary-tells-creative-scotland-to-sort-out-criticisms-1-256
SCOTLAND’S culture secretary has demanded her flagship arts quango sort out mounting criticisms of the way it is being run - the day after its chief executive vowed he would not be stepping down.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/arts/culture-secretary-tells-creative-scotland-to-sort-out-criticisms-1-256
SCOTLAND’S culture secretary has demanded her flagship arts quango sort out mounting criticisms of the way it is being run - the day after its chief executive vowed he would not be stepping down.
Fiona Hyslop, who has faced mounting criticism over
her lack of action over the crisis engulfing Creative Scotland, insisted
she was taking the criticisms levelled at it “very seriously.”
She insisted it was already taking action in response to her request last month for its board, led by former Standard Life chief executive Sir Sandy Crombie, to address concerns about the way funding decisions were taken and levels of transparency.
But Ms Hyslop insisted the Scottish Government could not “interfere” with artistic decisions taken by the body, which has an annual budget of more than £83 million.
Her latest statement, several weeks after the quango’s chief executive Andrew Dixon appeared before MSPs to respond to criticisms, has been sparked by the signing of a damning letter of protest about Creative Scotland by 100 of Scotland’s leading artists.
Mr Dixon has pledged to remain in the job but admitted mistakes had been made since Creative Scotland was set up two years ago, saying that the “pace of change” had been too swift and that those in charge had failed to get their message across.
• Read the open letter from Sir Sandy Crombie
But he fiercely denied claims that his organisation was not listening to artists, pointing out that he and Sir Sandy were meeting a number of arts organisations when they were passed the letter of protest on Monday.
Creative Scotland was condemned for “ill-conceived decision-making, unclear language, and a lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture” in a dramatic move by leading Scottish artists.
Sir Sandy and Mr Dixon have now offered to meet those behind the letter, including the national poet, Liz Lochhead, author Ian Rankin, artist Karla Black, playwright David Greig, actor Tam Dean Burn and film-maker Andrea Gibb.
Mr Dixon, former head of the north-east of England’s arts body, said: “We are already having discussions, we are in listening mode and I am travelling the length and breadth of the country speaking to artists. This is only the start and we know we need to listen more.
“I made a big commitment moving up here, I am very committed to Creative Scotland, and to delivering a first-class cultural infrastructure that the whole country can enjoy.”
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop was criticised by a predecessor, Patricia Ferguson, who accused her of standing by as artists and companies expressed growing frustration with the running of Creative Scotland.
She said: “Something is seriously wrong in the culture at the arts body and the cry for help is clearly directed at her.”
But Ms Hyslop said: “I am taking very seriously the criticism of Creative Scotland.
“That is why I have asked the board to engage directly with the sector, to address the points raised and communicate what action is already being taken. This process is already under way including a review of operations by the board.
“The concerns raised relate to internal workings and wider relationships that need to be dealt with by the organisation. The Scottish Government cannot and does not interfere in Creative Scotland’s artistic decisions - as set out in legislation.
“Sir Sandy Crombie and I have had constructive exchanges about the concerns of the sector and I know he understands what I expect of the organisation.
“I recognise that developing new ways of cultural provision and funding alongside such a wide range of artists and other partners will inevitably bring challenges. It is now for Creative Scotland to work with the sector to address these challenges. I have made it clear it is imperative that these issues get sorted.”
Ms Lochhead yesterday of a “universal feeling of absolute dismay” about Creative Scotland. “There is a feeling something has to be said and something has to be done because a potentially catastrophic set of initiatives are being put in place all the time that really threaten how people in Scotland work.”
Meanwhile Creative Scotland said it is producing a “plain English” guide for staff after being accused of using too much “business-speak and obfuscating jargon.” A spokesman said the guide had been in the pipeline for several months following repeated criticism of official guidelines and application forms.
She insisted it was already taking action in response to her request last month for its board, led by former Standard Life chief executive Sir Sandy Crombie, to address concerns about the way funding decisions were taken and levels of transparency.
But Ms Hyslop insisted the Scottish Government could not “interfere” with artistic decisions taken by the body, which has an annual budget of more than £83 million.
Her latest statement, several weeks after the quango’s chief executive Andrew Dixon appeared before MSPs to respond to criticisms, has been sparked by the signing of a damning letter of protest about Creative Scotland by 100 of Scotland’s leading artists.
Mr Dixon has pledged to remain in the job but admitted mistakes had been made since Creative Scotland was set up two years ago, saying that the “pace of change” had been too swift and that those in charge had failed to get their message across.
• Read the open letter from Sir Sandy Crombie
But he fiercely denied claims that his organisation was not listening to artists, pointing out that he and Sir Sandy were meeting a number of arts organisations when they were passed the letter of protest on Monday.
Creative Scotland was condemned for “ill-conceived decision-making, unclear language, and a lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture” in a dramatic move by leading Scottish artists.
Sir Sandy and Mr Dixon have now offered to meet those behind the letter, including the national poet, Liz Lochhead, author Ian Rankin, artist Karla Black, playwright David Greig, actor Tam Dean Burn and film-maker Andrea Gibb.
Mr Dixon, former head of the north-east of England’s arts body, said: “We are already having discussions, we are in listening mode and I am travelling the length and breadth of the country speaking to artists. This is only the start and we know we need to listen more.
“I made a big commitment moving up here, I am very committed to Creative Scotland, and to delivering a first-class cultural infrastructure that the whole country can enjoy.”
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop was criticised by a predecessor, Patricia Ferguson, who accused her of standing by as artists and companies expressed growing frustration with the running of Creative Scotland.
She said: “Something is seriously wrong in the culture at the arts body and the cry for help is clearly directed at her.”
But Ms Hyslop said: “I am taking very seriously the criticism of Creative Scotland.
“That is why I have asked the board to engage directly with the sector, to address the points raised and communicate what action is already being taken. This process is already under way including a review of operations by the board.
“The concerns raised relate to internal workings and wider relationships that need to be dealt with by the organisation. The Scottish Government cannot and does not interfere in Creative Scotland’s artistic decisions - as set out in legislation.
“Sir Sandy Crombie and I have had constructive exchanges about the concerns of the sector and I know he understands what I expect of the organisation.
“I recognise that developing new ways of cultural provision and funding alongside such a wide range of artists and other partners will inevitably bring challenges. It is now for Creative Scotland to work with the sector to address these challenges. I have made it clear it is imperative that these issues get sorted.”
Ms Lochhead yesterday of a “universal feeling of absolute dismay” about Creative Scotland. “There is a feeling something has to be said and something has to be done because a potentially catastrophic set of initiatives are being put in place all the time that really threaten how people in Scotland work.”
Meanwhile Creative Scotland said it is producing a “plain English” guide for staff after being accused of using too much “business-speak and obfuscating jargon.” A spokesman said the guide had been in the pipeline for several months following repeated criticism of official guidelines and application forms.
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
How to Break Through Your Creative Block
I discovered these useful tips on
http://www.brainpickings.org
More can also be read at
http://www.sterlingbrands.com/blog/2012/09/sterling-buzz-85/
What extraordinary energy we expend, as a
culture and a civilization, on trying to understand where
good ideas come from, how
creativity works, its secrets,
its origins,
its mechanisms,
and the five-step
action plan for coaxing it into manifestation. And little compares
to the anguish that comes with the blockage of creative flow.
In 2010, designer and musician Alex Cornell found himself stumped by a creative block while trying to write an article about creative block. Deterred neither by the block nor by the irony, he reached out to some of his favorite artists and asked them for their coping strategies in such an event. The response was overwhelming in both volume and depth, inspiring Cornell to put together a collection on the subject. The result is Breakthrough!: 90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination (public library) — a small but potent compendium of field-tested, life-approved insight on optimizing the creative process from some of today’s most exciting artists, designers, illustrators, writers, and thinkers.
Writer Michael Erard teases apart “creative block” and debunks its very premise with an emphasis on creativity as transformation:
http://www.brainpickings.org
More can also be read at
http://www.sterlingbrands.com/blog/2012/09/sterling-buzz-85/
How to Break Through Your Creative Block: Strategies from 90 of Today’s Most Exciting Creators
by Maria Popova
Refining the machinery of creativity, or what
heartbreak and hydraulics have to do with coaxing the muse.
What extraordinary energy we expend, as a
culture and a civilization, on trying to understand where
good ideas come from, how
creativity works, its secrets,
its origins,
its mechanisms,
and the five-step
action plan for coaxing it into manifestation. And little compares
to the anguish that comes with the blockage of creative flow.In 2010, designer and musician Alex Cornell found himself stumped by a creative block while trying to write an article about creative block. Deterred neither by the block nor by the irony, he reached out to some of his favorite artists and asked them for their coping strategies in such an event. The response was overwhelming in both volume and depth, inspiring Cornell to put together a collection on the subject. The result is Breakthrough!: 90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination (public library) — a small but potent compendium of field-tested, life-approved insight on optimizing the creative process from some of today’s most exciting artists, designers, illustrators, writers, and thinkers.
Writer Michael Erard teases apart “creative block” and debunks its very premise with an emphasis on creativity as transformation:
First of all, being creative is not summoning stuff ex nihilo. It’s work, plain and simple — adding something to some other thing or transforming something. In the work that I do, as a writer and a metaphor designer, there’s always a way to get something to do something to do something else. No one talks about work block.Designer Sam Potts suggests that heartbreak isn’t merely evolutionary adaptive strategy, it’s a creative one:
Also, block implies a hydraulic metaphor of thinking. Thoughts flow. Difficulty thinking represents impeded flow. This interoperation also suggests a single channel for that flow. A stopped pipe. A dammed river. If you only have one channel, one conduit, then you’re vulnerable to blockage. Trying to solve creative block, I imagine a kind of psyching Roto-Rootering.
My conceptual scheme is more about the temperature of things: I try to find out what’s hot and start there, even if it may be unrelated to what I need to be working on, and most of the time, that heats up other areas too. You can solve a lot with a new conceptual frame.
Have your heart broken. It worked for Rei Kawakubo. You’ll realize the work you’d been doing wasn’t anywhere near your potential.From the inimitable Debbie Millman, who has kindly offered this hand-lettered version of the typeset list in the book:
Illustrator Marc Johns offers:
- Get enough sleep! Sleep is the best (and easiest) creative aphrodisiac.
- Read as much as you can, particularly classics. If a master of words can’t inspire you, see number 3.
- Color code your library. That is fun, and you will realize how many great books you have that you haven’t read yet.
- More sleep! You can never get enough.
- Force yourself to procrastinate. Works every time!
- Look at the work of Tibor Kalman, Marian Bantjes, Jessica Hische, Christoph Niemann, and Paul Sahre.
- Weep. And then week some more.
- Surf the Web. Write inane tweets. Check out your high school friends on Facebook. Feel smug.
- Watch Law & Order: SVU marathons. Revel in the ferocious beauty of Olivia Benson.
- Remember how L-U-C-K-Y you are to be a creative person to begin with and quit your bellyaching. Get to work now!
Pretend. Stop thinking like a designer or writer or whatever you are for a minute. Pretend you’re a pastry chef. Pretend you’re an elevator repair contractor. A pilot. A hot dog vendor. How do these people look at the world?Musician Alexi Murdoch, extends an infinitely important, infinitely timely contrarian critique of creativity-culture:
Beethoven drank buckets of strong, black coffee. Beethoven was creatively prodigious. (He also went deaf and, perhaps, mad.) Sound syllogism here? I’d like to think so.Writer Douglas Rushkoff rebels:
The idea that creativity is some abundantly available resource waiting simply for the right application of ingenuity to extract, refine, and pipe it into the grid seems so axiomatic at this cultural juncture that the very distinction between creativity and productivity has been effectively erased.
And so it is that, when faced with a decreased flow in productivity, we ask not what it might be that’s interfering with our creative process, but rather what device might be quickly employed to raise production levels. This is standard, myopic, symptomatology-over-pathology response, typical of a pressurized environment of dislocated self-entitlement.
At the risk of going off brief here, can I just ask: What’s wrong with creative block? Might it not just be that periods — even extended ones — of productive hiatus are essential mechanisms of gestation designed to help us attain higher standards in our pursuit of creative excellence?
I don’t believe in writer’s block.Musician Jamie Lidell echoes Tchaikovsky:
Yes, there may have been days or even weeks at a time when I have not written — even when I may have wanted to — but that doesn’t mean I was blocked. It simply means I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or, as I’d like to argue, exactly the right place at the right time.
The creative process has more than one kind of expression. There’s the part you could show in a movie montage — the furious typing or painting or equation solving where the writer, artist, or mathematician accomplishes the output of the creative task. But then there’s also the part that happens invisibly, under the surface. That’s when the senses are perceiving the world, the mind and heart are thrown into some sort of dissonance, and the soul chooses to respond.
That response doesn’t just come out like vomit after a bad meal. There’s not such thing as pure expression. Rather, because we live in a social world with other people whose perceptual apparatus needs to be penetrated with our ideas, we must formulate, strategize, order, and then articulate. It is that last part that is visible as output or progress, but it only represents, at best, 25 percent of the process.
Real creativity transcends time. If you are not producing work, then chances are you have fallen into the infinite space between the ticks of the clock where reality is created. Don’t let some capitalist taskmaster tell you otherwise — even if he happens to be in your own head.
Cheers. Watcha gonna do with a blocked toilet? I mean, that’s all it is, right? A bung that needs pulling to let the clear waters of inspiration flow.Digital-media artist and data viz wunderkind Aaron Koblin, head of the Data Arts Team in Google’s Creative Lab says:
Maybe. Or maybe it just takes showing up. Going back again and again to write or paint or sing or cook.
Some days the genius will be in you, and you will sail. Other days the lead will line the slippers, and you’ll be staring into the void of your so-called creative mind, feeling like a fraud. It’s all part of the big ole cycle of creativity, and it’s a healthy cycle at that.
They say an elephant never forgets. Well, you are not an elephant. Take notes, constantly. Save interesting thoughts, quotations, films, technologies…the medium doesn’t matter, so long as it inspires you. When you’re stumped, go to your notes like a wizard to his spellbook. Mash those thoughts together. Extend them in every direction until they meet.Philosopher Daniel Dennett has a special term for his method:
My strategy for getting myself out of a rut is to sit at my desk reminding myself of what the problem is, reviewing my notes, generally filling my head with the issues and terms, and then I just get up and go do something relatively mindless and repetitive. At our farm in the summer, I paint the barn or mow the hayfield or pick berries or cute fire wood to length…. I don’t even try to think about the problem, but more often than not, at some point in the middle of the not very challenging activity, I’ll find myself mulling it over and coming up with a new slant, a new way of tackling the issue, maybe just a new term to use. Engaging my brain with something else to control and think about helps melt down the blockades that have been preventing me from making progress, freeing up the circuits for some new paths. My strategy could hardly be cruder, but it works so well so often that I have come to rely on it.Jessica Hagy suggests
One summer, many years ago, my friend Doug Hofstadter was visiting me at my farm, and somebody asked him where I was. He gestured out to the big hayfield behind the house, which I was harrowing for a reseeding. ‘He’s out there on his tractor, doing his tillosophy,’ Doug said. Ever since then, tillosophy has been my term for this process. Try it; if it doesn’t work, at least you’ll end up with a painted room, a mowed lawn, a clean basement.
How can you defeat the snarling goblins of creative block? With books, of course. Just grab one. It doesn’t matter what sort: science fiction, science fact, pornography (soft, hard, or merely squishy), comic books, textbooks, diaries (of people known or unknown), novels, telephone directories, religious texts — anything and everything will work.
Now, open it to a random page. Stare at a random sentence.
[…]
Every book holds the seed of a thousand stories. Every sentence can trigger an avalanche of ideas. Mix ideas across books: one thought from Aesop and one line from Chomsky, or a fragment from the IKEA catalog melded with a scrap of dialog from Kerouac.
By forcing your mind to connect disparate bits of information, you’ll jump-start your thinking, and you’ll fill in blank after blank with thought after thought. The goblins of creative block have stopped snarling and have been shooed away, you’re dashing down thoughts, and your synapses are clanging away in a symphonic burst of ideas. And if you’re not, whip open another book. Pluck out another sentence. And ponder mash-ups of out-of-context ideas until your mind wanders and you end up in a new place, a place that no one else ever visited.
Marvelous.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
‘Damaged at the heart’: artists pull no punches over Creative Scotland
In The Scotsman
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/damaged-at-the-heart-artists-pull-no-punches-over-creative-scotland-1-2565819
A HUNDRED of Scotland’s leading artists have launched an out-spoken attack against the government agency in charge of the cultural sector.
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/damaged-at-the-heart-artists-pull-no-punches-over-creative-scotland-1-2565819
A HUNDRED of Scotland’s leading artists have launched an out-spoken attack against the government agency in charge of the cultural sector.
In full: The letter to Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland, which has an annual budget of more than £83 million, is facing open rebellion after being accused of “ill-conceived decision-making and a lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture”.
A stinging letter of protest to its chairman, Sir Sandy Crombie, will increase the pressure on chief executive Andrew Dixon to quit following months of criticism over his stewardship. Neither was available for comment last night.
However, composers James Macmillan and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, playwright and artist John Byrne, film-maker Andrea Gibb, actor Tam Dean Burn, singer-songwriter Karine Polwart and Scotland’s national poet, Liz Lochhead, are among those artists demanding “a fresh start” for the body. They have put their names to the letter claiming trust between Scotland’s artists and those who fund it was “low and receding daily”.
The artists behind the letter issued an accompanying statement saying they believe Creative Scotland was now “damaged at the heart” – but stopped short of calls for sackings or resignations.
Their dramatic move will also pile pressure on culture secretary Fiona Hyslop for failing to get a grip of a crisis which has dragged on for months. Last night, she insisted she still supported the super-quango for the arts, which was set up just months after she took over the culture brief.
Despite Creative Scotland’s “arms-length” status, she was forced to intervene last month to urge the agency to be more open and responsive to the concerns of artists.
The letter said Creative Scotland had “a confused and intrusive management style married to a corporate ethos that seems designed to set artist against artist and company against company in the search for resources”.
It makes seven demands, including ending “business speak and obfuscating jargon” in official communications, redesigning overcomplicated application forms and ensuring complaints are dealt with quickly.
Writers Ian Rankin, AL Kennedy, James Kelman and Janice Galloway are among the others to put their names to the letter, along with Turner Prize winner Karla Black, and Luke Fowler, who is a finalist in this year’s competition.
The letter has also been backed by a number of artists who have previously spoken out against Creative Scotland, including playwright David Greig and poet Don Paterson.
Creative Scotland was forced into a climbdown in June following a revolt after 49 groups and organisations were told they would lose regular funding.
The body later agreed to keep grants running for longer to give groups and organisations more time to discuss future grant schemes, and also allow the agency to publish detailed strategies for the dance, theatre, music and visual arts sectors.
However, it has faced mounting criticism over the way funding decisions are made, the level of bureaucracy artists and organisations face and a move by Creative Scotland to set up its own awards scheme in the face of such criticism.
David Greig, writer of hit plays Midsummer, Dunsinane and Monster in the Hall, said a mixture of “concern, disquiet and disbelief” from artists lay behind the letter.
He told The Scotsman: “We are looking for a clear acknowledgement of the problems within Creative Scotland and evidence of a clear change of direction. We have not seen that so far. There is simply no trust at the moment.”
Creative Scotland last night said it was “working hard” to restore trust and improve working practices with the arts and culture sector.
A spokesman said: “We recognise that we need to build positive, collaborative working relationships with organisations and artists.
“We are totally committed to working collaboratively with the arts and culture sector, we are listening very closely to what that sector is telling us and we are taking positive action as a result across a number of operational and strategic areas.”
Creative Scotland, which has an annual budget of more than £83 million, is facing open rebellion after being accused of “ill-conceived decision-making and a lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture”.
A stinging letter of protest to its chairman, Sir Sandy Crombie, will increase the pressure on chief executive Andrew Dixon to quit following months of criticism over his stewardship. Neither was available for comment last night.
However, composers James Macmillan and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, playwright and artist John Byrne, film-maker Andrea Gibb, actor Tam Dean Burn, singer-songwriter Karine Polwart and Scotland’s national poet, Liz Lochhead, are among those artists demanding “a fresh start” for the body. They have put their names to the letter claiming trust between Scotland’s artists and those who fund it was “low and receding daily”.
The artists behind the letter issued an accompanying statement saying they believe Creative Scotland was now “damaged at the heart” – but stopped short of calls for sackings or resignations.
Their dramatic move will also pile pressure on culture secretary Fiona Hyslop for failing to get a grip of a crisis which has dragged on for months. Last night, she insisted she still supported the super-quango for the arts, which was set up just months after she took over the culture brief.
Despite Creative Scotland’s “arms-length” status, she was forced to intervene last month to urge the agency to be more open and responsive to the concerns of artists.
The letter said Creative Scotland had “a confused and intrusive management style married to a corporate ethos that seems designed to set artist against artist and company against company in the search for resources”.
It makes seven demands, including ending “business speak and obfuscating jargon” in official communications, redesigning overcomplicated application forms and ensuring complaints are dealt with quickly.
Writers Ian Rankin, AL Kennedy, James Kelman and Janice Galloway are among the others to put their names to the letter, along with Turner Prize winner Karla Black, and Luke Fowler, who is a finalist in this year’s competition.
The letter has also been backed by a number of artists who have previously spoken out against Creative Scotland, including playwright David Greig and poet Don Paterson.
Creative Scotland was forced into a climbdown in June following a revolt after 49 groups and organisations were told they would lose regular funding.
The body later agreed to keep grants running for longer to give groups and organisations more time to discuss future grant schemes, and also allow the agency to publish detailed strategies for the dance, theatre, music and visual arts sectors.
However, it has faced mounting criticism over the way funding decisions are made, the level of bureaucracy artists and organisations face and a move by Creative Scotland to set up its own awards scheme in the face of such criticism.
David Greig, writer of hit plays Midsummer, Dunsinane and Monster in the Hall, said a mixture of “concern, disquiet and disbelief” from artists lay behind the letter.
He told The Scotsman: “We are looking for a clear acknowledgement of the problems within Creative Scotland and evidence of a clear change of direction. We have not seen that so far. There is simply no trust at the moment.”
Creative Scotland last night said it was “working hard” to restore trust and improve working practices with the arts and culture sector.
A spokesman said: “We recognise that we need to build positive, collaborative working relationships with organisations and artists.
“We are totally committed to working collaboratively with the arts and culture sector, we are listening very closely to what that sector is telling us and we are taking positive action as a result across a number of operational and strategic areas.”
Open letter to Creative Scotland
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/in-full-open-letter-to-creative-scotland-1-2565851
In the Scotsman
Published on Tuesday 9 October 2012 00:56
THIS is the full letter sent to Creative Scotland, and signed by 100 Scottish artists
In the Scotsman
Published on Tuesday 9 October 2012 00:56
THIS is the full letter sent to Creative Scotland, and signed by 100 Scottish artists
Dear Sir Sandy,
We write to express our dismay at the ongoing crisis in Creative Scotland. A series of high-profile stories in various media are only one sign of a deepening malaise within the organisation, the fall-out from which confronts those of us who work in the arts in Scotland every day.
Routinely, we see ill-conceived decision-making; unclear language, lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture. We observe an organisation with a confused and intrusive management style married to a corporate ethos that seems designed to set artist against artist and company against company in the search for resources.
This letter is not about money. This letter is about management. The arts are one of Scotland’s proudest assets and most successful exports. We believe existing resources are best managed in an atmosphere of trust between those who make art and those who fund it. At present, this trust is low and receding daily.
In his address to Holyrood, Mr Dixon asked why more artists do not address their concerns to him directly: the answer is straightforward; they have. Letters of concern have been sent by representative groups from theatre, dance, the games industry, visual arts and literature. Individual voices have also been raised from many quarters both privately and in public. These concerns have gone unanswered or been met with defensiveness, outright denial, or been ascribed to problems with “communication”.
It is time for a fresh start. We ask that the board of Creative Scotland considers the following requests with the utmost urgency. We ask that you:
1. genuinely acknowledge the scale of the problem;
2. affirm the value of stable two to three year funding for small arts organisations;
3. end the use of business-speak and obfuscating jargon in official communication;
4. revisit CS policies with an eye to social and cultural as well as commercial values;
5. collaborate with artists to re-design over-complicated funding forms and processes;
6. ensure that funding decisions are taken by people with artform expertise;
7. establish an effective system of dealing with complaints as swiftly as possible.
We do not sign this letter lightly but we feel we are in an unprecedented situation. We call on you to act swiftly to make what changes are necessary to the organisation to repair trust and restore communication before any further damage is done to Scotland’s cultural landscape and international reputation.
Yours sincerely,
Sam Ainsley, Davey Anderson, Peter Arnott, Clare Barclay, Anne Bevan, Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Katrina Brown (Dr), Tam Dean Burn, Roddy Buchanan, John Byrne, Lorne Campbell, Richard Campbell, Jo Clifford, Nathan Coley, Deborah Crewe, Jeannie Davies, Peter Maxwell Davies (Sir), Chloe Dear, Finn den Hertog, Ella Hickson, Roanne Dods, Jude Doherty, Jaqueline Donachie, Joe Douglas, Rob Drummond, Oliver Emmanuel, Catrin Evans, Rob Evans, Graham Fagen, Andy Field, Pat Fisher, Luke Fowler, Fiona Fraser, Vivian French, Janice Galloway, Andrea Gibb, Suzy Glass, Douglas Gordon (Prof), Mickey Graham, Alasdair Gray, Stephen Greenhorn, David Greig, Kris Haddow, David Harding OBE, John Harris, Zinnie Harris, Ben Harrison, David Harrower, Lewis Hetherington, Corrina Hewat, Mark Hope, Philip Howard, Kieran Hurley, Chris Hunn, Callum Innes, Kathleen Jamie, David Paul Jones, James Kelman, AL Kennedy, Laura Cameron Lewis, Liz Lochhead, Ali Maclaurin, Linda Maclean, James Macmillan, Caoihin MacNeill, Aonghas MacNicol, Willy Maley (Prof), Andy Manley, Michael John McCarthy, Nicola McCartney, Francis McKee, Bernard McLaverty, Alan McKendrick, Linda Mclaughlin, Becky Minto, Alexander Moffat OBE, Gerry Mulgrew, Rona Munro, Andrew O’Hagan, Janice Parker, Don Paterson, Toby Paterson, Mary Paulson Ellis, Aonghas Phadraig Caimpbeul, Philip Pinsky, Karine Polwart, Lynda Radley, Ian Rankin, Robin Robertson, Fiona Robson, Muriel Romanes, Lesley Anne Rose, Lisa Sangster, David Shrigley, Ross Sinclair, Gerda Stevenson, Pete Stollery (Prof), Richard Wright
We write to express our dismay at the ongoing crisis in Creative Scotland. A series of high-profile stories in various media are only one sign of a deepening malaise within the organisation, the fall-out from which confronts those of us who work in the arts in Scotland every day.
Routinely, we see ill-conceived decision-making; unclear language, lack of empathy and regard for Scottish culture. We observe an organisation with a confused and intrusive management style married to a corporate ethos that seems designed to set artist against artist and company against company in the search for resources.
This letter is not about money. This letter is about management. The arts are one of Scotland’s proudest assets and most successful exports. We believe existing resources are best managed in an atmosphere of trust between those who make art and those who fund it. At present, this trust is low and receding daily.
In his address to Holyrood, Mr Dixon asked why more artists do not address their concerns to him directly: the answer is straightforward; they have. Letters of concern have been sent by representative groups from theatre, dance, the games industry, visual arts and literature. Individual voices have also been raised from many quarters both privately and in public. These concerns have gone unanswered or been met with defensiveness, outright denial, or been ascribed to problems with “communication”.
It is time for a fresh start. We ask that the board of Creative Scotland considers the following requests with the utmost urgency. We ask that you:
1. genuinely acknowledge the scale of the problem;
2. affirm the value of stable two to three year funding for small arts organisations;
3. end the use of business-speak and obfuscating jargon in official communication;
4. revisit CS policies with an eye to social and cultural as well as commercial values;
5. collaborate with artists to re-design over-complicated funding forms and processes;
6. ensure that funding decisions are taken by people with artform expertise;
7. establish an effective system of dealing with complaints as swiftly as possible.
We do not sign this letter lightly but we feel we are in an unprecedented situation. We call on you to act swiftly to make what changes are necessary to the organisation to repair trust and restore communication before any further damage is done to Scotland’s cultural landscape and international reputation.
Yours sincerely,
Sam Ainsley, Davey Anderson, Peter Arnott, Clare Barclay, Anne Bevan, Karla Black, Martin Boyce, Katrina Brown (Dr), Tam Dean Burn, Roddy Buchanan, John Byrne, Lorne Campbell, Richard Campbell, Jo Clifford, Nathan Coley, Deborah Crewe, Jeannie Davies, Peter Maxwell Davies (Sir), Chloe Dear, Finn den Hertog, Ella Hickson, Roanne Dods, Jude Doherty, Jaqueline Donachie, Joe Douglas, Rob Drummond, Oliver Emmanuel, Catrin Evans, Rob Evans, Graham Fagen, Andy Field, Pat Fisher, Luke Fowler, Fiona Fraser, Vivian French, Janice Galloway, Andrea Gibb, Suzy Glass, Douglas Gordon (Prof), Mickey Graham, Alasdair Gray, Stephen Greenhorn, David Greig, Kris Haddow, David Harding OBE, John Harris, Zinnie Harris, Ben Harrison, David Harrower, Lewis Hetherington, Corrina Hewat, Mark Hope, Philip Howard, Kieran Hurley, Chris Hunn, Callum Innes, Kathleen Jamie, David Paul Jones, James Kelman, AL Kennedy, Laura Cameron Lewis, Liz Lochhead, Ali Maclaurin, Linda Maclean, James Macmillan, Caoihin MacNeill, Aonghas MacNicol, Willy Maley (Prof), Andy Manley, Michael John McCarthy, Nicola McCartney, Francis McKee, Bernard McLaverty, Alan McKendrick, Linda Mclaughlin, Becky Minto, Alexander Moffat OBE, Gerry Mulgrew, Rona Munro, Andrew O’Hagan, Janice Parker, Don Paterson, Toby Paterson, Mary Paulson Ellis, Aonghas Phadraig Caimpbeul, Philip Pinsky, Karine Polwart, Lynda Radley, Ian Rankin, Robin Robertson, Fiona Robson, Muriel Romanes, Lesley Anne Rose, Lisa Sangster, David Shrigley, Ross Sinclair, Gerda Stevenson, Pete Stollery (Prof), Richard Wright
Open letter from Sir Sandy Crombie
On 8th October 2012 Creative Scotland received an open letter from David
Greig, co-signed by a number of cultural figures in Scotland.
On 9th October 2012 Sir Sandy Crombie, Chairman, Creative Scotland posted the following Open letter on the Creative Scotland website:
http://www.creativescotland.com/news/an-open-letter-from-sir-sandy-crombie-chairman-creative-scotland-09102012
David Greig and others
9 October 2012
Dear David
I hope you will not mind if I address this letter to you as a means of reaching all those who put their names to the letter you distributed yesterday and kindly sent to me via a colleague. A copy of this letter will be sent to media contacts after a delay that will allow you to forward it to all of those you can reach by e-mail.
Before I turn to the points in your letter, let me put my response in the context of Creative Scotland’s development and its aspiration to create strong relationships with creative communities in Scotland.
Creative Scotland is two years old. It has a broader remit and in total distributes more funds than its predecessors. We make one third more awards with one third fewer staff. I think it is fair to say, and unsurprising, that in some cases our working methods are still developing. Are we perfect? No. Can we do better in a number of areas? Yes. But equally there is no shortage of evidence that we can and do perform well across a broad range of our activities.
Ironically, I saw your letter just after meeting a group representing a constituency of artists and organisations working across a range of sectors. The conversation with that group started after they wrote a letter in June expressing concerns similar to yours. For my part, I found that conversation positive and productive. I think it showed that Creative Scotland’s desire to create relationships based on trust and mutual respect is no less strong than that of those with whom we engage. Meeting one representative group like this is not enough, though. We are determined to engage with as many people as are willing to engage with us, through conversations in a range of places and formats in the coming months.
Let me turn to your letter. It is admirably concise, and, as one would expect from those named, eloquently expressed. Your points are well made. In choosing to be concise, you have of course sacrificed the provision of detail at a level that my board colleagues and I can investigate. Nevertheless, I assure you and all those who joined you in signing your letter that we do take seriously every issue, complaint or concern made to us, whether by individuals or groups. We will examine thoroughly every point raised with us. Two sub groups of our board members are currently working with staff to probe further into a range of topics that can influence both how we distribute funds and what artists and organisations experience when dealing with us.
Your letter coincided with the announcement of decisions on awards for the previously flexibly funded organisations that had applied into the first round of the new funding programme. Now that the decisions are public you will know that funds were generally awarded for two years, the only exception being the result of a request for a shorter award period from one applicant. These valuable organisations will be able to apply again in the future.
You have commented on the use of language and complications in our forms and processes. Every professional community – even the arts world – has its own jargon, but we have no desire to be anything other than clear and understood by all. I expect that the comments we have received directly from you and others and the planned conversations I have already described will help us be better informed of issues and able to test ways of expressing ourselves.
On processes, we share a desire to simplify. If applicants find things over-complicated then it is almost certainly the same for our people. We intend to simplify paperwork further and reduce processes to the minimum necessary to comply with audit requirements. We welcome your offer to join in helping to achieve this.
You have commented, as have others, on who is involved in funding decisions. As a first move, we are making more information available on how such decisions are taken. We believe that those taking decisions have both the knowledge and expertise to do so, but acknowledge that this can be questioned. One of the board sub-groups is considering this challenge. This same group will be looking at our handling of complaints.
In closing, I hope you will trust and accept that we have a strong desire to perform as an organisation for the people of Scotland. At current rates of expenditure one thousand million pounds will pass through Creative Scotland in the course of a twelve-year period to be used in support of arts and cultural activity. They who provide the money have a right to ask what will result from that investment. The return does not rest solely in economic or commercial benefits, important though those are. It can come through social, cultural and reputational gains and of course through artistic excellence. We at Creative Scotland are absolutely committed to playing our part in producing those gains, but realise we can achieve nothing without the active participation of artists and companies working across the whole spectrum of arts and cultural activity. We have every desire to engage with you, your co-signatories, either individually or collectively, and indeed any party who shares our aim of doing our very best for everyone.
I would therefore like to offer to meet yourself and as many of your co-signatories as you think useful to listen to your concerns in more detail and to create the foundations for a constructive dialogue that will help address the issues raised.
With best wishes,
Sir Sandy Crombie, Chair, Creative Scotland
On 9th October 2012 Sir Sandy Crombie, Chairman, Creative Scotland posted the following Open letter on the Creative Scotland website:
http://www.creativescotland.com/news/an-open-letter-from-sir-sandy-crombie-chairman-creative-scotland-09102012
David Greig and others
9 October 2012
Dear David
I hope you will not mind if I address this letter to you as a means of reaching all those who put their names to the letter you distributed yesterday and kindly sent to me via a colleague. A copy of this letter will be sent to media contacts after a delay that will allow you to forward it to all of those you can reach by e-mail.
Before I turn to the points in your letter, let me put my response in the context of Creative Scotland’s development and its aspiration to create strong relationships with creative communities in Scotland.
Creative Scotland is two years old. It has a broader remit and in total distributes more funds than its predecessors. We make one third more awards with one third fewer staff. I think it is fair to say, and unsurprising, that in some cases our working methods are still developing. Are we perfect? No. Can we do better in a number of areas? Yes. But equally there is no shortage of evidence that we can and do perform well across a broad range of our activities.
Ironically, I saw your letter just after meeting a group representing a constituency of artists and organisations working across a range of sectors. The conversation with that group started after they wrote a letter in June expressing concerns similar to yours. For my part, I found that conversation positive and productive. I think it showed that Creative Scotland’s desire to create relationships based on trust and mutual respect is no less strong than that of those with whom we engage. Meeting one representative group like this is not enough, though. We are determined to engage with as many people as are willing to engage with us, through conversations in a range of places and formats in the coming months.
Let me turn to your letter. It is admirably concise, and, as one would expect from those named, eloquently expressed. Your points are well made. In choosing to be concise, you have of course sacrificed the provision of detail at a level that my board colleagues and I can investigate. Nevertheless, I assure you and all those who joined you in signing your letter that we do take seriously every issue, complaint or concern made to us, whether by individuals or groups. We will examine thoroughly every point raised with us. Two sub groups of our board members are currently working with staff to probe further into a range of topics that can influence both how we distribute funds and what artists and organisations experience when dealing with us.
Your letter coincided with the announcement of decisions on awards for the previously flexibly funded organisations that had applied into the first round of the new funding programme. Now that the decisions are public you will know that funds were generally awarded for two years, the only exception being the result of a request for a shorter award period from one applicant. These valuable organisations will be able to apply again in the future.
You have commented on the use of language and complications in our forms and processes. Every professional community – even the arts world – has its own jargon, but we have no desire to be anything other than clear and understood by all. I expect that the comments we have received directly from you and others and the planned conversations I have already described will help us be better informed of issues and able to test ways of expressing ourselves.
On processes, we share a desire to simplify. If applicants find things over-complicated then it is almost certainly the same for our people. We intend to simplify paperwork further and reduce processes to the minimum necessary to comply with audit requirements. We welcome your offer to join in helping to achieve this.
You have commented, as have others, on who is involved in funding decisions. As a first move, we are making more information available on how such decisions are taken. We believe that those taking decisions have both the knowledge and expertise to do so, but acknowledge that this can be questioned. One of the board sub-groups is considering this challenge. This same group will be looking at our handling of complaints.
In closing, I hope you will trust and accept that we have a strong desire to perform as an organisation for the people of Scotland. At current rates of expenditure one thousand million pounds will pass through Creative Scotland in the course of a twelve-year period to be used in support of arts and cultural activity. They who provide the money have a right to ask what will result from that investment. The return does not rest solely in economic or commercial benefits, important though those are. It can come through social, cultural and reputational gains and of course through artistic excellence. We at Creative Scotland are absolutely committed to playing our part in producing those gains, but realise we can achieve nothing without the active participation of artists and companies working across the whole spectrum of arts and cultural activity. We have every desire to engage with you, your co-signatories, either individually or collectively, and indeed any party who shares our aim of doing our very best for everyone.
I would therefore like to offer to meet yourself and as many of your co-signatories as you think useful to listen to your concerns in more detail and to create the foundations for a constructive dialogue that will help address the issues raised.
With best wishes,
Sir Sandy Crombie, Chair, Creative Scotland
Monday, 8 October 2012
Petitioning Sir Sandy Crombie, Chairman, Creative Scotland
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/sir-sandy-crombie-chairman-creative-scotland-respond-and-act-on-the-letter-of-8-october-2012-from-100-artists#
It has been difficult for many in the artistic, creative and cultural
community to voice their opinions, experiences and exasperation with
the ongoing crisis at Creative Scotland. A group of people started the
process, and put the letter together in very quick time, and there will
be others who would like to sign up to the letter. If you want to add
your name to the letter please sign up here.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/sir-sandy-crombie-chairman-creative-scotland-respond-and-act-on-the-letter-of-8-october-2012-from-100-artists#
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/sir-sandy-crombie-chairman-creative-scotland-respond-and-act-on-the-letter-of-8-october-2012-from-100-artists#
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Underlay
I have just discovered a website called Underlay
http://www.underlayartists.com/Underlayartists/Underlay.html
featuring the work of the following four artists:
Rachel Mimiec
www.rachelmimiec.com
Michael Hill Johnston
www.hilljohnston.com
John Shankie
www.shankie.com
Karen Vaughan
www.karenlvaughan.co.uk
http://www.underlayartists.com/Underlayartists/Underlay.html
featuring the work of the following four artists:
Rachel Mimiec
www.rachelmimiec.com
Michael Hill Johnston
www.hilljohnston.com
John Shankie
www.shankie.com
Karen Vaughan
www.karenlvaughan.co.uk
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Artists plan mass meetings amid concern over Creative Scotland
Article published in the Herald on Wednesday 3rd October
Arts Correspondent
The events will be the first organised and regular “open space” rallies of artists from all genres who want their voices to be heard.
Criticism of the funding body’s actions was sparked in May following the removal of Flexible Funding – fixed-term funding – from more than 40 organisations, and its replacement by Lottery-backed project funding.
However, until now, criticism and debate about Creative Scotland has been confined to individuals putting their heads above the parapet or comments and discussions on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.
Fiona Hyslop, the Culture Secretary, has written two letters to Creative Scotland, stressing its need to communicate better with the arts world.
Leading poet Don Paterson described the body as a “dysfunctional ant-heap”, and playwright David Greig has added his criticism.
Now, with a meeting of around 100 artists and commentators at a space lent by Creative Scotland at its Waverley Gate offices in Edinburgh on October 26, and another of around 100 people at the Tramway in Glasgow on October 31, organisers hope a more cohesive voice for artists and arts companies will be heard in the debate over arts administration and funding north of the Border.
The organisers of the meetings want artists to attend and provide a counterweight to, and opinions about, Creative Scotland’s policies and decisions.
Representatives from Creative Scotland are being invited to the meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Paterson and Greig are both invited to the Edinburgh meeting.
Jen McGregor, the writer and director who has organised the Edinburgh meeting, and Roanne Dods, the producer and former director of the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, who has organised the Glasgow meeting, hope the events will be the first of many.
Ms McGregor, who is not funded by Creative Scotland, said: “What I am really hoping to achieve is to get artists to talk to each other, to express themselves, and argue their case.”
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Scottish Artists Union AGM, DCA, Dundee
Today I attended the Scottish Artists Union (SAU) Annual General Meeting, which was held at DCA, Dundee.
It was rather disappointing that despite having over 900 members, there were only about 40 people (including some non-members) at what was an interesting event.
I am pleased that, along with Deniz Üster I was elected onto the new Executive Committee, and look forward to being more involved with the SAU.
A couple of motions were proposed, one coming from a member and the other (made up of 7 component parts all relating to Creative Scotland) from the executive. After in depth debate, both were accepted.
Lorraine Simpson then delivered a superb presentation on the findings of her research into the Public Entertainment License (PEL). The SAU had commissioned Lorraine to carry out this research, and the report will be available on the SAU website within the next few weeks.
Simpson contacted all of the Local Authorities to gain an understanding of their position in relation to the change in the PEL. Only 3 Local Authorities have specified that individuals and organisations hosting free events such as exhibitions, Open Studios, workshops will need to apply for a license. 9 Local Authorities (Glasgow included) have not yet decided upon their stance, and the other Local Authorities are not going to insist upon a PEL for free events. Lorraine reported that most Local Authorities were very reasonable, and that it is worth artists talking to them about their plans.
The next presentation was about the SAU members survey. The results were somewhat grim. 59% of respondents have never received and exhibition payment, over 70% of respondents earned less that £5000 from their practice last year, and 85% have not been issued with contracts.
This lead nicely into Janie Nicol reporting on the WAGE event that happened just over a week ago in Glasgow (see earlier blog post for information about this).
Donald Urquhart was the guest artist speaker, and concluded the day by discussing his work in relation to collaborative practice.
All in all it was a good event, managing to be more than a business report, and marking the start of some exciting investigations.
It was rather disappointing that despite having over 900 members, there were only about 40 people (including some non-members) at what was an interesting event.
I am pleased that, along with Deniz Üster I was elected onto the new Executive Committee, and look forward to being more involved with the SAU.
A couple of motions were proposed, one coming from a member and the other (made up of 7 component parts all relating to Creative Scotland) from the executive. After in depth debate, both were accepted.
Lorraine Simpson then delivered a superb presentation on the findings of her research into the Public Entertainment License (PEL). The SAU had commissioned Lorraine to carry out this research, and the report will be available on the SAU website within the next few weeks.
Simpson contacted all of the Local Authorities to gain an understanding of their position in relation to the change in the PEL. Only 3 Local Authorities have specified that individuals and organisations hosting free events such as exhibitions, Open Studios, workshops will need to apply for a license. 9 Local Authorities (Glasgow included) have not yet decided upon their stance, and the other Local Authorities are not going to insist upon a PEL for free events. Lorraine reported that most Local Authorities were very reasonable, and that it is worth artists talking to them about their plans.
The next presentation was about the SAU members survey. The results were somewhat grim. 59% of respondents have never received and exhibition payment, over 70% of respondents earned less that £5000 from their practice last year, and 85% have not been issued with contracts.
This lead nicely into Janie Nicol reporting on the WAGE event that happened just over a week ago in Glasgow (see earlier blog post for information about this).
Donald Urquhart was the guest artist speaker, and concluded the day by discussing his work in relation to collaborative practice.
All in all it was a good event, managing to be more than a business report, and marking the start of some exciting investigations.
Will Self Friday Event
Today I was lucky enough to attend the first Friday Event of the 2012-2013 academic session. The speaker was Will Self who introduced and read from his new publication "Umbrella", which is on the shortlist for the Man Booker prize.
Cinema 1 at The Gft, Glasgow had a full audience, which the speaker likened to a "field of mushrooms".
Self did not disappoint, his talk was informative, intelligent and entertaining.
Quote of the day courtesy of Will Self
"semi colons are the coalition of punctuation"
Cinema 1 at The Gft, Glasgow had a full audience, which the speaker likened to a "field of mushrooms".
Self did not disappoint, his talk was informative, intelligent and entertaining.
Quote of the day courtesy of Will Self
"semi colons are the coalition of punctuation"
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Studio 58 Symposium
Studio 58 Symposium
The Glasgow School of Art
Speakers:
Susannah Waters, GSA Archivist
Peter Trowles, GSA Curator
Andrea Kusel - Curator of Art, Paisley Museum
Sarah Lowndes - Studio 58 Curator
Stacy Boldrick - Research and Interpretation Manager at The Fruitmarket Gallery
Sarah Lowndes mentioned that there were a number of sub themes to the exhibition:
1. Still life - Still life as an interior landscape when it was not possible to go outside
2. Artists with illness / handicap
Lowndes was interested in meetings between artists, particularly meetings between two or more artists who had never met before
"I do feel the more you know something, the more you get out of it" Joan Eardley
The Glasgow School of Art
Speakers:
Susannah Waters, GSA Archivist
Peter Trowles, GSA Curator
Andrea Kusel - Curator of Art, Paisley Museum
Sarah Lowndes - Studio 58 Curator
Stacy Boldrick - Research and Interpretation Manager at The Fruitmarket Gallery
Sarah Lowndes mentioned that there were a number of sub themes to the exhibition:
1. Still life - Still life as an interior landscape when it was not possible to go outside
2. Artists with illness / handicap
Lowndes was interested in meetings between artists, particularly meetings between two or more artists who had never met before
"I do feel the more you know something, the more you get out of it" Joan Eardley
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Studio visit
This afternoon I had a studio visit from Anne-Louise Kieran, the Visual Arts Development Officer for North Lanarkshire Council. Anne-Louise had visited my studio at the recent Open Studio weekend, and got in touch shortly after to offer me an exhibition at one of the spaces that she programmes.
It was really good to talk to her about her background, her role, my work and my forthcoming exhibition. The exhibition will take place at Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre from Sept 4th 2013 -
October 30th 2013. It seems like I have a lot of time, but I know how quickly time flies, and I am already thinking about making work for the space.
Given the nature of the building, the exhibition will consist of wall based work. I am conscious that the work will predominantly be seen by a non-art audience and I will be mindful of this when producing the work. By this I do not mean to "dumb down" the work, but I need to ensure that the work can be appreciated on a number of levels and is not dependent on having an art background in order to get something from it.
In light of the WAGE RAGE discussion that I attended yesterday, it was pleasing to hear that a small fee will be offered and that they are willing to help with things such as hiring a van to collect the work, assistance with hanging the work, and offering to loan some frames for the duration of the exhibition. Anne-Louise was supportive of the need for some guidelines or legislation around the payments given to artists for exhibiting their work.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
WAGE RAGE
Tonight I attended the public meeting to address the need for artists' exhibition fees in
non-profit art institutions in Glasgow and beyond.
The event was introduced by artist Charlotte Prodger and then short presentations were given by Isla Leaver-Yap (Freelance Curator), Corin Sworn (Artist) and the Scottish Artists Union. Lise Soskolne, co-organiser of W.A.G.E (Working Artists And The Greater Economy) delivered the main presentation.
For more information about W.A.G.E, please visit http://www.wageforwork.com
Lots of interesting points were raised, but I will share these with you when I am more awake!
The event was introduced by artist Charlotte Prodger and then short presentations were given by Isla Leaver-Yap (Freelance Curator), Corin Sworn (Artist) and the Scottish Artists Union. Lise Soskolne, co-organiser of W.A.G.E (Working Artists And The Greater Economy) delivered the main presentation.
For more information about W.A.G.E, please visit http://www.wageforwork.com
Lots of interesting points were raised, but I will share these with you when I am more awake!
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Creative Scotland under scrutiny
http://new.a-n.co.uk/news/single/creative-scotland-under-scrutiny/25
Arts funding body Creative Scotland has been scrutinised by MSPs on the Scottish Parliament's Education and Culture Committee, with representatives from Scotland's visual arts sector giving evidence.
By Chris Sharratt on a-n news
Published 18th September 2012
Arts funding body Creative Scotland has been scrutinised by MSPs on the Scottish Parliament's Education and Culture Committee, with representatives from Scotland's visual arts sector giving evidence.
By Chris Sharratt on a-n news
Published 18th September 2012
Representatives from Scotland’s visual arts sector have given
evidence to MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Culture
Committee, as it discussed the work of Creative Scotland, the arts
funding body which replaced the Scottish Arts Council in 2010.
Francis McKee, director of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), and public artist Matt Baker were joined by Creative Scotland Chief Executive Andrew Dixon and Gwilym Gibbons, director, Shetland Arts Development Agency.
Baker, who is based in Dumfries and Galloway, raised concerns about the geographical bias of the funding body, accusing it of disregarding local input: “We’re getting large cultural producers being parachuted into our areas [by Creative Scotland], swallowing significant amounts of our local budget,” he said. “That’s left a lot of discord locally and been very destructive.”
Baker also criticized the organisation for a lack of transparency, a point picked up on by Francis McKee. He said: “It’s good dialogue face-to-face [with Creative Scotland], but there’s not enough dialogue publicly with the arts community, trust is being lost and that’s dangerous. There’s a communication gap that needs to be bridged – that communication has to happen.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the organisation’s funding decisions – Turner Prize nominee Luke Fowler has characterized it as "New Labour meets the politburo”, while Scottish poet Don Paterson, who won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010, recently described Creative Scotland as a "dysfunctional ant-heap" – the mood among the panel was good natured and professional rather than heated.
Poor communication by the organisation was a recurring theme throughout the session and on numerous occasions Dixon accepted that the organisation needed to improve on this: “I’m absolutely committed to transparency and I admit that we’re not getting it right,” he said.
Flexible funding
On the issue of changes to flexible funding for 49 organisations across Scotland announced in May, the deadline for which has since been extended by six months, McKee said: “It’s a fraught process because it’s change for a start. There have been problems along the way and those problems are still evolving.”
McKee explained that an organisation like CCA couldn’t operate on a project-by-project basis, as Creative Scotland's changes initially required it to, due to the need for long-term and strategic planning. He acknowledged that Creative Scotland had modified the process in order to enable the organisation to apply for project funding across a two-year period.
“There’s been a constant moving of the parameters which are helping us as we go, and that has been a positive change,” he said. “They’re changes we need to see."
Baker said that the issues around flexible funding were largely irrelevant to him. Describing the artist-led organisations and initiatives that he was involved with, he said: “We’re not expecting core funding, we’re after advocacy and help from Creative Scotland to allow us to use the arts for the wider good. And [in that area] quite a lot of the noises we’re hearing are quite good.”
McKee added that there were concerns among flexibly funded organisations around the use of Lottery funding. He said: “Perhaps on behalf of all the flexibly-funded organisations, I should say that there’s a worry about the relationship to the Lottery. The Lottery looks as if it’s project funded, and we’re now talking about more sustainable funding through the Lottery. We all welcome this, but we just want to know that the Lottery agrees."
Francis McKee, director of Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA), and public artist Matt Baker were joined by Creative Scotland Chief Executive Andrew Dixon and Gwilym Gibbons, director, Shetland Arts Development Agency.
Baker, who is based in Dumfries and Galloway, raised concerns about the geographical bias of the funding body, accusing it of disregarding local input: “We’re getting large cultural producers being parachuted into our areas [by Creative Scotland], swallowing significant amounts of our local budget,” he said. “That’s left a lot of discord locally and been very destructive.”
Baker also criticized the organisation for a lack of transparency, a point picked up on by Francis McKee. He said: “It’s good dialogue face-to-face [with Creative Scotland], but there’s not enough dialogue publicly with the arts community, trust is being lost and that’s dangerous. There’s a communication gap that needs to be bridged – that communication has to happen.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the organisation’s funding decisions – Turner Prize nominee Luke Fowler has characterized it as "New Labour meets the politburo”, while Scottish poet Don Paterson, who won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010, recently described Creative Scotland as a "dysfunctional ant-heap" – the mood among the panel was good natured and professional rather than heated.
Poor communication by the organisation was a recurring theme throughout the session and on numerous occasions Dixon accepted that the organisation needed to improve on this: “I’m absolutely committed to transparency and I admit that we’re not getting it right,” he said.
Flexible funding
On the issue of changes to flexible funding for 49 organisations across Scotland announced in May, the deadline for which has since been extended by six months, McKee said: “It’s a fraught process because it’s change for a start. There have been problems along the way and those problems are still evolving.”
McKee explained that an organisation like CCA couldn’t operate on a project-by-project basis, as Creative Scotland's changes initially required it to, due to the need for long-term and strategic planning. He acknowledged that Creative Scotland had modified the process in order to enable the organisation to apply for project funding across a two-year period.
“There’s been a constant moving of the parameters which are helping us as we go, and that has been a positive change,” he said. “They’re changes we need to see."
Baker said that the issues around flexible funding were largely irrelevant to him. Describing the artist-led organisations and initiatives that he was involved with, he said: “We’re not expecting core funding, we’re after advocacy and help from Creative Scotland to allow us to use the arts for the wider good. And [in that area] quite a lot of the noises we’re hearing are quite good.”
McKee added that there were concerns among flexibly funded organisations around the use of Lottery funding. He said: “Perhaps on behalf of all the flexibly-funded organisations, I should say that there’s a worry about the relationship to the Lottery. The Lottery looks as if it’s project funded, and we’re now talking about more sustainable funding through the Lottery. We all welcome this, but we just want to know that the Lottery agrees."
Friday, 14 September 2012
Anais Nin's diaries
The third
volume of Anaïs Nin's diaries provides Nin's "thoughtful and timeless meditations on life,
mass
movements, Paris
vs. New York, what
makes a great city, and the
joy of handcraft."
"You must not fear, hold back, count or be a miser with your thoughts and feelings. It is also true that creation comes from an overflow, so you have to learn to intake, to imbibe, to nourish yourself and not be afraid of fullness. The fullness is like a tidal wave which then carries you, sweeps you into experience and into writing. Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications. Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them. If it seems to you that I move in a world of certitudes, you, par contre, must benefit from the great privilege of youth, which is that you move in a world of mysteries. But both must be ruled by faith."
"You must not fear, hold back, count or be a miser with your thoughts and feelings. It is also true that creation comes from an overflow, so you have to learn to intake, to imbibe, to nourish yourself and not be afraid of fullness. The fullness is like a tidal wave which then carries you, sweeps you into experience and into writing. Permit yourself to flow and overflow, allow for the rise in temperature, all the expansions and intensifications. Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them. If it seems to you that I move in a world of certitudes, you, par contre, must benefit from the great privilege of youth, which is that you move in a world of mysteries. But both must be ruled by faith."
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Dominoes in Helsinki
Dominoes in Helsinki video
On Thursday 23 August, Dominoes appeared in Helsinki with more than 20,000 people in the streets, 10,000 blocks, 250 volunteers and a feeling of joy and celebration.
Starting on an island of Helsinki's archipelago, the blocks reached the beach of Meri Rastela, going through the suburbs, took the metro to go through Kallio and its famous traditional Sauna. Then made its way through a musican's flat and fell into the gigantic tunnels that exist under all of Helsinki. It continued in the streets of the centre and finished on Senat Square.
Saturday, 8 September 2012
Clive Hodgson - signed paintings at 42 Carlton Place
Another wonderful exhibition at 42 Carlton Place. The paintings, all unframed are simply hung on the wall with pins or resting on nails. This simplicity is matched in the work. Hodgson uses subtle colours, often created through the layering of different shades. These are revealed when Hodgson signs and dates his work, often removing the top layer of paint to show what lies beneath.
Clive Hodgson’s paintings can be lyrical, disarming or mordant. They evoke emblem, signage and diagram.
Becoming known in the 1980s for anecdotal figuration, he has moved through alternations and combinations of abstraction and representation, deploying varied technical means: geometric pattern; stenciling; apparently casual daubing; stipple and spatter; ornamental calligraphic design. His diverse strategies build to a concerted interrogation of the puzzles of art and life.
Clive Hodgson was born in Nottingham in 1953. He studied at St. Martin’s School of Art 1971-72 and the Slade School of Art 1972-77. He had a residency at The British School at Rome in 1998. Recent exhibitions have included: 2005 ‘Incorrigible, Sentimental’, Filles du Calvaire Brussels; 2006 Terrace London; 2008 ‘False Friends’, Five Years London; 2012 Broadbent London; ‘ Ever Since I Put Your Picture in a Frame’, 42 Carlton Place Glasgow; ‘The Smallest Composite Number’, Standpoint London.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Scotland can make it
SCOTLAND CAN MAKE IT!
7 SEPTEMBER 2012 – 13 JANUARY 2013
Scotland Can Make It!
is an exhibition of six souvenir prototypes inspired by the London 2012
Olympic Games and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The souvenirs, designed and manufactured
entirely in Scotland, aim to offer a lasting material legacy of both
major events whilst expressing a strong message about Scotland’s rich
and imaginative cultural landscape.
The prototypes have been made by the
following artists, designers and companies:
Atelier EB and Marc Camille Chaimowicz with
Begg Scotland and McRostie of Glasgow
Claire Duffy with Tunnock’s
Emlyn Firth and Angharad McLaren with
Johnstons of Elgin
FOUND with Chemikal Underground
Katy West with Highland Stoneware and Rogano
Oyster Bar
Neil McGuire and Marianne Anderson with
Carlton Die Casting and Jewellery Prototyping Services
The souvenirs will be developed for sale as a
part of the cultural programme for the Commonwealth Games. They will be
available to buy in Glasgow and across Scotland in 2014.
A film, Scotland Can Make It!: the making
of six souvenirs presents a series of informal
interviews and a behind the scenes look at the processes involved in
creating the unique prototypes for Scotland Can Make It!
Filmed in the studios, workshops and
factories of the Scotland Can Make It! designers,
artists, musicians and manufacturers, the film highlights the quality
and breadth of Scotland’s creative practitioners and manufacturing
industries.
Scotland Can Make It! is part
of Scotland’s Cultural Programme for London 2012 and Glasgow 2014
Tuesday, 4 September 2012
Master of Letters Degree Show exhibition - Glasgow School of Art
http://www.mastersofletters.com/Masters_of_Letters/Masters_of_Letters.html
http://mastersofletters.tumblr.com/
Friday, 31 August 2012
International day of the disappeared
As Painting and Printmaking administrator at Glasgow School of Art, I am sometimes contacted by individuals or organisations with opportunities for staff and students. A couple of months ago I was approached by the British Red Cross who were looking for a student to do a painting for the International day of the disappeared campaign. This was no usual painting thought; it was to be done so as to camouflage a figure into the background.
I am delighted that I have been able to assist in the realisation of this project, and hope that it raises awareness of one of the many activities of British Red Cross.
For more information please visit
www.redcross.org.uk
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