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What Is To Be Done Cultural Leadership and Public Engagement in Art and Design Education 1st Edition Steve Swindells
What Is To Be Done Cultural Leadership and Public Engagement in Art and Design Education 1st Edition Steve Swindells
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“What is to be Done?”:
Cultural Leadership and Public Engagement
in Art and Design Education
“What is to be Done?”:
Cultural Leadership and Public Engagement
in Art and Design Education
Edited by
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix
Editors ....................................................................................................... 95
Contributors ............................................................................................... 97
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
While serving a life sentence for murder in a Scottish jail, the artist
Jimmy Boyle viewed photographs of Joseph Beuys’ performance with a
coyote, entitled “I like America and America Likes Me” (1974), in which
the artist had locked himself in a cage with a coyote for a week. After
viewing the photos, Boyle commented on how the then current art (of the
1970s) was trying to engage with the whole of society but, he suggested,
was failing to do so because of its subjectivity and conceptual positions
which continued to alienate people. Boyle cites Beuys’ performance with
the coyote – despite the conceptual nature of the practice – as a laudable
attempt by Beuys to clarify his position regarding the role of the artist in
society. Boyle went on to assert that:
The only worthwhile statement that has had any effect on me and others in
my [prison] environment has been Joseph Beuys’ dialogue with a coyote.
The others pass over the head of society and lose their impact […].2
1
Joseph Beuys, “I am searching for field character” (1973), in Energy Plan for the
Western man - Joseph Beuys in America, ed. by C. Kuoni (New York: Four Walls
Eight Windows, 1993), 34.
2
Caroline Tisdall, Joseph Beuys: Coyote (London: Thames and Hudson, 2008), 5.
4 Introduction to Part One
3
Gert Biesta, Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics,
Democracy (Interventions: Education, Philosophy, and Culture) (Boulder, Colorado:
Paradigm Publishers, 2010), 1.
4
See Gregory L. Ulmer, Electronic Monuments (University of Minnesota Press:
2005), 27.
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 5
5
See Gert Biesta, “Learning in Public Places: Civic Learning for the 21st Century”
(Inaugural Lecture) accessed 3rd December 2013, http://www.ugent.be/pp/sociale-
agogiek/nl/inaugural
6
Emeritus Professor of Regional Development Studies at the Centre for Urban and
Regional Development Studies, Newcastle University.
7
Former polytechnics or colleges of higher education were given university status
by the Conservative Government in 1992 through the Further and Higher
Education Act.
8
The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the current system for assessing
the quality of research in UK higher education institutions (HEIs), see:
http://www.ref.ac.uk
6 Introduction to Part One
Across the UK, academics in art and design fields, and arts and culture
organisations, are increasingly facing pressure to demonstrate, by way of
“knowledge exchange”11 the impact and value of their research upon the
public. With the difficult challenge of articulating this in a meaningful
way and in an accessible language, and with “public engagement” being
the current buzzword in both cultural and education sectors, the
foundations of these debates include John Myerscough 198812 with regard
to economic impact, and François Matarasso 199713 in relation to social
impact. “Public engagement”, in the context of art and design, is often
used as an all-inclusive term for an assumed ability to engage with and
positively affect society. Regardless of its common usage across the
university and cultural sectors, however, it remains a contested concept. In
relation to the REF assessment for HEIs, public engagement is considered
one of the valid examples of research impact identified by HEFCE; a
potentially valuable means of identifying the benefits to society of art and
9
Arts Council England, Achieving Great Art for Everyone: A Strategic
Framework for the Arts, 2010, see
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/achieving_great_art_for_everyone.pdf
10
Arts Council England, Great Art and Culture for Everyone: 10-Year Strategic
Framework 2010-2020, 2nd edition, revised 2013.
11
See “Knowledge Exchange and Impact”, Research Councils UK, at
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/kei/Pages/home.aspx.
12
John Myerscough, The economic importance of the arts in Britain (University of
California: Policy Studies Institute, 1988).
13
François Matarasso, USE OR ORNAMENT?,The social impact of participation
in the arts (Comedia, 1997).
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 7
14
See Nicolas Bourriaud, Relational Aesthetics (Paris: Les Presses du Réel, 2002).
15
See “Inspiration to Engage”, Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research,
Research Councils UK,
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/scisoc/ConcordatforEngagingthePublicwithRese
arch.pdf
16
See Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research, Research Councils UK,
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/Documents/publications/ConcordatInspiration.pdf p. 5.
17
Hereafter referred to as the ICA symposium.
18
See the Arts and Humanities Research Council, The AHRC Cultural Value
Project (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funded-Research/Funded-themes-and-programmes/
Cultural-Value-Project/Documents/Cultural_Value_Project.pdf , and
http://culturalvalueproject.wordpress.com/), and REF2014, Decisions On
Assessing Research Impact, March 2011
http://www.ref.ac.uk/media/ref/content/pub/decisionsonassessingresearchimpact/0
1_11.pdf .
8 Introduction to Part One
catch our imagination. In this respect, the publication does not try to
provide a comprehensive account on all fronts. Rather, it aims to introduce
different perspectives on the public engagement and cultural leadership
environment, and its challenges and complexities. We hope it will enable
the reader to discover future focus and pursue further reading in relation to
this multifaceted subject. A fundamental concern of this research, and one
which was implemented through the ICA symposium is the nurturing of
existing, and the development of new collaborations with cultural partners.
This collection of essays also aims to mirror the symposium’s ethos of
collaboration, and it is hoped that it will provide a useful insight into some
of the challenges and benefits of partnership working. In view of the
escalating number of HEI-cultural organisation partnerships, we hope that
this publication will also prove useful to those already working
collaboratively.
The ICA symposium was also born of a desire to tackle some of the
often ambiguous language that surrounds these questions. It presented a
platform for sharing ideas and good practice, while encouraging dynamic
discussion through the inclusion of interactive and creative plenary
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 9
19
Sumitra Upham, Associate Curator, Education, Institute of Contemporary Arts,
London, January 2013.
10 Introduction to Part One
20
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of Universities UK, speaking at The Cultural
Knowledge Ecology - Universities, Arts and Cultural Partnerships - a one-day
conference, 5th February 2014, Liverpool John Moores University.
21
Arts Council England, Achieving Great Art for Everyone: A Strategic
Framework for the Arts, 2010, see
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/achieving_great_art_for_everyone.pdf.
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 11
[…] address recent trends and issues in the social, political and cultural life
of the University, while tracing their relationship to those art, design and
architecture practices happening beyond the University [...]. The current
issue of radar situates itself at the interface between the research-
orientated arena of the University and the broader [...] public sphere.24
ROTOə has now established its own identity and presence in the
Kirklees community and responses from visitors to the exhibitions have
been very encouraging, demonstrating people to be taking something
positive from their experience of encountering art and design research in a
municipal gallery environment. Interestingly, from a research perspective,
it has been difficult for visitors – and equally for us – to be able to
articulate this; to put into words exactly what caused or comprised the
positive experiences they refer to in written and verbal feedback. We want
to be able to further (understand) our contribution to culture in
Huddersfield, and so this problem – one which is broadly prevalent across
the museums and galleries sector – is influencing our current and future
research.25
22
Sumitra Upham, Associate Curator, Education, speaking at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts, London, January 2013.
23
Sumitra Upham, Associate Curator, Education, speaking at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts, London, January 2013.
24
radar, ed. by Catriona McAra and Anna Powell (Huddersfield: University of
Huddersfield Press, 2014).
25
Future research plans include the development of a project which will consider
the ways in which empirical psychology might be used to test the immediate
experience of art and design upon the viewer, in the context of its impact upon
society. See Rolf Reber, “Art in Its Experience: Can Empirical Psychology Help
Assess Artistic Value?” Leonardo, Vol. 41, No. 4 (August 2008): 367-372.
12 Introduction to Part One
[...] despite the ubiquitous calls, the political likelihood and ethical
justification for investing substantial resources in large-scale longitudinal
evaluations [for measuring the social impact of the arts] remains slim. […]
A key question remains how best to learn from the aggregation of smaller
studies.26
In 2009 it would have been difficult for Galloway and others to predict
just how prominent and problematic the question of measuring “impact”
would be in the lead up to the REF2014. At the point of writing the
outcomes of the REF exercise – in relation to the impact of art and design
upon society – remains unknown. It will be interesting for those involved
to learn whether post-REF analyses of impact case studies will,
collectively, be taken as an opportunity to meet Galloway’s suggestion of
aggregation. Beyond REF, another scheme now within the current sights
of those working in academia is Horizon 2020, which is:
[…] the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme ever, with nearly
€80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020) – in addition
to the private investment that this money will attract. [...] EU funding for
research [...] [is] seen as a means to drive economic growth and create
jobs, Horizon 2020 has the political backing of Europe’s leaders and the
Members of the European Parliament. They [...] put [Horizon 2020] at the
heart of the EU’s blueprint for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and
jobs. By coupling research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to
achieve this with its emphasis on excellent science, industrial leadership
and tackling societal challenges. The goal is to ensure Europe produces
world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for
the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.27
26
Susan Galloway, “Theory-Based Evaluation and the Social Impact of the
Arts”, in Cultural Trends, Vol. 18, No. 2 (June 2009), 143.
27
Horizon 2020: The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation,
accessed 12th January 2014 http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-
horizon-2020.
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 13
28
See Horizon 2020: The EU Framework Programme for Research and
Innovation, accessed 12th January 2014
http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-horizon-2020.
29
Arts and Business, The value of the Creative Industries & Culture, 2007/08, 70.
Accessed 17th February 2014
http://www.artsandbusinessni.org.uk/documents/2012-05-16-14-04-07-70-
09Jul_REI_PICS0708_Chap3.pdf.
30
“Mapping out the economy of culture in figures”, in The Economy of Culture in
Europe, Study prepared for the European Commission (Directorate-General for
Education and Culture), 65, accessed 12th January 2013
http://ec.europa.eu/culture/pdf/doc887_en.pdf.
31
“European Cultural & Creative Sectors as Sources for Economic Growth
& Jobs”, European Parliamentary Research Service, 17th April 2013, accessed 15th
June 2013 http://epthinktank.eu/2013/04/17/european-cultural-creative-sectors-as-
sources-for-economic-growth-jobs/.
32
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive of Universities UK, speaking at The Cultural
Knowledge Ecology - Universities, Arts and Cultural Partnerships - a one-day
conference, 5th February 2014, Liverpool John Moores University.
33
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, CB, FBA (5 June 1883 – 21 April
1946). His ideas are the basis for the school of thought known as Keynesian
economics, which advocates a mixed economy, which consists predominantly of
private sector, but where there exists a role for government intervention during
recessions.
14 Introduction to Part One
in the 1940s, conceived of the model of mixed economy funding for the
arts that has been adopted around the world today. How then, today, do we
ensure the arts and STEM34 are given equal regard, when often the arts are
overshadowed by the assumed greater social and economic benefits of
STEM? One scheme currently being adopted in the United States, and of
particular relevance to innovation within science and technology, is the
inclusion of art and design practices into STEM; where “STEM + Art =
STEAM.”35 STEAM has the potential to open new spaces for thought and
debate, where art and science are not considered mutually exclusive but
inextricably connected.
True public engagement in art and design encompasses all of society,
which necessarily includes scientists, engineers, technologists and
industrialists, as well as artists, curators and designers. Maintaining a
vibrant cultural infrastructure enables lateral thought and creative thinking.
This is not to suggest that public engagement within the cultural sector is
the only facilitator for inclusivity and resolving societal needs, neither is it
the only barometer for measuring public thinking. Nevertheless, large
scale European research funds have an essential role to play in addressing
questions of individual and collective identity across Europe, in particular
where political agendas on civic cohesion are concerned. Take, for
example, youth unemployment. Relatively, across Europe the creative and
cultural sectors are responsible for employing a high percentage of young
people. Between 2008 and 2011 growth rates in employment were
evidenced in the cultural and creative sectors,36 and yet “youth
unemployment in Europe has reached 23.8%” to date.37
Taking Galloway’s suggestion that we need to aggregate a breadth of
research to find an effective way of assessing the social impact of art and
design upon society, and Arts & Business’s views on the wider economic
significance of the cultural industries, herein might lie an opportunity for
future European research funds. These interrelated positions and, indeed,
34
Science, technology, engineering and maths.
35
“STEAM” is “a movement championed by Rhode Island School of Design
(RISD) and widely adopted by institutions, corporations and individuals.” See
http://stemtosteam.org/.
36
“European Cultural & Creative Sectors as Sources for Economic Growth
& Jobs”, European Parliamentary Research Service, 17th April 2013, accessed 15th
June 2013 http://epthinktank.eu/2013/04/17/european-cultural-creative-sectors-as-
sources-for-economic-growth-jobs/.
37
Kate Hodge, “Beating Unemployment in Europe: Careers advice surgery”, in
Guardian Professional (2nd July 2013), accessed 5th September 2013
http://careers.theguardian.com/unemployment-in-europe-careers-advice.
I Say Aesthetic = Human Being 15
the essays contained within this publication, reiterate the extent to which
future debates around measuring cultural engagement in the arts need to
equate both its social and economic impacts, as well as recognising the
significance of the arts both to, as well as alongside, STEM.
The essays
The Cultural Leadership Handbook (2011) provides a comprehensive
definition of public engagement, which it describes as:
38
Robert Hewison and John Holden, The Cultural Leadership Handbook: How to
Run a Creative Organization (Surrey: Gower, 2011), 180.
39
Arts and Humanities Research Council/Economic and Social Research Council.
16 Introduction to Part One
References
Araeen, Rasheed et al (eds.), The Third Text Reader: on Art, Culture and
Theory, (London & New York: Continuum, 2002).
Arts and Business, The value of the Creative Industries & Culture,
2007/08, 70. Accessed 17th February 2014.
Arts and Humanities Research Council, The AHRC Cultural Value Project
(http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funded-Research/Funded-themes-and-program
mes/Cultural-Value-Project/Documents/Cultural_Value_Project.pdf.
Arts Council England, Achieving Great Art for Everyone: A Strategic
Framework for the Arts, 2010.
Arts Council England, Great Art and Culture for Everyone: 10-Year
Strategic Framework 2010-2020, 2nd edition, revised 2013.
Biesta, Gert, “Learning in Public Places: Civic Learning for the 21st
Century” (Inaugural Lecture) accessed 3rd December 2013,
http://www.ugent.be/pp/sociale-agogiek/nl/inaugural
Biesta, Gert, Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics, Politics,
Democracy (Interventions: Education, Philosophy, and Culture)
(Boulder, Colorado: Paradigm Publishers, 2010).
Bourriaud, Nicolas, Relational Aesthetics (Paris: Les Presses du Réel,
2002).
Concordat for Engaging the Public with Research, Research Councils UK.
Cultural Trends, Vol. 18, No. 2 (June 2009).
Dandridge, Nicola, Chief Executive of Universities UK, speaking at The
Cultural Knowledge Ecology - Universities, Arts and Cultural
Partnerships - a one-day conference, 5th February 2014, Liverpool
John Moores University.
European Parliamentary Research Service, 17th April 2013.
Guardian Professional (2nd July 2013)
http://careers.theguardian.com/unemployment-in-europe-careers-
advice.
Hewison, Robert and Holden, John, The Cultural Leadership Handbook:
How to Run a Creative Organization (Surrey: Gower, 2011).
Horizon 2020: The EU Framework Programme for Research and
Innovation,
http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/what-horizon-2020.
Knowledge Exchange and Impact, Research Councils UK,
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/kei/Pages/home.aspx.
Kuoni, C., (ed.), Energy Plan for the Western man - Joseph Beuys in
America, (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993).
18 Introduction to Part One
CREATING #HAVOC:
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO VALUING
OUR CULTURE
CLAIRE DONOVAN
1
The essay is based on research conducted during a Public Service Placement
Fellowship “Measuring Cultural Value (Phase 2)” funded by the Arts and
Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC), and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), grant
reference ES/J008265/1. The views and opinions expressed in the essay do not
necessarily reflect the official views of the AHRC, ESRC or DCMS. An earlier
version, “Is there a third way? Going beyond instrumentalism versus intrinsic
value”, was presented at a St. George’s House Consultation (in partnership with
the Institute of Ideas) on The Value of Culture and the Crisis of Judgement,
Windsor Castle, 11-12 December 2012.
2
The report’s original title was A Holistic Approach to Valuing Culture but was
modified when a Twitter user suggested adding the word Our as this not only
captured the inclusive nature of the report’s recommendations but also produced
the acronym HAVOC (or #havoc).
20 Chapter One
3
Dave O’Brien, Measuring the value of culture: a report to the Department for
Culture Media and Sport (Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 15th
December 2010).
4
The symposium talk upon which the essay is based was accompanied by images
projected onto a cinema screen. The first was a picture of the back of a £20 note
(which depicts the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with a pensive-looking
Shakespeare in the foreground) to symbolise the intrinsic/economic divide present
in the cultural value debate. Each section of the talk was accompanied by images
representing titles of well-known Shakespeare plays, including products and
artefacts such as CD covers, book covers, and a variety of posters for films, stage
plays, festivals, and Shakespeare in the park. The essay uses the play titles for its
subheadings. The animation used at the symposium can be found online at
http://bit.ly/1a9vzvD.
Creating #havoc: A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture 21
The Tempest
The long-running cultural value debate comprises opposing views
about how data collection relates to the subjective experience of culture.
On the one hand, it is felt that public funding supports cultural value in the
form of instrumental value (for example social and economic benefits),
institutional value (public benefits created by institutions), and intrinsic
value (subjective, intellectual, emotional, spiritual).6 However, governments
5
O’Brien 2010, 4.
6
See Robert Hewison and John Holden, Challenge and Change: HLF and
Cultural Value—A Report to the Heritage Lottery Fund (London: DEMOS, 2004),
22 Chapter One
are perceived only to have an interest in instrumental value and its social
and economic impact. In this respect, not only does data collection
overlook the concept of intrinsic value, but it employs methods completely
incapable of grasping the essence of the subjective experience of culture.7
On the other hand, it is argued that the basis of modern microeconomics is
the analysis of subjective preferences. It follows that economic valuation
techniques, when applied to the cultural sector, necessarily capture
intrinsic values because these underpin people’s preferences, which are, in
turn, revealed through people’s market behaviour or expressed through
people’s hypothetical willingness to pay for cultural goods or services.8
Indeed, it is argued that a “reluctance to use economic methods has
hindered rather than helped the case for the arts”.9
My personal involvement in the Phase Two work began due to my
previous experience in chairing a government committee in Australia,
where I was tasked with recommending to the Chief Scientist the optimum
method for assessing the wider social, economic, environmental and
cultural impact of publicly funded university research.10 I found that there
were many similarities between this experience and the cultural value
debate, although in the case of assessing research impact, international
best practice had moved beyond reliance upon economic measures. It
embraced a range of quantitative and qualitative metrics to support
narrative accounts of the benefits of research for wider society. In the UK I
attended two cultural value events before beginning the Phase Two work
and found entrenched positions and encountered something of a storm
about the use of economic valuation techniques. I characterised the two
camps as the Cynics who, following Oscar Wilde: “[…] know the price of
everything and the value of nothing,” and the Sentimentalists who,
“[…][see] an absurd value in everything, and [don’t] know the market
price of any single thing.”11
and John Holden, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why Culture Needs
a Democratic Mandate (London: DEMOS, 2006), 14.
7
Holden 2006, 32, 48.
8
Hasan Bakhshi, Alan Freeman, and Graham Hitchen, Measuring Intrinsic Value:
How to Stop Worrying and Love Economics (London: Missions, Models, Money,
2009), 10.
9
Bakhshi et al., 2009, 2-3.
10
Claire Donovan, “The Australian Research Quality Framework: A Live
Experiment in Capturing the Social, Economic, Environmental, and Cultural
Returns of Publicly Funded Research” in New Directions for Evaluation, Vol. 118,
ed. by Chris L.S. Coryn and Michael Scriven (Wiley Periodicals ,2008), 47- 60.
11
Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan, (1917 [1893] Act III).
Creating #havoc: A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture 23
From my point of view, the cultural value debate was lagging behind
the impact debate, and was dominated by the tyranny of The Green Book12
in the form of an implicit requirement on behalf of the Cynics to use
economic measures that The Treasury would find acceptable. The Phase
Two work, therefore, sought to propose a Cynical-Sentimental; or holistic
solution.
A Comedy of Errors
We have seen that the Phase One and Phase Two projects were both
set against the backdrop of, and were in different ways reactions to, the
cultural value debate. The Phase One report clearly fell on the side of the
Cynics and was in line with DCMS policy. In that respect, the Phase Two
project presented a challenge for DCMS in that its Cynical-Sentimental
findings did not simply endorse the Cynical direction of thinking but,
rather, sought to extend it. An additional element of the Phase Two
research was desk-based work to inform guidance to the sector on
applying the economic valuation techniques recommended by Phase One.
Yet after an extensive review of the literature and of government guidance
documents, this part of the Phase Two research also found that reliance on
economic valuation techniques alone was insufficient and unrealistic in
practice.13 In part, this was due to the lack of an adequate foundation of
relevant economic valuation studies – an absence previously noted by
Bakhshi, that the time, expertise, and expense required was beyond the
reach of the majority of cultural sector organisations.14 In that respect, the
theory of the DCMS policy at that time simply did not fit the practical
requirements of the majority of the cultural sector.
As You Like It
The key finding of the consultative part of the Phase Two project was
unanimous support for the principle of adopting a holistic approach to
valuing our culture. It was seen to be responsive to the needs of the full
range and scale of cultural sector organisations, and, set within an
appropriate overarching valuation framework, could be used to inform
13
Claire Donovan, A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture: A Report to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport (London: Department for Culture, Media
and Sport, 2013), 16-17.
14
Bakhshi, 2012, 2.
Creating #havoc: A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture 25
15
See http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funded-Research/Funded-themes-and-programmes/
Cultural-Value-Project/Pages/default.aspx.
26 Chapter One
References
Bakhshi, Hasan, Alan Freeman, and Graham Hitchen. Measuring Intrinsic
Value: How to Stop Worrying and Love Economics. London: Missions,
Models, Money, 2009.
Bakhshi, Hasan, “Measuring Cultural Value.” Keynote speech presented at
the Culture Count: Measuring Cultural Value Forum, Customs House,
Sydney, Australia, March 2012.
Donovan, Claire, A Holistic Approach to Valuing Our Culture: A Report
to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. London: Department
for Culture, Media and Sport, 2013.
Donovan, Claire, “The Australian Research Quality Framework: A Live
Experiment in Capturing the Social, Economic, Environmental, and
Cultural Returns of Publicly Funded Research.” New Directions for
Evaluation 118, 2008.
Hewison, Robert, and John Holden, Challenge and Change: HLF and
Cultural Value—A Report to the Heritage Lottery Fund. London:
DEMOS, 2004.
Holden, John, Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why Culture
Needs a Democratic Mandate. London: DEMOS, 2006.
O’Brien, David, Measuring the Value of Culture: A Report to the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport. London: Department for
Culture, Media and Sport, 2010.
Wilde, Oscar, Lady Windermere’s Fan: A Play About a Good Woman.
London: Methuen, 1917 [1893].
CHAPTER TWO
Earlier this year, it was said of culture in Britain that we are living in a
‘golden age’. It is certainly a time of phenomenal creativity but I think that
that the true golden age could be ahead of us. The society we now live in,
in Britain, is arguably the most exciting there has ever been. The
experience that it encompasses could produce the greatest art yet created.
This will have an impact around the world. We could be on the verge of
another Renaissance.
—Brian McMaster, 2008.1
In late 2007 Brian McMaster could not anticipate that the developing
global financial crisis would usher in an age of austerity for the arts rather
than his vision of a “true golden age” with its worldwide impact. Cuts in
funding have affected gallery programmes and the commissioning of new
work, public access, acquisitions and staffing.2 However, between 2008
and 2013, the same period covered by the Research Excellence
Framework (REF), there does appear to have been a Renaissance of sorts
after all. An influx of new galleries has occurred across UK university
campuses. For example: the Hannah Maclure Centre, University of
Abertay, Dundee; Ruskin Gallery, Anglia Ruskin University Cambridge;
1
McMaster, B., McMaster Review: Supporting excellence in the arts - from
measurement to judgement (London: TSO, 2008).
2
In March 2013, a spokeswoman for the National Museum Directors Council
noted that national museums had received a total cut of nearly 20% since the 2010
spending review. The Museums Association survey, The Impact of Cuts on UK
Museums, of 2012 noted that 51% of respondents reported a cut to their budgets
and almost a quarter had been forced to reduce public access by closing whole sites
or parts of sites permanently or temporarily. Of the respondents that experienced
cuts in 2011 and 2012, over a third saw a cumulative reduction of more than 35%.
30 Chapter Two
3
The majority of existing nineteenth and twentieth century university galleries –
which arguably have a more overtly public facing and philanthropic museum
function – are already recognised by the primary network for the sector, the
University Museums Group. The UMG promotes the role of university museums,
galleries and collections in research and HE teaching and the importance of their
contribution to widening participation and public engagement. See
http://universitymuseumsgroup.wordpress.com/about/.
The Renaissance of University Galleries? 31
discussions staged in the Gallery. Central to the ethos of the new gallery, it
seems, is the role of the exhibition in generating knowledge and critical
exchange, bringing together the academic community with experts and
audiences from outside the institution.
Outside higher education, cultural organisations receiving public
subsidy are exhorted to focus on the economic impact of their activities. In
her Testing Times speech of 24 April 2013, Maria Miller extolled the
dividends that creativity brings to the country, in the shape of a buoyant
visitor economy and the global marketing of “brand Britain.”4 The
economic value of the arts, and in particular of gallery programmes, might
be expressed in visitor numbers, ticket sales, turnover of retail and
commercial activities. The Treasury's Green Book notes that “objectives,
outcomes and outputs should be defined and quantified as precisely as
possible” in order to assess the economic impact on local/regional
economies.5 The quantitative data collated by the EIA (Economic Impact
Assessments) measure “change” which, in turn, is translated as value for
money; the additional spending of visitors attracted by the new investment
or project over and above the spending of visitors who would have been
attracted to the area without the investment or project.
But what does this quantitative data tell us about the intrinsic value of
exhibitions? Arguably, it is an indicator of other quantitative attributes
such as the level of marketing budgets, the proximity of the venue to
major transport hubs, the relevance of the exhibition to the national
curriculum, and the public profile of the artists involved. The transformative
significance and impact of an exhibition programme, however, is not
elicited from such data. More pertinent to the university gallery sector are
the quantitative and qualitative metrics that measure culture and knowledge
economies.
The practice of exhibition-making is surrounded by broad-ranging
critical discourses, not only through press reviews, but via essays in
exhibition catalogues, in specialist academic and journalistic arts and
culture magazines such as Aesthetica, Artforum and Art Monthly, as well
as in the growing field of online blogs and discussion forums. Arguably,
these reviews and essays can accrue to provide a critical discourse that
4
Maria Miller, “Testing times: Fighting culture’s corner in an age of austerity”,
24th April 2013, see https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/testing-times-
fighting-cultures-corner-in-an-age-of-austerity.
5
HM Treasury, The Green Book, Appraisal and Evaluation in Central
Government (London: TSO, 2011). See
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/220
541/green_book_complete.pdf.
32 Chapter Two
utilises quantitative and qualitative data sets, which, over a period of time,
could contribute to a longitudinal measure of an exhibition or programme’s
impact. One example of this in practice is EAST International. EAST
.
6
Lynda Morris, “The International Provincial (Or Why Every Art School Needs a
Dealer)”, paper delivered at Research and the Artist: Considering the Role of the
Art School, a one-day symposium organised by The Laboratory at Ruskin School
of Drawing and Fine Art, 28th May 1999.
The Renaissance of University Galleries? 33
7
Roger Palmer, International Waters (2001); Gina Pane, Works: 1964 - 1990
(2001-02); Joan Jonas, Lines in the Sand/The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things
(2004-05) and John Latham, Time Base and The Universe (2006).
8
The Chancellor presented the Government Spending Review on 20th October
2010, which fixes spending budgets for each Government department up to 2014-
15.
34 Chapter Two
“Uniting the Cultural Sector”9 (see also the Arts Council England’s Great
Art and Culture for Everyone: 10-Year Strategic Framework 2010-2020).
The university gallery now finds itself at the nexus of different public
funding bodies (Arts Council England, HEFCE, municipal and central
government) concerned with public engagement, impact, research,
innovation and knowledge exchange.
The REF is a process of expert review of a substantial period of research
activity.10 Expert review is the paramount measure of the significance of
academic research; however it has yet to be fully implemented consistently
across the university gallery sector. Normally, a review of programme and
activities of each university gallery is incorporated into an annual
university report providing, at best, a regional snapshot of the gallery’s
activities rather than contributing to a sustained national evaluation. The
process for measuring impact in the REF2014 and REF2019 is an
opportunity and potential mechanism that might provide a national picture
of the influence of the university gallery sector on the cultural landscape of
Britain. We propose the process of measuring impact within the REF
offers scope for the development of a network of peers to review curatorial
outputs, and to take an expert longitudinal view of the significance of
gallery programmes, both within and beyond academia, providing
“professional evaluation of exhibitions, performances and other outputs”.11
The validation that this expert review imparts has the potential to increase
the significance of the gallery exhibition programme.
Equally, it is possible to conceive of future REF panels as a cross-
sector forum for providing mentoring and professional development
within the visual arts. Whether connected through interest, proximity or
context, this peer-review network could provide an opportunity for staff
working in university galleries to interrogate ideas, share best practice and
discuss issues requiring expert support. Furthermore, it would provide a
focus for cultural leadership and advocacy, in itself contributing to the
developing influence and impact of the sector. Since most universities
reside outside of London, these galleries offer an extraordinary
opportunity to provide a cultural leadership network across the UK and
even extending further afield to link with overseas universities. Indeed, it
is possible to envisage this as an international network – a true
“International Provincial”.
9
DCMS, The Arts Council Plan 2011-15 (London: TSO, 2011), 5.
10
See http://www.ref.ac.uk/
11
HEFCE, REF2014: Panel Criteria and Working Methods (London: TSO, 2012),
148.
The Renaissance of University Galleries? 35
The moon, several days past the full, had risen, but was
still low in the sky, and only gave light enough to perplex
me with mysterious reflections and shadows, which seemed
to have no right reason for their existence. Owls whooped
dolefully, answering each other from side to side. The sea
roared at a distance, and now and then a sudden gust,
which did not seem to belong to any wind that was blowing,
shook the ivy and sighed through the ruined arches.
"And did your father and mother indeed send their only
child on so dangerous an errand?" asked the old man.
"Sure, now we shall know that they fear God indeed, since
they have not withheld their only child from him."
When I met Lucille. She had been crying, and was very
pale.
"I know it," said she, in that hard, unfeeling tone which
is sometimes a sign of the greatest excitement. "I meant to
do it! I have had enough of the Religion, as you call it!" and
she spoke with a tone of bitter contempt. "I am going to try
what holy Mother Church can do for me."
"Do not let us part so, Vevette," said she. "I was wrong
to speak to you as I did. Forgive me, and say good-by. We
shall perhaps never meet again."
"I fear not," said my mother. "The act was too public
and deliberate, and they will not lose sight of her, you may
be sure. Poor, deluded, unhappy girl! By one hasty act she
has thrown away home, friends, and, I fear, her own soul
also."
"I like to milk," said I; "but I must not stay. Maman will
wonder where I am."
When the voice ceased, I made the signal, and the door
was opened.
"I fear the good woman has had news of her daughter,"
observed Julienne. "Her eyes are swollen with weeping."
It was even so. Lucille had come home and done her
share of work, as usual. She had sat up rather late, making
and doing up a new cap for her mother. In the morning she
did not appear, and Jeanne supposed she had overslept,
and did not call her. Becoming alarmed at last, she went to
her room, and found it empty. The bed had not been slept
in. All Lucille's clothes were gone, but her gold chain and
the silver dove worn by the Provençal women of the
Religion, which she had inherited from her grandmother,
were left behind. It was evident that Jeanne had no
suspicion of the truth.
"My poor Jeanne, the matter is not what you fear, but
quite as bad," said my mother, reading the note, her color
rising as she did so. "I fear you will never see poor Lucille
again."
The note was a short and cold farewell, saying that the
writer had become a Catholic, and was about to take refuge
with the nuns at the hospital.
"I fear not," said my mother; and she told him of the
scene I had witnessed yesterday.
"Let her go!" said he at last. "She has been the child of
many prayers. It may be those prayers will be heard, so
that she will not be utterly lost. Come, my wife, let us
return to our desolate home. Madame has cares and
troubles enough already."