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TRANSCRIPT
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Art, Self Organisation
& Public Resource
Creation
Independent Report Funded
by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust
December 2014
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Researched & Written by Beth Dynowski
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.....Page 4
2. Art, Self Organisation & Public Resource Creation: A
Conceptual Framework.....Page 8
3. Objectives.....Page 11
4. Methodology.....Page 12
5. Findings.....Page 14
6. Case Studies.....Page 31
7. Recommendations.....Page 37
8. Annexes
8.1 Interviews & Sites Listing.....Page 41
8.2 Resources found en route.....Page 45
8.3 Further Reading.....Page 46
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1 Introduction
Within the last decade there has been ongoing interest and activity in
relation to self organisation in the art industry in the US and the UK. This can
manifest itself in content and questions around labour issues,
autodidacticism, pedagogical practice, art institutions and public engagement
departments/programmes, artist run spaces, cultural democracy, alternatives
to higher education, open source programming and permaculture. This can
be evidenced in the proliferation of independent spaces, projects, artists
work, publications, events and symposia led by individuals and groups to
institutional engagement with the subject through higher education
establishments, government departments and galleries. Learning
departments are fast becoming a permanent and critical part of art
institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. The focus on this kind of activity is
happening for a variety of reasons. It can in part be attributed to public
awareness of the spiralling costs of higher education and the uneven
distribution of access to art education in schools. In this light it can be viewed
as a focused attempt to address structural inequalities that these issues can
give rise to both as a survival tactic and a decided effort to take public affairs
into one’s own hands in the absence of public or private resources. Within
the UK, in 2010 and 2011 the introduction of tuition fees and within a
European context the Bologna Process both are the most often cited
contributing factors to citizens mobilising and imagining alternatives to
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existing higher education and lifelong learning options. Equally, improved
access to the internet, development of open source content, and higher
education’s adoption of this within their programmes, have improved
communications and capacity for people to exchange information and pool
resources.
Historically, self-organised practices follow a long line of artistic activity
which has happened outwith institutions either from groups who have
historically been excluded from being the producers and consumers of art, or
by communities of artists who have followed a spirit of collaboration, DIY
activity, egalitarianism, institutional critique, bohemianism, a desire to control
ones own means of production or in a spirit of entrepreneurialism. The US
has an extensive history of alternative pedagogical movements outside of
mainstream education and today has a burgeoning field of self-organised
activity led by artists. Scottish born A.S.Neil famously founded the
Summerhill School which gained public interest in the 1930’s. The school
aimed at embedding democratic principles for children, including having the
children consulted and participating at meetings in all aspects of the school.
The free school movement of the 1960’s and late 1970’s led by parents,
teachers and students in the US was extensive with 575 schools created
between 1967 and 1972. This paralleled artistic activity at the time which
saw huge protests against the increasing academicisation of art, the rise of
the Art Workers movement, Conceptualism and artists founding alternative
spaces. The shift that this report attempts is away from the history of
particular groups or a wider critical debate about the political
implications/causes of self organisation as a method but is instead to see the
potential of these kinds of models and approaches to democratise art
production and its associated institutions.
What can happen when the term self organisation is raised alongside the
question of public resources in relation to art? Last year in the UK, 258,745
people applied for Creative Arts & Design courses through UCAS and
51,635 were granted a place. Within the Fine Arts 24, 215 applied and 4,590
were successful. Overall, accounting for all available courses within
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universities, 2,711,870 applied for university and 495, 595 were accepted.
That equates on average to 1 in 5 people. These figures are relatively steady
each year. What happens to the 4 in 5? Some will reapply, others choose a
different course, or enter another kind of work. An unidentified number of
them will find their own way of starting a creative career without a degree in
the UK. And this is only counting those who took the step of making an
application. However, in the US a recent report ‘Artists Report Back’ shows
that 40% of working artists do not have an honours degree. The report
highlights that these artists are severely underrepresented by public
institution. What these figures point to is that there is a significant appetite
to learn, be with others and to practice. Should this be an endpoint for
those individuals or can this be a starting point for a far more interesting
future for art practice? The purpose of this report is to identify how it could
be.
There will always be individuals and institutions who believe this demand
does not need to be met. It is not in the interests of this report to follow this
line of thinking. There is a unique moment in the intellectual and technical
terrain of producing and experiencing art and our technological capabilities,
and issues surrounding our existing public resources to further provide the
necessary facilities and support for those wanting to pursue life as an artist
or practice art alongside other forms of work. The Community Empowerment
Bill passed in June this year in Scotland also presents an opportune moment
for people to take hold of.1Crucially, greater self organisation does not need
to go hand in hand with a diminished public sector and precarious self-
reliance on already over worked or under equipped people and places. It can
make the case for an innovative and valued public sector where access to
1 On 11th June 2014 the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament. From the Act: Public service providers should give communities a say in how services are given. Examples of public service providers are hospitals, schools, police, and local councils. Communities should also have help to do things for themselves if they need help. This could be for things like taking over a building for people to meet and socialise, or helping people learn new skills. People who shape and run public services should ask local people what services they need. They should also ask how these should be delivered. The Scottish Government thinks this is important. There need to be more ways for people who run services to talk with people about the kind of services they want. www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Bills/Community%20Empowerment%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b52s4-introd.pdf
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the means to create and be involved in working with public resources just
might lead to greatest case for its continued support.
This report asks:
What tools are available for self-organised education and
creative practice in the public realm at both local and
national levels?
How can we use existing public resources to offer long term
cross-platform access for people at all stages of their lives to
research, practice and add to the critical voice within art
practice?
How can we marry up self organised activity, public
resources and changes in art practice to work towards
productive tensions and mutual advantage?
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Art, Self Organisation & Public Resource
Creation: A Conceptual Framework
Self Organisation is a term referred to across many fields including
science, business, education and the arts each interpreting for their own
respective disciplines.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia,
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (July 2014)
Self-organization is a process where some form of global order or coordination arises out of the local interactions between the components of an initially disordered system. This process is spontaneous: it is not directed or controlled by any agent or subsystem inside or outside of the system; however, the laws followed by the process and its initial conditions may have been chosen or caused by an agent. It is often triggered by random fluctuations that are amplified by positive feedback. The resulting organization is wholly decentralized or distributed over all the components of the system. As such it is typically very robust and able to survive and self-repair substantial damage or perturbations. In chaos theory it is discussed in terms of islands of predictability in a sea of chaotic unpredictability….Common examples are crystallization, the emergence of convection patterns in a liquid heated from below, chemical oscillators,
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swarming in groups of animals, and the way neural networks learn to recognize complex patterns.2 Within education, the most prominent figure leading the conversation on this
is Sugata Mitra who spent the last 5 years working on the hypothesis that
education is a self-organising system and learning is its emergent
phenomena. This stemmed from his famous ‘Hole in the Wall’ experiment
which led to the development of SOLE (Self-organized Learning
Environments.) Theoretical preoccupations within contemporary art practice
and its institutions continue to navigate the terrain of self organisation as a
deliberate choice to organize one’s own labour and to control the means and
social terrain of production outside of market forces. Self organisation within
this context, for the purposes of this report, refer to activities which seek to
work outwith existing institutional infrastructure, work against it, or work with
it to challenge it. Artists are always a surplus labour supply, there are not
enough curators, galleries, patrons or collectors to support each one, so the
vast majority need to self-organise in order to survive. It is here that it is
useful to turn to the above definition. Both the artist as a singular unit and the
international artistic community understood as a whole body of people could
be understood to be a self-organizing system. When random fluctuations in
individual, local or national activity is picked up by the art world, it
strengthens this activity. Often this ‘positive feedback’ only lasts temporarily,
but because artists work in an extremely decentralized but networked way
they evidence this ability ‘to survive and self-repair substantial damage or
perturbations’ for example whether that be funding cuts, lack of resources,
socio-economic hardships and adverse working conditions. Within business,
this directly applies to self-employment and start ups.
Public resources can be broadly defined as a supply of something
that can be drawn upon when needed for support and the benefit of the
population - for example, accessing services, people, goods, spaces, natural
resources – which is made publically available. The term resource of course
2 Various Authors, ‘Self-Organization’ Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-organization)
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can expand to what it means to be resourceful, to use initiative and to be
able to cope with difficult situations.
Art within the context of this report, refers to art as a practice and a mode
of experience. A focus on art education alone has been avoided as this
frames the discussion purely in relation to providing alternatives to education
systems and suggests that it is for a finite time where the goal is to learn,
teach or be taught something. The intent instead is to think the wider context
of how public resources and self-organising systems can support a lifetime
of practice and use for a variety of needs. There is a tendency, as this report
states in its findings, for drives towards greater democracy in the art industry
to be attempted through pedagogical projects and spoken about on such
terms. The consequences can be counterproductive to the goal and risk
further extending the imbalance of power by institutions and individuals and
infantilise an already practicing sector. Instead, the report looks to find
opportunities that can cater for the diversity and development in the way
artists conceive, experience, and distribute their work and ideas beyond the
traditional modes which are currently available.
...what’s basic for one artist is not basic for another artist. And so you can’t have basics; you can’t build it in the normal curriculum way…a school, certificate or not, cannot authorize someone to be an artist. 3
Michael Craig Martin
3 Madoff, Steven Henry Ed. Art School: Propositions for the 21
st Century (London: MIT 2009)
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Objectives
The objectives of this report are:
To identify and generate opportunities for public resource creation
in the arts
To contribute to the democratisation of art as a field of work, cultural
programming and public resource management
To contribute to the development of existing and new public
resources where all members of the public can access free or low
cost art education and the means to practice at any stage of their
lives in their local area which is accessible, challenging and
responsive to users needs
To contribute to and facilitate inter-organisational and community
programming to share resources and information that allows for
members of the public to shape cultural activity in their area
To facilitate improved access to public resources in the creative
sector including research institutions and cultural archives
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Methodology
The methodology of the study and report adopts a predominantly qualitative
approach, grounded in primary research through first hand observation of
sites and interviews with individuals. 35 formal sites were visited, 25 45-75
minute interviews were conducted and a 3 day conference was attended in
the US. The route followed encompassed New York City, Greensboro, New
Orleans, Nashville, Portland and San Francisco. Primary resources including
leaflets, literature and artworks available within each local context have been
used in direct visits to a range of environments. Reference to secondary
research and sources are used briefly and a list is provided within the
appendixes for further reading. This approach was taken in order to
approach the local contexts as a newcomer to see what, where and how one
can access the arts. The reader will note that there is no data collected from
individuals who are not already involved in an informal or formal learning
environment or cultural organisation. Individuals working within
organisations or running their own projects were approached specifically
because they brokered in varying degrees the relationship between the
public and the filtering process of national, local and organisational agendas
and their own personal views. These individuals presented the opportunities
and challenges of achieving the objectives outlined above and are the target
audience for this report. They are the employees, artists, and individuals
shaping the resources and availability of the arts for our current and future
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generations and have a particular place for perpetuating or changing the
conversation and for maintaining a critical environment for the creative
sector.
An independent study which is informed by the needs and ideas of a broad
sector of public opinion informed by an expanded sense of what public
resources in the arts might encompass would be the ideal parallel step with
this study or the next step to take. Collating the resultant information from
such a study and opening up further public working and action groups could
then take this forward. A study in the UK similar to BFAMFAPHD’s 2014
publication Artists Report Back in the US would provide much needed
information in this field. The report used the 2000 US Census to gather
statistical data on who goes to art school, who makes a living as an artist
and makes recommendations regarding how to address inequity within the
art industry. Gathering further information from those who have not passed
through higher education establishments could potentially provide the most
valuable insights not only into the range of options and modes of survival
possible, but could shape a critical dialogue that can revitalise and relativise
those which currently dominate. Monitoring and research on the impact of
digital open source software, releasing image banks and online courses is
also an area which needs attention as more institutions drive towards this
model.
Across this field of study, a critical awareness and dialogue around the
issues of self organisation in relation to public resources and public support
of art and art education should be maintained. Whether running through
projects to anticipate wider social and political consequences or a focused
study evaluating these wider issues for example relating to public funding of
the arts, volunteerism, labour practices, remuneration, critical autonomy of
individuals and publically funded institutions, wages. There is a wealth of
critical literature and dialogue surrounding this within the arts and some
literature is referred to with the Annexes. Vitally such literature and projects
contribution to advocating for public support of the arts, cultural democracy
and fair labour practices cannot be uncoupled from this reports aims.
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Findings
What resources are available?
Some of the available resources identified on the study.
Museums
Community Centres
Village halls
Church halls
Artist Run Spaces
Student/Graduate Led Free Schools
Digital Platforms including open source and digital common
websites, social media and online courses
Online organising toolkits
Community Centres
Galleries
Conferences
Advocacy/Organising Groups
Local and national private and public commissioning bodies
Local government community and culture teams
Universities
Schools
Colleges
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Advisory Bodies
Individuals
Families
Teachers
Civic Design Bodies and Research Departments
Professional Steering Groups
Support groups
Fabrication workshops (ceramics etc)
Libraries & Bookstores
Friends
Philanthropists
Individuals including artists and curators
Professionals from a variety of industries and those on boards of
organisations
Local councillors and MP’s
Open public spaces e.g. parks and squares
Café’s and bars
Private spaces including domestic, business and offices
Informal economies such as skill sharing, bartering & trading
Private wealth
How might they be used?
Proposals are raised according to the specifics of each kind of resource
however, the nature of nature of a self-organised model will have both
general and specific conditions and variations. While the possibilities are
potentially infinite in these variations for a range of interests and activity, the
purpose of this report is to identify how the conditions might be met for
people to practice art and be involved in the production, dissemination and
reception of art. Projects, individuals and groups can potentially overlap
across these different kind of models to get the advice, space and support
they need, intervene in operations in a productive way, become co-
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producers and critics, deliver programming, use facilities and collaborate
with people coming through as some possible examples. These resources
can also provide the necessary means to use the place one lives in to
effectively build one’s own curriculum, attending artists talks, accessing
libraries, going to see exhibitions. People can make at home, in others
homes, find spaces to work together, and advisory bodies are there to take
care of information around practicalities such as self-employment. The
essential element for most however, is socialisation. Provision of places,
time and equipment to meet up and gain some support may be all that is
needed in some cases. Collaborations between organisations equally can
provide the conditions necessary for people to thrive and the greater the
connection and openness to others the more likely they will be to create
something completely new and of value.
We do not need to avoid institutionalisation, we need fuller, wider, and more diverse forms of institutionalisation. Institutionalisation for the
few needs to be replaced by institutionalisation for all.4
Dave Beech
Museums
There is a wealth of information available from the National Endowment for
the Arts and American Arts Alliance on participation in museums which
highlight the need for public institutions to greater represent their current and
future audiences. Museums tend to have the greatest amount of visibility and
resources available to them to offer to their publics. The content of what the
museums offer is decided by senior teams and is often related to their own
collection and touring exhibitions. The most common forms of accessing this
content is through being open for voluntarily visits, where the visitor will be
able to view the content and use interpretation panels and/or accompanying
catalogues which are often only available upon purchase. A portion of these
visits will be organised visits from organisations, groups and schools, with
4 Beech, Dave ‘Institutionalisation for All’ in Art Monthly Issue 294 March 2006
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schools accounting for 218,000 visits of its 6.8 million in 2012.5 Most
museums now have well established learning departments whose offer often
consists of workshops, classes, concerts, and talks and may also engage in
outreach work in their community in response to identified need through a
number of research bodies and local government or to underrepresented
groups within their own audience demographic. This can take varying forms,
from contracted artists devising one off projects to engage with a specific
group, groups, and/or theme to regular workshops, classes in the community
or at the museum with targeted groups. Generally, they have structured and
clearly defined routes for the public to be involved which the majority of the
time are on the managing staff terms.
A key finding highlights in the NEA’S report is that children and young people
in particular want to have a much more involved experience and that there is
a distinct desire and practice among young people making on their own
terms but within communities. From the report,
There has also been a surge in personal artistic creation, such as digital curation, again with younger Americans in the lead. A recent report from the Center for the Future of Museums dubbed this trend “myCulture.” Henry Jenkins identified a related trend in online communities, which favor communal rather than individual modes of cultural reception, and promote opportunities for shared problem-solving and new modes of processing and evaluating information and knowledge. Again, museums have something to learn from these cultural forms.6
Museums predominantly offer visits to engage with collections and
exhibitions at the visitors leisure. Access to museums in the US is not
as widely available as the UK due to admission fees. The UK has a
clear advantage in this area . With museums support, groups could
use these areas to meet regularly, exhibit, perform, and use
collections for group study and working.
All of the museums visited and researched have dedicated learning
departments separate to their curatorial or programming department
with varying degrees of collaboration and communication between
5 http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/press-room/news/2012/attendance
6 http://www.aam-us.org/docs/center-for-the-future-of-museums/demotransaam2010.pdf
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them. Often learning departments respond to what comes out of
programming departments. Closing the gap closes to allow total
integration and collaboration could provide more innovative
programmes and grounding in what these departments are for and
what role they can play in shaping public use.
The Ogden Museum of Southern Art has a community gallery placed
in the heart of its building. It shows the same attention to work being
produced by non-professionals as its collections and rotating
exhibitions. The Museo Del Barrio has a similar facility. While this is
still a clearly delineated difference between the museums programme
and that of the work being produced through its learning department
or being proposed by members of the public, it does literally open the
door and put public work at the centre of the building. Creating
dedicated gallery space that public proposals an/or work from the
public can exhibit, hold events etc has great potential.
Encouragement of curatorial approaches that consider working
outwith these spaces and across the whole building or space being
used for shows if community galleries are already in existence.
Bookable spaces and/or time for the public to use in downtime or
creating space in programming and building use for this.
Greater access to collections through loan systems out to
organisations, houses, local business etc and taking visit requests for
items from collections and/or professionals to public spaces. Reina
Sofia are trying to significantly increase access to their collections by
legally recategorising their artworks as documentation so that it is
“archive of the commons.”7
One of the museums visited, Museo El Barrio, was founded by a
group of activists because mainstream museums largely ignored
Latino artists and came out of a wider Civil Rights Movement when
local parents, teachers and activists demanded an education for their
children which represented their own cultural heritage. (A
7 (page 44) Claire Bishop, Radical Museology: Or What’s Contemporary in Museums of Contemporary Art? London: Koenig Books, 2013.
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comprehensive history of El Museum can be found here
http://www.elmuseo.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Timeline.pdf). El
Museo had strong ties to an egalitarian and self-organised approach,
and now faces a period of debate within its local area and its users
because it has become such a large institution which makes it
increasingly difficult to manage to be part of the community it was
founded to serve. The issue of size and how large places should was
raised within several places visited.
Elsewhere in Greensboro was a private collection of objects from the
founders grandmother in her storefront which has been converted into
a museum. The space is free to visit and host resident artists as its
main field of activity. Young people in particular seem to be able to
use it informally to come and play and relax. The focus of the
museum appeared to be its residents and the space itself, with people
focusing on working in the space. Residents pay to stay and upkeep
the space together, meaning the space is predominately used by
them. This tends to create temporary communities of artists rather
than full regular use for the local neighbourhood. The model of
converting old shops and junk however, seemed to be a unique draw,
low cost, and sparked personal associations from people. It had the
necessary conditions for people to come and begin to make freely,
with an abundance of spaces to sit and be comfortable for long
periods of time with access to computers, a library, materials and a
kitchen.
Student/Graduate Led Free Schools
This is a relevantly recent phenomenon that has arose both in the UK and
the US particularly in relation to issues on inequity, critiques of higher
education systems and/or a desire for people to continue to their practice
and ‘education’ together by using pedagogical terminology.
These initiatives often last as long as those running them can commit
and are often not passed on but often are truly formed on self-
organising principles. While the temporary nature of such projects
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may be intrinsic to their purposes and intentions, others which do
want to continue could benefit from having a wider pool of people
involved in the running of the project or planning in handovers to new
people on how to continue.
The models with the greatest available resources such as BHQFU
had significant support from established arts organisations, high
earning professional artists and professors.
The longest running organisations such as EXCO have roots in
community facilities and colleges and access to teaching staff.
Online templates for creating local initiatives such as The Public
School and Trade School have been adopted internationally and
provide one way of combating the sustainability tied to individual
initiatives.
These models have great potential if they were to be run from a
range of venues and more accessible facilities such as libraries,
centres and a concerted effort to market widely. Greater attention to
the language around being ‘open’ and ‘public’ etc and the reality of
what efforts that means one must take can widen the sphere of
influence for those taking part and benefiting from these projects.
This can be done without abandoning the anarchic, autonomous
nature of such projects. A committed effort to bring the opportunity to
people outside of those who are already involved in existing
networks, to those digitally connected and those who have not been
involved in higher education or graduated could be of great value to a
much wider public who do not have access to such initiatives
currently.
Digital Platforms
Digital platforms set up in the US provide significant content and assistance
to people wanting to access resources, self-organise, create and share
public resources and networks.
Open source archives and libraries set up by artists, designers and
academics provide the greatest access to texts, artworks, videos,
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sound works etc for people to use at home or for group and public
meetings and events. These are often illegal and thus not able to be
shared or used in an official capacity.
Online courses have become increasingly popular also referred to as
MOOC’s pioneered by US universities and now offered by galleries
such as MOMA and auction houses such as Sotheby’s. Course can
be free or come with a fee. This is a relatively new area of research
relating to the effectiveness of these for learners experience and the
role of socialisation in the learning experience. It as not observed but
these could have potential when used by individuals to get together
and use, connecting through the courses online forums and social
media.
One resource found while traveling was the Centre for Urban
Pedagogy which uses design, artists and architects to respond to a
communities needs by strengthening political literacy and access to
clear information and workshops on local issues.
Community Centres
Community centres were encountered en route with only one organised visit
housed within a community centre facility.
Community centres were the most readily accessible found by
walking in local neighbourhoods with hardcopy information provided
on local services and activities.
Community centres had rooms for booking for free, low cost or at
commercial rates but are often utilised.
Leasing to a range of organisations with arts organisations included
have the potential for professionals from different fields to be well
connected if facilities teams or individuals put such meetings in place.
In the context of the UK, community centres have great potential for
local artists to become involved with to deliver projects and skills in
exchange for others skills, knowledge, studio spaces etc.
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Galleries / Artists Run Spaces / Art Centres
Public galleries in the US and the UK now often have engagement, learning
and public relations staff to increase visitor attendance, enhance
experiences of exhibitions and in some cases to devise projects specifically
for and/or about their local and/or international audiences. Commercial
galleries generally do not do this, but artists represented may cover such
themes in their work.
Artist run spaces which are generally galleries too and sometimes
have studio space tend to focus on the early years of graduates
practice and building a community for artists in the UK. However, it
was noted in the US that there is more activity from artists run spaces
around getting involved in its locale and opening up as a public
resource to more people than its usual user group, directly addressing
social justice issues and political campaigns beyond artist specific
issues (such as wages etc), and having a learning programme such
as delivering classes in school and neighbourhood. This may be
because of the heightened awareness of cultural diversity issues and
inequity in access to art education in schools which although no less
pronounced in the UK but is very public and part of everyday
conversation in the US. Equally, it may be a conscious effort from
artist run spaces who are sceptical of getting involved in addressing
areas of lack in social provision and/or want to remain focused on
artists and their work.
Through informal conversations and some recorded interviews,
individuals noted that their drive towards doing more education and/or
outreach work was as a result of funders priorities rather than a
conscious choice within the organisation.
Spaces like this are generally the most readily accessible spaces to
view art and spend time with no charge. Galleries which seek to
encourage this have comfortable spaces to sit among work.
Spaces can openly ask for proposals and be approachable to general
public to book space and hold events etc.
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Bookshops attached to galleries with seating space offer an
invaluable space to access material informally and meet with people if
staff allow people to spend time with or without purchasing items.
Apex Art adopt a democratic voting system for some of their
programme and run a franchise programme so that people do not
need to travel but can host programming in their local area but receive
funds to do so.
There is also the option for galleries, art centres and artist run spaces
to give over control of their facilities for periods of time or as
integrated into their normal operations to the public and self-
organising groups.
Conferences
Museums, galleries, universities and festival groups offer activity throughout
the year covering topical issues and come in at varying costs from free to a
few hundred pounds. As part of this study, Open Engagement 2014 held at
the Queen’s Museum was attended and various workshops, talks and events
formed part of the visits.
Conferences are generally targeted towards already engaged groups
as an opportunity to research and reflect on practice, engage with
new ideas and meet others. The Open Engagement conference was
particularly different from previous conferences attended dealing with
similar subject matter in the UK. A few keynote speakers were
programmed in but the vast majority of the content was focused group
workshops which initiated debate and discussion immediately
between those in attendance.
Using very public spaces which allow for people to chance upon the
events and attend for free allowed for encounters that may not
otherwise have happened.
The conference programmes a vast amount of speakers gathered
from an open call as opposed to a small team selecting speakers.
The language and activity on offer at conferences can diversify and
create interest to make them relevant to the subjects being talked
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about. The way in which talks are conducted and programmes
structured should ideally reflect the subject matter at hand.
Advocacy/Organising Groups
This was a new kind of resource encountered on the trip of which there
appears to be a greater number of in the US than the UK. In particular
organisers associated with Arts & Democracy, NOCDNY, Participatory
Budgeting NYC and The Land Trust were contacted en route and an
interview conducted with Caron Atlas of Arts & Democracy and NOCDNY.
These bodies are currently one of the greatest forces in providing
support and connecting people to otherwise almost inaccessible
decision makers and funders or taking matters into people’s hands to
create or advocate for better infrastructure to support day to day living
conditions such as affordable housing.
Funding restrictions around these kinds of projects in arts categories if
eased could greatly benefit the work that they do and the wider
portfolio of funding bodies.
In places where such groups do not exist, setting them up with input
from a diverse range of people from different occupations has the
potential to be one of the most singly effective ways of creating a
more cultural democratic landscape.
These kinds of initiatives can struggle to find funding as they sit
across many different fields and don’t easily fit into funding
categories. As a result those working for them are more susceptible to
working very long hours at high level committed roles with no
remuneration alongside both precarious and full time paid roles and
other organising work. In the instance of Fractured Atlas they have a
strong business model which allows them to generate revenue from
various sources and have paid staff.
25
Universities
The models observed within universities allowed autonomous structures to
be supported off campus, involved students going off campus as part of a
course to provide services to their locale, or where graduates set up their
own projects with indirect or direct support from their graduate school. There
has also been a drive among universities to look at how they serve the
public, which Shirley Rose and Irwin Weiser in a report on the effects such
public engagement programmes have on writing programmes, credit as
being brought about following the Ernest Boyer’s Scholarship Reconsidered:
Priorities of the Professoriate in 1990 and the 1999 report of the Kellogg
Commission Returning to Our Roots: The Engaged Institution.
Universities are the only structure available which provides people
with time, space and in some cases funded support to practice. They
also provide employment for generations of artists to be able to work
with new generations. In the case of Cooper Union some of the
projects encountered through this report had been directly set up by
their graduates, with these individuals themselves being a resource
for many through contact with their work and projects.
Of all the universities observed, most had a continuing education
department that followed a pay for class model with a more traditional
offer while their undergraduate and graduate programmes were very
different. The reasons for this were not explored. However, this is an
area of potential for closing the gap between the methods and
approaches and/or diversifying them across courses offered within a
university. These departments are often separate and could benefit
from having more input from other areas within schools and also
allowing other artists access to host their own classes and events and
opening up the process of programming a continuing education
department.
601 Tully, explored in greater detail below, used university funds in
order to support an arts organisation elsewhere in town which served
a variety of users and uses.
26
Templeton Contemporary is a gallery run by Tyler School of Art in
Philadelphia which adopts a democratic curatorial approach to its
programming. A panel of approximately ten people consisting of a
high school student, local individuals to select their programme.
Academics within universities can use their positions such as that
seen at 601 Tully to go between the university and its public. One
such example found en route, was a young lecturer of Fine Art at
Carnegie Mellon who set up a Parasite School, which mimicked the
exact same lessons given to those in the art school for people at
nightime who could not otherwise afford to go to university or who did
not want to.
Schools
Schools are a fundamental part of the public sector which can have less
capacity in terms of staff time, funding and space to work with any other
priorities than the children they serve. Arts provision in schools is uneven
from local districts to a national scale. Schools did not form part of this study
but became quickly apparent as a key concern for most interviews. Many
spaces had developed programmes to work with schools. Prior to this study I
visited Sugata Mitra at Newcastle University who has pioneered the SOLE
model to discuss self organisation in education and how he has created
resources across different communities. SOLE’s can be set up in theory, in
any school which has access to a computer. Mtira’s method pays careful
attention to the framing of the learning experience and setting the right
conditions, setting a question for the children to investigate and then
importantly leaving the children to research and problem solve on their own.
Room 13 in the UK is another well known example of children who run their
own artroom in Scotland which was developed by an artist in residence at
the time. Self organisation is fast becoming a field in educational research
and is already closely bound either intentionally within the philosophy of art
schools and/or as an indirect result of stretched resources. Careful attention
in this field must be paid in the UK for the possibilities and pitfalls within a
school context and particularly with partnerships with other bodies. For
27
example, one may need to anticipate and prevent further of withdrawal of
resources for Expressive Arts in schools as seen in the US. However, there
was no evidence to suggest a direct correlation between greater involvement
of outside bodies in schools to provide art education and withdrawal of public
provision in schools. It may even strengthen the work of advocacy groups,
schools and further education establishments in having a robust and diverse
provision of arts organisations and artists in schools.
Colleges
Colleges did not form part of the initial research for this report and are an
identified gap in knowledge which has significant potential. A current
resource in the UK through AA2A allows artists to sign up as members to
access facilities in colleges around England.
Advisory Bodies
Third party advisory bodies can help any size of organisation with anything
from writing business plans to marketing. Such bodies share knowledge and
practice on a national and international scale through their websites that can
be used by anyone when thinking about setting up as self-employed or
running a new organisation.
The only third party advisory body encountered en route was
Fractured Atlas. This was referred to by a number of people at Open
Engagement’s keynote speech by Edgar Arcenaux on New Financial
Architectures for Creative Communities because it allows organisation
to set up without having to become a 501c3 which can be a
problematic process. It has over 400 organisations joining them every
month.
Fractured Atlas is non-curatorial so it does not discriminate in who it
helps, thus allowing potentially anyone to come to them for help to
further their ideas and set up as artists or arts organisations.
28
Cafes/bars
Cafes and bars although visited informally, are known to provide space for
informal groups to meet who are often unfunded and find it difficult to be
given free space with greater opening hours for those who work. They do
however, have issues around being age exclusive and can be a difficult for
religious, health or other reasons. They form a large part of the history of
self-organised education dating back to the industrial era. One well known
independent school in California, Mountain School of Arts, uses a bar as
their main meeting space for classes.
Families
Families did not form part of the scope of the initial research for this report
however, they became an important part of the study.
Each interviewee was asked how they first encountered art. A large
portion said that it had been a natural part of family life to visit
museums and view art. Within the majority of ethnic minorities
interviewed and one white male interviewee who identified as coming
from a working class background, visiting art institutions or learning
about contemporary art was not through family and one interviewee
commented that museums and galleries were not made for her
ethnicity. The ban on ethnic minorities visiting museums only a few
generations ago is deeply embedded within some communities who
would rather find and found their own spaces.
At El Museo, the interviewee noted that parents were a particularly
strong part of their programme, who took up opportunities and took
initiative in setting up committees and projects for themselves and
their children. This is an area of great potential, where activity goes
beyond pedestrian style workshops, to involved, supported user-led
long term projects for different generations.
Libraries & Bookstores
Libraries and bookstores were not within the original scope of the report but
became one of the most important resources encountered.
29
Library use has declined in the UK and US but provide vital services
to their locale. This is one of the most well used and long running
spaces for people to learn by themselves. If applied to art, the
possibility is there to hold public classes, readings in partnership with
universities and artists. Allowing users to have more ownership in how
they look and feel can produce an atmosphere conducive to people
socialising more.
Bookstore’s such as City Lights in San Francisco and Powell’s in
Portland are a centre of activity for a variety of users and publics in
their area, providing space to attend or host talks, events and
readings and to socialise. City Lights in particular was well known for
cultivating one of the most important movements in writing in the 20 th
century.
Commercial bookstores can allow visitors to stay for long periods of
time to read and learn and in the case of Powell’s, cafe services to sit
with items and read if unable to buy them. While it was not observed
whether one could spend regular time within the commercial
bookshops on a weekly or monthly basis, local libraries do and thus
provide a space of security and stability for people to access at their
leisure.
Support Groups
This was a new model found through a member of staff within a museum
who mentioned she attended a support group for women in organisational
roles. The group appeared to give much needed respite, advice and peer
discussion to prevent burn out, stress and isolation that can often
accompany people in organising roles.
Development Staff / Funding
The high majority of interviewees when asked if they could get anything they
needed what would it be, said all they needed a development worker or
more people to focus on funding. Some said they could benefit from co-
ordinators/admin staff. Third party bodies which can write funding
30
applications for a small fee for organisations, or having advice
sessions/visiting staff for a period of time with the organisation from those
with more experience and resources could help.
31
6
Case Studies
601 Tully
601 Tully: Center for Engaged Art and Research, an affiliate of Syracuse University, is a student-driven project that houses an international art gallery, an artist residency program, college classes, after-school and Saturday art classes for youth, a monthly poetry series, and community events and workshops. All 601 Tully art, education, and ecology programs are offered free to the public and grow out of a partnership between university, city and neighbourhood entities. The building is a living sculpture where artists, community members and scholars engage in the coproduction of new culture.8
601 Tully is a unique initiative driven by a Professor Marion Wilson of
Syracuse University who took over an old house for $1 which had been a
drug house and turned it into in an arts organisation. During an interview with
Professor Wilson, she described that the situation which allowed such a
space to form was unique and that many people had looked to them to try
this model. The governor of the university at the time was very supportive of
the project and directed university funds towards, believing that universities
have a clear commitment to their locale. Wilson teaches some of her classes
from the space, students can become involved in running the space and they
invite artists from across the US and abroad to exhibit and host talks and
events at the space.
8 http://601tully.blogspot.co.uk/
32
During my visit, I was fortunate enough to see it being used informally by
people who used it to drop in to get help with homework, to check the
garden, to use the computers and meet other people. Of all the spaces and
people visited the manner and depth at which I was invited to see the space
was the most engaged and generous, with this atmosphere pervading
through to the organisation itself. The weekend I arrived, a new governor
had been put in place and was withdrawing its funds from the project leaving
Marion to look elsewhere for funds. What was unique about the project was
the arms distance, trustful relationship the university had given the project
which allowed it to be sustainable while able to grow, develop and respond
to the needs of the people and space involved. It then having to survive on
its own was not impossible, but fundamentally changed an internal structure
that was progressive, dynamic and unique, bringing privileged university
students into another area of town to think and work. Marion held her last
meeting with the group as a whole as this meant two people had lost their
jobs and kindly allowed me to sit in and film it, I interviewed the next door
neighbour who worked as a cleaner for the building and her two children who
regularly used the building on a weekly basis. The message was clear from
those involved that it was extremely valued and provided much needed
support to children in their education.
While the circumstances surrounding the founding of 601 Tully were unique,
such a model could be possible for other further education institutions, or as
partnerships between independent organisations and further education
institutions. The strength is in such a model, is the level of commitment from
academics and governing bodies to put time into making things work, and
experience of what is involved in such projects which allowing those who use
it to shape it, to have experiences where they create work in a place of
relative freedom.
33
Arts & Democracy
Arts & Democracy are an intermediary body that advocates for greater
cultural democracy across New York City Their mission statement on their
website is worth quoting in full for their unique role and type of activity in
helping people to self-organise to both create public resources and to
advocate for greater access to those which already exist. From their website,
Arts & Democracy cross pollinates culture, participatory democracy, and social justice. We support cultural organizing and cross-sector collaborations; raise the visibility of transformative work; connect cultural practitioners with activists, organizers, and policymakers; and create spaces for reflection. Arts & Democracy puts arts and culture on agendas where it hasn't been before, connects artists, cultural organizers, and activists who wouldn't otherwise know each other, and creates the connective tissue and generative environment needed for cross sector collaboration to succeed. We share resources through our website, newsletters, social media, and presentations highlighting creative work that furthers immigration reform, environmental justice, equitable development, participatory democracy, and human rights.
Bridge Conversations bring to life the remarkable people who make change at the intersection of generations, cultures, sectors and geographies.
Cultural organizing workshops draw on our framework for building a robust practice where culture is fully integrated into organizing.
Our urban planning course links arts, culture, and participatory planning through experiential learning.
Networking events, roundtables, and conference calls raise the visibility of art and social justice and connect artists, cultural organizers, activists and policymakers.
Strategic partnerships connect community-based creative practice with policymaking and systemic change. With Service Employees International Union (SEIU) we are creating an artist in residency program to tell the stories of workers and their communities and provide a liberating experience of creation.
With Participatory Budgeting NYC, we are integrating arts and culture into a neighbourhood-based process of participatory democracy across the city.
We co-direct NOCD-NY, a citywide alliance seeking to revitalize New York City from the neighbourhood up.9
9 http://artsanddemocracy.org/
34
An equivalent organisation has not been found in the UK. Particularly within
Scotland, whose population of 5.2 million in comparison with New York City’s
population of 8.4 million, there is great potential to have such a body to
ensure greater democracy, diversity and public access to the means of
producing and disseminating art. Importantly, finding external financial
support for those involved in coordinating such projects is vital to ensure fair
working conditions for those providing this kind of service.
Press Street
Press Street is an organisation based in New Orleans founded in 2005 to
promote arts and literature. Their activities include - an exhibitions
programme in their gallery, publications, host cultural workers and creative
practitioners in their space, host monthly film screening through a
partnership with the Charitable Film Network, run an online blog for local
information which also hosts workshops and classes, and an affiliate
programme Big Class runs programmes for 6-18 year olds in creative
writing. It formed shortly after Hurricane Katrina in small businesses and
shops that had yet to open, using street intersections for art projects
(http://press-street.org/intersection-new-orleans/ ) before opening their
gallery Antenna in 2008 and then moved into a dedicated space in 2012.
During my stay at Press Street, I interviewed their executive director Bob
Snead and their development officer Gracie Goodrich covering issues from
the everyday functioning of the organisation to the wider context of
organisations place in re-creating public resources after Hurricane Katrina.
The disaster had raised huge issues for the schooling system which led to
the controversial changes and charter schools well documented in the US.
Press Street published How to Rebuild A City (http://press-street.org/how-to-
rebuild-a-city/) following the disaster, looking at the recovery in the city and
how to rebuild communities. Press Street was a part of that recovery process
35
and those involved actively engaged in creating a vibrant community again in
NOLA. The situation had forced everyone to very actively self-organise to
rebuild public resources and to question their meaning and importance.
My visit to Press Street also raised a more common issue to organisation
which are being built from the ground up. Often the founders of such spaces
are overworked and unpaid while operating at a high level driving projects
forward sometimes alongside full time employment and/or self employment.
This can be due to their governance structures which does not allow them to
seek remuneration or if they can often core costs won’t be covered by
funders. Bob Snead the Executive Director was working at his wife’s bakery
in the morning, had a teaching position at an art school, was on several
boards and committees around NOLA, had his own practice to try to sustain
and had a child to look after aside from running the space. Press Street were
able to eventually cover core funding to cover their development workers
wage, Gracie Goodrich, and their education coordinator for Big Class which
ran alongside Press Street’s programme as a separate entity. Finding a
sustainable and supportive way for people who manage through these
conditions to continue to enable do the work that they do healthily, to be
recognised within their local areas and to be able to have time for other
areas of their lives should be an important consideration in funders and
policy makers criteria in awarding funding and in local government planning
to provide infrastructure and wages within local areas to support people who
take on such work.
Jukebox Graduates
While travelling between New York and Greensboro I met a Middle School
teacher called Mike Telesca who told me about his experiences as a teacher
At the time of meeting Mike, he had just reluctantly handed his notice in and
was taking a job in sales and construction. Students approached Mike to
36
start up a club inspired by Bruce Springsteen Mike took 55 of his students to
a Bruce Springsteen concert largely on his own paycheck because they
would not otherwise have had the chance to experience a rock concert
Following this, with Mike’s help advocating for them within the school, the
students set up Jukebox Graduates which a local paper article states,
‘...meets weekly after school to participate in Socratic discussion, trivia
games, arts and crafts, research-assignments and even karaoke’ The group
present a weekly radio show on Bruce Springsteen. A founding member of
the club Jodie Buff was quoted in the local newspaper saying,
This is all some of us have that makes us feel that we are different, and that it is okay; and it makes us feel part of something bigger than ourselves. I do know that I couldn’t have made it through middle school without the club10.
The music of Bruce Springsteen allowed Mike to teach wider issues that the
children from predominately blue collar background and high unemployment
in the local area were facing and it took on a life of its own with many forging
deeply personal connections to Bruce’s life and work.
Mike related that his ability to work with his students, to take unconventional
approaches to teaching are allowed to fail or flourish dependant on the head
teachers. Personal power dynamics between staff could have a profound
effect on teacher’s long term motivation and ability to support people to lead
their own learning and their own engagement with cultural activity. Policy at
the national government level and/or set within schools themselves,
preferably by pupils, which encourages (but does not expect) this kind of
involvement from teachers and students and protects such initiatives outside
of managing staffs control would be highly recommended to combat the
disparate and unequal access to art education both in the US and the UK.
10 Rickman, Janie ‘Next Gen Learns Who’s Boss’ The On Side Winter 2011/2012 pp. 27
37
7
Recommendations
For individuals, managing staff and board members within
organisations, funders and policy makers
Survey what resources you have as an organisation – space, staff,
data, funding, expertise etc – and what could be made available
however small.
Create conditions that allow for individuals to come together who
have an interest in pursuing art and allow it to happen.
Database Gather information through surveys and mailing lists of
people leaving school/applying for college or university and provide
an alternative at the point of exit/application to return to pending their
circumstances.
Communication Create a line of communication to your locale and
public to raise awareness of what is available fairly.
Conversations Set aside staff time, or put it out to tender, to spend
the time meeting people in locale and those who already visit.
Strategy Commit by embedding a democratic approach clearly,
explicitly and concretely within your strategic development and
outcomes/priorities.
38
Research Use existing data and research in the field. If you do not
already have a relationship with research departments in your local
universities, working groups in colleges, national think tanks, or
NGO’s, make use of them through a series of discussion and sharing
meetings to benefit from the research they have done in this field and
embed within staff time.
Public Sharing & Information Meetings Set up community council
public meetings to get public opinion and invite as wide a range as
possible of people, making it highly visible, short, sharp and
understandable. Share the outcome of this publically and across
organisations and individuals working in the arts
Curatorial Approach Encourage public debate and new voices as
much as possible in curatorial approaches to programming in cultural
institutions. Who is making decisions? How accessible and
accountable is the curator to their public?
Governance Awareness of governance structure within the
organisation and balance of autonomy of decision making and input
from all members of staff.
Recruitment Build questions into recruitment that ask for potential
candidate’s views and approach. View recruitment process.
Failure Anticipate and encourage failure and embed within
programmes beginnings. This can help to reduce blow out.
Non-users may and may not want to be involved, before driving for
participation in initiatives, expect that people may not want to but that
this does not mean others do not or they of any less value if it
accommodates small numbers.
Definitions of participation are in constant flux and should be open
and reflect what is naturally happening rather than in accordance with
traditionally established notions of the arts. The art industry can
benefit from the challenge that increased profile raising of on the
ground, locally led and internationally connected initiatives, groups
and activity are doing.
39
Introduce participatory budgeting and an open source approach to
your organisation fully, put out draft programming and methods,
actively allow for people to adapt and change and re-allocate funds.
Funding Can you give funds to individuals and/or groups who
approach you with ideas? Set aside some for this purpose and
actively encourage it, making it known that this is available.
Staff Do members of staff within the organisation have time for
helping other spaces or initiatives that are lacking resources that can
form part of existing programme? Do teaching staff or curatorial staff
have time to provide free classes in public? Could they make a
regular contribution and invite friends to do so with self-organised
groups of artists working in their area?
Provide a computer/s and scheduled time for public to gather to work
around their own questions together.
Information Campaign. Giving people information and impetus
through knowing what is available, what could be possible and
hosting public idea generating sessions around how places can be
used for people to come together and practice.
Give groups space, time, and access to artists and other
professionals to create discussion and build upon what they do.
Particularly in the early stages, new groups can be formed from
strangers with the initial conditions set by someone else, for example
in the case of young people’s groups in galleries. Those conditions
can then be opened up to changed by those involved and negotiated
with spaces as to how they might work together beyond the initial
stages. If people want a reason to come together to make and talk
about art, can you provide them with the means to do so?
Community boards Assess interest in a community board to parallel
the organisations board and directorate. Assess capacity for a
steering group/curatorial board made up of community members with
a fair/randomised selection process.
Set up support networks for individuals who take on organising roles
within communities can provide vital support from information sharing
40
to mental health and well being support for work life balance. This
provides relief and sometimes much needed confidential support for
people to aid the sustainability of being involved in running projects
alongside and its impact on their lives, in turn improving the
sustainability of the projects themselves.
Create the conditions within programmes with existing and new
groups to form of their accord.
Utilise local government information within community learning, life
long learning, families, adult learning and schools which give a good
picture of the area one is working in.
Offer advice sessions with development experts and toolkits or create
a network of skilled development workers for people to talk to and
learn from in order to write funding applications.
Expect, allow and encourage individuals and organisations to
account for their wages when applying for funding for a project.
Invest in schemes that allow a diverse range of partners to grow and
pool resources together and initiatives that ease access public access
to them.
Advocacy Ensure at a local level and nationwide, people and
organisations are connected to advocacy groups and campaigns
which ensure committed provision of art in schools, access to and
protection of further education institutions and government funding for
the arts.
Geography Look at provision across the country and distribute
funding to underserved populations. Embed this in policy and protect
the right for people to request and to distribute public money for the
arts to their areas.
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8
Annexes
8.1 Interviews & Visits
Weeksville
www.weeksvillehc.tumblr.com Rylee Eterginoso Public Programmes Curator
Interview & Visit. Apex Art
www.apexart.org Steven Rand Director
Interview & Visit. School of Making Thinking
www.theschoolofmakingthinking.com Aaron Finbloom Participant & Organiser Interview. Creative Time
www.creativetime.org Katie Hollander Deputy Director Laura Raicovich Director of Global Initiatives Interview & Visit to Kara Walker ‘A Subtlety’ at Domino’s Sugar Factory. Bronx Museum
www.bronxmuseum.org Hatuey Ramos Fermín Curator of Education
Interview & Visit.
42
Marina Abramovic Institute www.marinaabramovicinstitute.org Serge Le Borgne Director
Interview. Open Engagement Conference
Queens Museum www.openengagement.info/ Visit & participation in various working groups. Museo Del Barrio
www.elmuseo.org/ Valentina Vélez-Rocha Education Programmes Co-ordinator Interview. Arts & Democracy / NOCD-NY Caron Atlas Director
Interview. Cooper Union
www.cooper.edu Saskia Bos Dean of Art Visit. (Recorded interview not conducted.) Whitney Museum of American Art
www.whitney.org Visit only to Whitney Biennale & Julie Ault, James Benning & William Least Heat Moon ‘Histories of Place’ Seminar MOMA
www.moma.org Visit. Frieze Art Fair
www.frieze.com Visit. BHQFU
www.bhqfu.org Joe Kay Organiser & teacher Interview & Visit. Laundromat Project www.laundromatproject.org Kemi Ilesanmi Executive Director
43
Interview. Artists Space
www.artistsspace.org Visit. Franklin Furnace www.franklinfurnace.org Martha Wilson Founding Director
Interview. 601 Tully
http://601tully.blogspot.co.uk/ Marion Wilson Professor, Artist, Director John Cardone Programme Coordinator
Interviews & Visit. Elsewhere www.goelsewhere.org Christopher Kennedy Education Erica Curry Operations
Interviews & Visit. International Civil Rights Center & Museum http://www.sitinmovement.org/ Visit. Mike Telesca Middle School Teacher
Informal interview. We are constance www.weareconstance.org/ Erik Kiesewetter Founder & Designer
Interview. Contemporary Arts Centre New Orleans
www.cacno.org Visit. Press Street
www.press-street.com Gracie Goodrich Development Bob Snead Director Interview & Visit.
44
Ogden Museum of Southern Art www.ogdenmuseum.org Ellen Balkin Education Coordinator
Interview & Visit. New Orleans Centre for Creative Arts
www.nocca.com Kyle Wedberg, President/CEO Interview & Visit. Frist Centre
www.fristcenter.org Anne Henderson Director of Education Interview & Visit. Seed Space
www.seedspace.org/ Adrienne Outlaw Director Visit (Recorded interview not conducted.) Country Hall Music Hall of Fame and Museum www.countrymusichalloffame.org Ali Tonn Public Programme Coordinator
Informal meeting. The Parthenon
www.nashville.gov/parks-and-recreation/parthenon DeeGee Lester Director of Education
Interview & Visit. Bodie State Historic Park
www.bodie.com Visit. Anthony A. Russell Artist
(also involved with The Lab www.thelab.org) Interview. City Lights Bookstore www.citylights.com Visit.
45
8.2 Resources found during research / Other
While podcasts and youtube host the greatest available content for free use, some
others that are useful and recommendations made during research are listed below.
Bay Area Society for Art & Activism www.artandactivism.org
Anya Kamentz www.edupunks.org
Caroline Woolard www.carolinewoolard.com
The Point www.thepoint.org
New York Chinatown History Project www.mocanyc.org
Fractured Atlas www.fracturedatlas.org
The Public School www.thepublicschool.org
Centre for Land Use Interpretation www.clui.org
The Women’s Building www.womensbuilding.org
Radius Community Arts Studio www.radiusstudio.org
Multnohama Arts Centre www.multnomahartscenter.org
Walker Arts Centre www.walkerart.org
EXCO Project www.excotc.org
Phonebook www.three-walls.org/project/phonebook/phonebook/
New York City Community Land Initiative http://nyccli.org/
The Social Life of Artistic Property http://www.thesociallifeofartisticproperty.com/
New York City To Be Determined www.nyctbd.com
Grassroots Economic Organizing www.geo.coop/node/35
The Solidarity Economy NYC www.solidaritynyc.org
Temple Contemporary www.tyler.temple.edu/temple-contemporary
The Peoples Library Richmond www.nomovement.com/People-s-LIbrary
Centre for Urban Pedagogy www.welcometocup.org
Digital Commons www.digitalcommons.bepress.com
Ubu Web www.ubuweb.tv
Trade School www.tradeschool.coop
SOLE Toolkit www.ted.com/pages/sole_toolkit
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8.3 Further Reading
Addison, Nicholas & Burgess, Lesley Eds. Learning to Teach Art & Design in the Secondary School (London: Routledge Falmer 2000) Adorno, Theodor & Becker, Hellmut ‘Education for Maturity & Responsibility’ in History of the Human Sciences Vol. 12 No.3 (London: SAGE Publications 1999) pp.21-34 Allen, Felicity Education (London: Whitechapel Gallery & MIT Press 2011) Ames-Lewis, Francis & Paszkiewicz, Piotr (eds.) Art and Politics (Warsaw: Institute of Art 1999) Atkinson, Dennis Art, Equality, Learning: Pedagogies Against the State (Rotterdam : Sense Publishers 2011) Atkinson, Paul and Rees, Teresa L, Youth Unemployment and State Intervention (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 1982) Avanessian, Armen & Skrebowski, Luke Aesthetics & Contemporary Art (Berlin: Sternberg Press 2011) Aviram, Aharon & Richardson, Janice Eds. Upon What Does the Turtle Stand?:Rethinking Education for the Digital Age (Springer Netherlands 2005) Bagatt, Dipti and O’Neill, Peter Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies (London: CPI 2011) Baldessari, John More than you wanted to know about John Baldessari (Zurich: JRP 2013) Bamford, Anne The Wow Factor: Global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education (Munster: Waxmann 2009) Bellamy, Kate and Oppenheim, Kate Learning to Live: Museums, young people and education (London: Institute for Public Policy Research and National Museum Directors' Conference 2009) Berman, Marshall All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity (New York: Simon & Schuster 1983) Bingham, Charles and Gert Biesta, Jacques Rancière : education, truth, emancipation (London: Bloomsbury Academic 2010) Bishop, Claire Participation (London: Whitechapel Gallery & MIT Press 2006) Bishop, Claire Artificial Hells (London: Verso 2012) Blanchot, Maurice The Infinite Conversation (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press 1992) Blanchot, Maurice The Gaze of Orpheus (New York: Station Hill Press 1989) Bloomfield, Anne Ed. Creative & Aesthetic Education (Hull: University of Hull 1985) Boal, Augusto Games for Actors & Non-Actors (Oxon: Routledge 2002) Burdick, Jake, Sandlin, Jennifer, & Schultz, Brian D. Eds. Handbook of Public Pedagogy: Education and Learning Beyond Schooling (Abingdon: Routledge 2010) Burdick, Jake, O’Malley, Michael P. & Sandlin, Jennifer Problematizing Public Pedagogy (Abingdon: Routledge 2014) De Bruyne, Paul & Gielen, Pascal (eds.) Community Art: The Politics of Trespassing (Amsterdam: Valiz 2011) Charman, Helen, Rose, Katherine & Wilson, Gillian Eds. The Art Gallery Handbook: A Resource for Teachers (London: Tate Publishing 2006) Ciric, Biljana and Lai,Sally (Ed.s) Institution for the Future (Manchester: Chinese Art Centre 2012) Eca, Teresea & Mason, Rachel Eds. International Dialogues about Visual Culture, Education and Art (Bristol: Intellect 2008) Efland, Arthur Art & Cognition: Integrating the Visual Arts in the Curriculum (New York: Teachers College Press 2002) Farrell, Betty Demographic Transformation & The Future of Museums (Washington: AAM Press 2010) Full PDF available here: http://www.aam-us.org/docs/center-for-the-future-of-museums/demotransaam2010.pdf Eds. Fejes, Andreas & Nicoll, Katherine Foucault and Lifelong Learning: Governing the subject (Abingdon: Routledge 2008)
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Field, Belenky, Mattuck Tarule, Jill, McVicker Clinchy, Blythe, & Rule Goldberger, Nancy Women’s Way of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice & Mind (New York: Basic Books 1996) Freire, Paolo Cultural Action for Freedom (Middlesex: Penguin Books 1970) Gaztambide-Fernández, Rubén A. ‘Inner, Outer & In-Between: Why Popular Culture & The Arts Matter for Urban Youth’ in orbit, Vol 36, No 3, 2007 (Toronto: Orbit 2007) Gielen, Pascal Institutional Attitudes: Instituting Art in a Flat World (Amsterdam: Valiz 2013) De Gennaro, Ivo & Gunther, Hans-Christian (eds.) Artists & Intellectuals & the Requests of Power (Leiden: Brill 2009) Grampaign Regional Council A Policy for Art & Design 5-14 (Aberdeen: Grampaign Regional Council 1995) Hardy, Tom Art Education in a Postmodern World: Collected Essays (Bristol: Intellect 2008) Haworth, Robert H. Anarchist Pedagogies: Collective Actions, Theories and Critical Reflections on Education (Oakland, CA: PM Press 2012) Hayek, F.A The Road to Serfdom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1994) Hebert, Stein & Szelfler Karsen, Anne Self-Organised (Bergen: Open Editions 2013) Hern, Matt Ed. Everywhere All The Time: A New Deschooling Reader (Edinburgh: AK Press 2008) Hickman, Richard Ed. Critical Studies in Art & Design Education (Bristol: Intellect 2005) Hickman, Richard Ed. Research in Art & Design Education: Issues & Exemplars (Bristol: Intellect Books 2008) Hickman, Richard Ed. Secondary School 11-18 (Bristol: Intellect Books 2008) Hind, Dan The Return of the Public (London: Verso 2010) Hochtritt, Lisa, Ploof, John & Quinn, Therese Eds. Art & Social Justice Education: Culture as Commons (London: Routledge 2012) Holden, John Cultural Value and the Crisis of Legitimacy: Why culture needs a democratic mandate (London: Demos 2006) Hupert, Wojciech Child’s play: The links between childhood encouragement and adult engagement in arts and culture (Scottish Government Social Research 2010) Kahn, Richard & Lewis, Tyson E. Education Out of Bounds: Reimagining Cultural Studies for a Posthuman Age (New York: PALGRAVE MacMillan 2010) Kamentz, Anya Learning, Freedom & the Web (Mozilla 2010) Kamentz, Anya DIYU (Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing 2010) Kant, Immanuel Critique of Aesthetic Judgement (Dover: Dover Publications Inc. 2005) Kaprow, Allan (Kelly, Jeff (Ed)) Essays on the Blurring of Art & Life (Berkley: University of California Press 2003) Kennelly, Jacqueline Culture, Activism and Agency in a Neoliberal Era (New York: Palgrave MacMillan 2011) Laclau, Ernesto Emancipation (London: Verso 1996) La Feuvre, Lisa Failure (London: Whitechapel Gallery & MIT Press 2010) Lewis, Tyson E. Aesthetics of education: theatre, curiosity, and politics in the work of Jacques Rancière and Paulo Freire (London: Continuum 2012) Lovink, Geert Networks Without A Cause: A Critique of Social Media (Cambridge: Polity Press 2011) Madoff, Steven Henry Ed. Art School: Propositions for the 21
st Century (London: MIT 2009)
Marcuse, Herbert The Aesthetic Dimension: Towards a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics (London: MacMillan Education Ltd 1979) Masschelein,Jan and Simons. Maarten (Eds.) Rancière, public education and the taming of democracy (London: Wiley-Blackwell 2010) May, Todd The political thought of Jacques Rancière: Passive Equality (Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press 2008) Mehta, Jal, Schwartz, Robert B. and Hess, Frederick M. (eds.) The Futures of School Reform McGill, Erin, Stringer, Scott& Eckstein, Adam State of the Arts: A plan to boost arts education in New York City’s schools (New York City: Office of the New York City Comptroller 2014) McLaren, Peter Schooling as a Ritual Performance: Towards a political economy of educational symbols and gestures (London: Routeledge & Kegan Paul 1986) Morris, Rosalind Ed. Can The Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea (New York: Columbia University Press 2010)
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Grenke, Michael Friedrich Nietzsche On the Future of Our Educational Institutions: Six Public Lectures (Indiana: St Augustine’s Press 2004) O’Neill, Paul & Doherty, Claire (eds.) Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to Public Art (Amsterdam: Valiz 2012) Osbourne, Peter Anywhere or Not At All: Philosophy of Contemporary Art (London: Verson 2013) Rancière, Jacques The Philosopher and His Poor (London: Duke University Press 2003) Rancière, Jacques Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics (London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. 2010) Ed. & Trans. Steven Concoran Rancière, Jacques The Politics of Aesthetics, (London: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. 2006) Trans. Gabriel Rockhill Rancière, Jacques The Ignorant Schoolmaster: Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation (Stanford: Stanford University Press 1991) Trans. Kristin Ross Rancière, Jacques Aesthetics & Its Discontents (London: Verso 2009) Trans. Gregory Elliott Raunig, Gerald Art and Revolution (Los Angeles: Semiotext(e) 2007) Reardon, John ch-ch-ch-changes: Artists Talk About Teaching (London: Ridinghouse 2009) Rorty, Richard Philosophy & Social Hope (London: Penguin 1999) Rose, Shirley K. & Weiser, Irwin Going Public: What writing programs learn from going public (Logan: Utah University Press 2010) Rowles, Sarah 20 Questions for Art & Design Course Leaders (London: Q-Art 2010) Roy, Kastuv Teaching in Nomadic Places: Deleuze & Curriculum (New York: Peter Lang Publishing 2003) Schiller, Friedrich Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man (Montana: Kessinger Publishing 2010) Serres, Michael The Troubadour of Knowledge (Michigan: University of Michigan 1997) trans. Sheila Faria Glaser and William Paulson Shiner, Larry The invention of art: a cultural history (London: University of Chicago Press 2001) Sidford, Holly & Thomas, Rebecca, Critical steps toward capital health in the cultural sector http://nonprofitfinancefund.org/files/captips_052114.pdf?utm_source=Arts%2FLFF+Final+Pub&utm_campaign=6-5-14Arts-LFF-Final+Pub&utm_medium=email 2014 Simmons, Ron and Thompson, Robin NEET Young People and Training For Work (London: Trentham Books Limited 2011) Smith, Jason E. and Weisser, Annette Everything is in Everything: Jacques Ranciere Between Intellectual Emancipation and Aesthetic Education (Manchester: Art Graduate Press and Cornerhouse Publications 2011) Steedman,Marijke Gallery As Community: Art, Education, Politics (London: Whitechapel Gallery 2012) Stiegler, Bernard Taking Care of Youth & the Generations (Stanford: Stanford University Press 2010) (Stephen Barker Trans.) Strhan,Anna Levinas, subjectivity, education : towards an ethics of radical responsibility (London: Wiley-Blackwell 2010) Taylor, Barbara Ed. Enquire: Inspiring Learning in Galleries (London: Engage 2006) Thelwall, Sarah Size Matters: Notes towards a Better Understanding of the Value, Operation and Potential of Small Visual Arts Organisations (London: Common Practice 2011) Full PDF available here: http://turningpointnetwork.squarespace.com/storage/project-files/summit-2012/debate-1/Common-Practice-London_Size-Matters.pdf Thomson, Nato Living As Form (New York: Creative Time 2011) Thoreau, Henry David Walden (New York: Phoenix Press 1995) Various, Radical Education Workbook in radicaleducationforum.tumblr.com 2012 Various, Notes for An Art School http://manifesta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/NotesForAnArtSchool.pdf 2006 Various, Bridge Conversations: People who live and work in multiple worlds (New York City: Arts & Democracy 2011) Wallis, Brian (ed.) Democracy: A Project by Group Material (Washington: Dia Art Foundation 1990) White, John Education and The End of Work (London: Cassell 1997)
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Andre 19. March 2014 - 9:50 Hi all, I will cancel this class because I have to go back to germany since my visa expires. It was a fun time, and if anyone feels to take over the class I would be happy. Cheers, Andre Schmidt BAY AREA PUBLIC SCHOOL [Classroom] -- 2141 Broadway,
Oakland CA
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Art, Self Organisation & Public Resource Creation
December 2014
Distributed from Aberdeen, Scotland.
Researched & Written by Beth Dynowski
Funded by The Winston Memorial Trust.
With Special thanks to the Creative Learning Team at Aberdeen City Council.
Copyright: Commercial You may not use this text or parts of it for commercial
purposes unless authorized by the author. Contact [email protected].
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