When I’m working from home I try to go for a quick run before lunch. My original idea was to make sure I took a break, but I soon noticed that very often new ideas will pop into my head as I’m pounding the streets. So perhaps it’s not surprising, given my preference for thinking on my feet, that Action Learning appeals to me.
Maybe it’s because I’m from Yorkshire, but I’m naturally sceptical about theory: especially management theory which largely seems to be common sense dressed up with jargon. But Action Learning was invented by a guy called Reg who worked for the National Coal Board so as you might imagine it’s deeply practical and applied. I first came across it about three years ago courtesy of visual artists who, with support from Artquest, were using peer-peer learning models to develop their practice and/or their careers.
For those of you who have yet to discover Action Learning, I’ll try and sum it up in a few lines. As the name suggests, Action Learning is a professional development process where the emphasis is equally on:
- Action – coming up with ideas about how to improve or approach a situation/ project, and,
- Learning – reflecting on a situation to better understand it.
It has a lot in common with coaching – in terms of ethos – but unlike coaching it involves a small group of peers who coach and support one another. If you’re interested in finding out more I’ve uploaded a basic factsheet about Action Learning here. I’ve just qualified as an accredited facilitator for Action Learning through a course run by Action Learning Associates – a company I’d recommend highly if you’re looking for either facilitation or training in Action Learning.
There’s already a number of Action Learning ‘sets’ already working in the arts sector, and projects such as MMM’s (re) evolution and the recent Stronger Together event are testament to a growing appetite for peer-peer support models.
I’m keen to join or set-up a self-facilitated set myself– so if you are interested in joining me, or know someone who might be please forward this blog post to them using the links below. I’m based in York and happy to travel up to an hour so by train people of Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield etc please get in touch!
Better late than never, I’ve finally got round to thinking about what I plan to do differently this year in my professional life:
1. Stop being mean about curators (or rather stop blaming all curators for the actions – or attitudes – of a few). Plenty of them do care about audiences as well as artists. So I’m going to spend a good part of this year talking to curators (and artists – see below) about their ideas and re-acquainting myself with contemporary practice. I will also stop moaning about living in Yorkshire and get stuck in to helping improve cultural life here instead – like through supporting The Hepworth Wakefield.
2. See more art – especially things I wouldn’t normally see. Listen more to artists not just to other arts managers. Artists often have far-better ideas than arts managers about how to engage with audiences. I’ve just signed up to become one of the Arts Council’s new peer assessors, partly to prompt me to see things I wouldn’t necessarily visit.
3. Take time and effort to articulate what art means to me and be less squeamish about sharing this! We can’t bang on about cultural value and cultural policy unless we are prepared to be clear about why culture matters. Of course it means different things to different people, but rather than relying solely on the brilliant arguments of recent cultural policy, talking to a wider range of people about our personal views is also important.
Anyone else made any resolutions?
It’s often said that nobody likes art prizes, and in fact in his acceptance speech tonight Pavel Büchler – winner of the 2009 Northern Art Prize – made it clear he didn’t think of himself as winning over the others. The Prize’s energetic Director Pippa Hale also reminded those gathered (perhaps redundantly as many were artists themselves) that few artists make a decent living from their work – and it’s definitely not about the prize money. But despite artists’ and curators’ squeamishness about whether artists should be pitted against one another in competition, it’s clear from the success of the Turner Prize, and this Northern imitation, that it’s a format that appeals to audiences.
One of the things I admire about the Northern Art Prize is the way it engages audiences and encourages them to make up their own mind about the work on display. Apparently largely modeled on the highly successful Turner Prize format, the Northern Art Prize announces the shortlisted artists and then displays their work in an exhibition before the judges’ decision is announced. This gives people a chance to visit the exhibition and decide for themselves before the winner is announced. Equally, after the decision is announced you can see whether you agree – the exhibition continues until 21 February.
In last year’s Turner Prize exhibition I was impressed by the ways in which visitors were encouraged to contribute their views through ‘talk back’ boards or through sporting badges to promote their choice to win. Visitors could browse other people’s responses and views – and even respond to them on the ‘talk back’ boards. Personally, I was fascinated to read others’ responses to the work on display.
These are what Nina Simon has described as individual, networked, experiences in her hierarchy of social participation in museums.
As part of the Northern Art Prize members of the public can vote for their favourite artist. Tonight, before the announcement of Pavel Büchler as the winner, the artist who had received most votes online from the public was first announced: Matt Stokes.
Does it matter that the judges chose one artist, and the public another? Financially – yes, as the main prize is worth £16,500 while the public prize is purely honorary. But, it’s not really about money, and it’s not really about competition. It’s about raising the profile of artists living and working in the North, and about giving audiences an opportunity to tell us what they like.
Inviting people to have their say – to make up their own minds – that can only be a good thing. It doesn’t concern me that ‘experts’ take a different view – but I do hope that they take the time to explain why they chose one artist over the others. Technically – asking the public wasn’t about consultation and the public vote wasn’t intended to influence the professional one. This was made clear by the organisers. But, in a way, it does feel a little bit like inviting consultation or discussion – so not to articulate the rationale behind their definitive choice feels a bit like a dangling conversation…
Yorkshire is a bit of a cultural desert (if you like contemporary visual arts). Of course there are artist-led spaces and smaller projects which are great and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (which is quite niche in terms of programming), but to see big contemporary shows I find myself hopping on the train to Liverpool or Newcastle – or down to London.
So I was delighted to hear that we will soon be getting the 3rd largest contemporary and modern art gallery outside London – the Hepworth Wakefield. And, even better, Barbara Hepworth is one of my all time favourite artists – so the fact that this gallery will be approximately 1/3 historic/modern, 1/3 Barbara Hepworth, and 1/3 contemporary made me very happy indeed.
So I was really, really delighted to have the opportunity to work with the new gallery earlier this year on developing their business plan – along with my associates Holly Tebbutt (fellow consultant) and Tom Wilcox (Executive Director of Whitechapel Art Gallery and part-time consultant). We were asked to update the original plan which had been developed for the capital fundraising phase to reflect the level of resources required to deliver the gallery’s vision.
What really impressed me about the gallery – apart from its fantastic building designed by David Chipperfield – is the connection it has to its local area. It’s designed to be a landmark building, and to attract international and national visitors to the international solo shows and to see the Hepworth displays in her home town (watch out St Ives – we’re going to claim her back for Yorkshire!). But it’s equally about engaging with local people and celebrating the rich artistic heritage of a city that gave us Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth – and which had one of the leading City Art Galleries since the 1940s and 1950s. The education space is well-appointed and has a prime position at the entrance of the gallery (as opposed to being stuck on round the back as an after-thought).
The building is virtually complete (or may be so by now – it’s a couple of months since I visited the site) and the gallery is set to open in Spring 2011. So watch this space!
 Thu 12th November 2009 23:15  artists, yorkshire UncategorizedEver wondered what artists learn in art school, and how that has changed as ideas about art and artists have changed beyond recognition in the past century?
I popped into the Henry Moore Institute and Leeds City Art Gallery as I was passing time in between meetings and was pleasantly surprised to discover two very interesting exhibitions (as well as re-discovering some ‘old friends’ in Leeds’ fine British sculpture collection – I audited their collection as a volunteer when I was doing my MA in Sculpture Studies 15 years back).
A study display of sketchbooks and photos in vitrines might not sound like the most interesting way to spend half and hour, but the ‘Developing Process‘ exhibition was fascinating. Samples of students work (some anonymous, some from famous artists) were set in the context of a display about the principles and curricula of art schools at the end of the C19th and at mid C20th. It was a scholarly exhibition – but the insights it gave to the changing notions of what it means to be an artist and the technical skills/ approaches required brought the subject to life.
The main gallery had a display about the portrayal of sculpture in painting – which felt a wee bit over-curated to my taste (although not quite so bad as a recent museum show I saw where the curators seemed to want their name crediting on every label they wrote). Again, it was a very scholarly art historical exhibition – although always a treat to see such fine works (Titian, Hogarth) in the flesh. In terms of the theme of the exhibition – of how sculpture is represented in painting – Edward Allington’s Pictured Bronzes series came to mind (which I’ve always loved) – although being photographic I suppose they fell outside the scope of this show.
Lots of great pieces in the main City Art Gallery – predominantly British but great Modern sculpture collection. Shame the gallery looks so tatty – one of the galleries even has woodchip wallpaper (reminded me of the first flat I bought in Finsbury Park which was covered in the stuff).
Yorkshire’s visual art spaces are a funny bunch – I wish we had a dedicated contemporary exhibition space (roll on 2011 and the Hepworth Wakefield) – but the municipal spaces have so much potential too if only they had decent resources…..
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