THE ART PARTY CONFERENCE 2013
Presented by BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH
Produced by Crescent Arts
in association with The Spa, Scarborough
Saturday 23rd November
2.00pm – 2.00am
The Spa, Scarborough
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ART PARTY CONFERENCE 2013
THE ART PARTY BEACH PARADE: meet up at 12.15pm at the Lifeboat Station at
West Pier, South Bay and march along the beach to The Spa in time to place your
placard on the Summit and for the opening in The Grand Hall.
GRAND HALL
Bob and Roberta Smith’s sculptural platform, ‘THE SUMMIT’, festooned with
YOUR placards and banners.
2.15pm: Bob and Roberta Smith – ‘Letter to Michael Gove’
2.30pm - 6.00pm: ‘THE SUMMIT’ PROVOCATIONS every 15 minutes or so.
Don’t miss MICHAEL GROVE MP at 6.00pm
8.00pm – 2.00am: Bands, DJs and VJs
OCEAN ROOM
2.30pm onwards: Life-drawing with surfers
BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH INTRODUCES THREE QUESTIONS
Key artists and speakers engage in conversations:
3.00pm: WHAT WAS YOUR INTRODUCTION TO THE ARTS?
4.00pm: HOW SHOULD ART BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS?
5.00pm: WHY IS ART IMPORTANT?
THEATRE
3.00pm - 5.30pm: Live performances and ‘lightly plugged’ tasters of the bands.
6.30pm onwards: Films by Ian Bourn, Tim Newton, Bobby Baker, Cornelia
Parker, John Rogers, John Smith and the Axisweb Screenings
MUSIC ROOM
2.00pm – 6.00pm: DACS (Designer and Artists’ Copyright Society) - continuous
film screening of artists talking, filmed by David Bickerstaff.
6.30pm: Filmed interviews with four artists at The Art Party Conference.
VITADOME
Hosted by a-n (The Artists Information Company).
2.00pm – 5.00pm: see work by 5 artists awarded a-n bursaries to Take A Stand.
6.30pm Artists’ advice and information speed-dating at AIRTIME
TAKE A STAND!
STANDS AND STALLS
You’ll find stands and stalls throughout The Spa between 2.00pm and 5.00pm.
There’s a fantastic variety with individual artists promoting work ranging from
prints, textiles and ceramics to digital media, performance and participatory
artworks. The Ding Dong Twist Club in the Promenade Lounge is not to be
missed and there’ll be live performances in the Sun Court (weather permitting).
Get networking and meet people and organisations from all over the country
who are committed to supporting artists, the arts and education. These include
the Art Fund, DACS, NSEAD, Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, University of Hull in
Scarborough, Yorkshire Coast College, a-n, Axisweb, Yorkshire Sculpture Park,
Artquest, CVAN, Chrysalis, Cape UK, Artsadmin and many more. It’s a great
opportunity to get together.
THE ART PARTY ROAD MOVIE
The Art Party!
How do you tell one man he's got it wrong?
Part documentary, part road movie and part political fantasy, The Art Party!
feature film will capture the spirit of the Scarborough conference; championing
the importance of art and its place in education and modern politics.
LETTER FROM BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH
Welcome to The Art Party Conference 2013.
Thank you for joining us at this extraordinary and joyous experiment in a new
kind of advocacy for the Arts. In this new politics we hope to unleash the
ARTIST’S voice! If you make art, this event is a huge celebration of YOU and it
brings together an extraordinary variety of people who have succeeded in
making a life in the arts.
We want to ask everyone here today three questions
What was your introduction to the arts?
How should art be taught in school?
Why is art important?
We are filming everything! Make sure you tell your story to one of our camera
units. Filmmaker Tim Newton is helping me make a feature film documentary
which will capture your ideas. We will use this to make the case to Government
that all schools should be arts schools and every child should study an arts
subject at key stage 4 (GCSE). We’ve succeeded in scrapping proposals for the
EBacc and we will win the argument to place art firmly at the center of a
curriculum based on creative thinking.
One of my heroes in advocating for art in schools, Lesley Butterworth, General
Secretary of NSEAD, has said ‘the present proposals for the curriculum are the
most toxic I have encountered in my lifetime’. In 2013, 14% fewer children chose
art at GCSE than in 2010. Our Government has halted the route to social mobility
and emancipation through the arts that was the dream of a generation who
wanted to create a better world after World War II.
During the day there will be a number of provocations delivered from The
Summit in the grand hall. One of these will be from the Rt Hon. Michael GROVE
MP - don’t miss this keynote performance! After the polemic of the day we’ll
party, celebrating new music made by the great Grubby Mitts, The Ken Ardley
Playboys, and Flame Proof Moth.
Pick up free prints by some of Britain’s most important contemporary artists,
who are here today because they profoundly believe in the importance of art and
culture to a country committed to freedom of expression. They understand that
our economy thrives when different groups in society come together to make
new products, dynamic designs, and world-class visual arts, drama, literature,
music and dance. You can’t miss Take A Stand, the radical art fair, and if you have
some spare cash, support artists and get Xmas shopping!
Enjoy the day. There’s everything to play for.
Bob and Roberta Smith
THE ART PARTY! - THE MAIN PLAYERS
BOB AND ROBERTA SMITH is the artist behind The Art Party Conference 2013. It
follows on from his 2011 artwork Letter to Michael Gove, expressing concerns
over proposals for EBacc, and his founding of The Art Party shortly after. Bob
and Roberta Smith is well known for his sign paintings which explore the
relationship between art, politics, society and humour.
ARTISTS AND SPEAKERS
BOBBY BAKER; IAN BOURN; PAVEL BÜCHLER; PATRICK COYLE;
JEREMY DELLER; ALEXANDER DODGSON; MAUREEN DUFFY
LEO FITZMAURICE; ORIANA FOX; JEFF McMILLAN
HAROON MIRZA; LYNDA MORRIS; TIM NEWTON
CORNELIA PARKER; JANETTE PARRIS; JOHN ROGERS
DAVID SHRIGLEY; JOHN SMITH; JESSICA VOORSANGER
RICHARD WENTWORTH ; SILVIA ZIRANEK
PRINCIPAL SUPPORTERS
AIR, a-n, Artquest, Artsadmin, Axisweb, Cape UK, Contemporary Visual Arts
Network, Contemporary Art Society, Create (Scarborough), Cultural Learning
Alliance, Culture 24, Leeds College of Art, Leeds Metropolitan University,
Scarborough Museums Trust, Stephen Joseph Theatre, University of the Arts
London, University of Hull Scarborough Campus, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, What
Next?
We would also like to thank the following people for their support and advice:
Lesley Butterworth, Stephen Deuchar, Julia Farrington, Gilane Tawadros, Daniel
Cutmore, Mark Hudson, Kerstin Glasow, Mark Waugh, Mark Sydserff, Michael
Upton, Charlotte Worthington, Tamiko O’Brien, Charlotte Higgins, Adam Knights,
Jason Read, Sheila McGregor, Ruth Wilbur, Susan Jones, Jo Wilson, Russell Martin,
Quintilla Wikeley, Madeline Adeane, Rachel Collins, Joanne Milmoe, Clare Lilley,
Helen Pheby, Nina Rogers, Damon Waldock, Judith Knight, Sam Trotman, Phoebe
Davies, Rosie Marcus, Julia Bell, Steve Manthorp, Rebecca Morrill, Helen Sear,
Resonance FM, Tom Besley, Sara Perks, Dave Moutrey, Lizzie Crump, Hannah
Bird, Dominic Stokes, Ed Asquith, Tony Bartholomew, Kevin Allen, Janet Deacon,
Rowena Marsden, Andy Black, Kane Cunningham, Darren Mundy, Craig Gaskell,
Steve Crawford, Stephen Wood, Chris Monks, Denise Gilfoyle, Andy Edwards, Ian
Parkinson, Dawn Brooks, Jade Montserrat, Steven Potter, Susan Slann,
KarenThompson, Susan Timmins, Janet White, Catherine Whippey and Shirlie
Stone
PRINCIPAL FUNDERS
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND; THE ART FUND; DACS (Design and Artists Copyright
Society); The CASS Faculty of Art, Architecture & Design
SCARBOROUGH BOROUGH COUNCIL
PRINCIPAL SPONSORS AND PARTICIPANTS
CRESCENT ARTS; SIV/SPA; SCARBOROUGH NEWS; WHITESPRINT;
CITIZENSBAND; UNIVERSITY OF HULL SCARBOROUGH; YORKSHIRE COAST
COLLEGE; NSEAD; INDEX ON CENSORSHIP; WELCOME TO YORKSHIRE;
CORNERHOUSE; SASSOON