Review of the Presentation of Contemporary Visual Art
North West Case Study
Manchester, Liverpool & Cumbria
Final Report
October 2005
‘Urban renewal is often about changing the perception of an area – artists have a
potentially large role here as they can get to the essence, the heart, the soul of
an area’. David McCall OMI Architects
‘We all need different modes of presentation for different ways of working, but we
all need to grow…The sector has grown so much - we can’t wait to see what
happens over the next ten years, we need to structure this, plan this and we
need to look at pan-regional opportunities such as the Northern Way’. Paul
Domela, Liverpool Biennial
in partnership with
Experian Business Strategies
1 Introduction
This is a report on research into contemporary visual arts in the north west of
England. It is one of two area-based case studies undertaken as part of the Arts
Council Review of contemporary visual arts, one in the north west while the other
focused on the east end of London. The areas were determined in the original
tender prepared by the Arts Council and recognise the dynamic development of
visual arts in these places as well as the differences between them in relation to
geo-demographics.
This case study is based on a series of focus groups and interviews held with
organisations and individuals that regularly programme contemporary visual arts
(their quotes are used in this report) together with a review of relevant literature.
This report looks at the ecology of the sector in the north west in both the central
conurbations of Manchester and Liverpool as well as the comparatively rural
Cumbria, how it is responding to changes at local and national levels, and the
challenges that are both specific to the area and those facing arts organisations
across England.
The consultation exercises have been rich and stimulating, and all our
participants, despite some small cynicism, believed that this review was
important and timely. A list of the participants can be found on the last page of
this report.
2 About the North West
Detailed data analysis of the north west is included in the Survey Report. Points
of particular note are that the region has more large organisations than any
region other than London, and that its programme budgets, though still small, are
larger than those of other regions (excepting London). In most other regards, the
data shows that the region mirrors many of the factors prevalent in the sector
across England - other than London where the international nature of its markets
and its role as a global city make it exceptional. The data can only be
interrogated at regional level rather than sub-regionally and therefore the
challenge here is to consider the similarities and differences between
Manchester and Liverpool, and then their combined differences from, and
relationship with, Cumbria. So from this point in the report, the terms ‘region’ or
‘north west’ are based on evidence gathered through interviews and focus
groups which only partially cover the area and significantly do not include
Cheshire or Lancashire.
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Manchester and Liverpool both have strong historical links with visual arts; In
Liverpool, the National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside was established
as a national museum in 1986 because of the outstanding quality of its
collections (in 2003 the name was changed to National Museums Liverpool).
Tate Liverpool is the largest ‘modern art gallery outside London’1. Manchester
and Liverpool are 35 miles apart; though historical rivals, their relationship is
strengthening and joint initiatives in culture and other areas are increasing and
increasingly successful.
Cumbria has a historical link with visual arts from the Romantic period and is of
increasing interest to artists and makers as a place to live and work. The
perception of Cumbria as rural idyll belies its much more mixed profile which
includes the industrial towns along the southern strip such as Barrow-in-Furness,
Whitehaven on the west coast, and Carlisle to the north of the county.
Across the north west, as evidenced in the two areas that were studied, there
has been a significant increase in contemporary visual arts activity linked to
wider socio-economic factors. The two focus group meetings and the interviews
have been the means of learning more about what’s happening, why, and what’s
possible in the future.
3 Creative Industries in the North West
The contemporary visual arts sector in Manchester, Liverpool and Cumbria is a
crucial part of, and shares many characteristics with, the creative industries in
the north west as a whole. Galleries in particular identified the wider creative
industries sector as an audience as well as collaborators, actual and potential,
which one curator expressed as ‘that’s what is really interesting about
contemporary visual arts - it attracts all these types’, indicating a direct influence
of contemporary art on this wider creative field.

The DCMS’s snapshot2 of the creative Industries in the north west describes
the region’s creative economy as second only to London and the South East
in the English regions. Once reliant on a declining manufacturing-based
industry, the north west has benefited from European Structural Fund
Programmes which have added to the thriving and robust creative industries
1
Tate website
‘A Snapshot of the Creative Industries in England’s North West’, prepared by
Culture Northwest for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, September
2004.
2
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sector which is becoming key to the region’s economic prosperity.

The north west is home to some of the earliest public sector initiatives to
develop the creative industries. In 1989 The first Film Office in the UK was
established in Liverpool and the 1990’s saw the establishment of , enterprisefocused sector development agencies in Liverpool and Manchester including:
Moving Image Development Agency (MIDA), Liverpool Design Initiative, The
Merseyside Music Development Agency, International Centre for Digital
Content, and Merseyside ACME in Liverpool and CIDS in Manchester.

Arts Council England, North West has invested in a network of creative
industries development office posts and associated partnership arrangements
including supporting the network of sub-regional agencies – CIDS in
Manchester, ACME in Liverpool and the new creative industries partnership
in Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria.

The report, Benchmarking the Health of Cultural Businesses3, outlines
comparative data across the broader cultural sector. This data states that the
cultural sector accounts for 12% of GVA in the north west, compared to 6%
by the financial and business service sector. The creative industries are
calculated to contribute approximately 4.5% to the north west GVA.

Sub-sectors prioritised for intervention by the North West Development
Agency include: Media, Music, Designer Fashion, Design and Contemporary
Visual Arts particularly related to investment that will result in significant
growth in the commercial sector which is virtually non-existent in the region.

New developments in the north west include: the expansion of Manchester’s
Northern Quarter and the subsequent further development of the Manchester
Craft and Design Centre (studio-workshop/retail space and exhibition
opportunities for craftspeople and designer makers in central Manchester);
the growing reputation of media arts in the North East, North West and
Yorkshire; a feasibility study into a new MA degree in Curatorship in
Liverpool; the development of an International Centre of Excellence for
Fashion and Textiles based in Manchester; a feasibility study on the
development of Cumbria’s artists’ studios; and a series of North West Design
Forum workshops.
4 Context and Identity
3
Benchmarking the Health of Cultural Businesses, Prepared for the Regional
Intelligence Unit by Burns Owens Partnership
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All participants agreed that the range and quality of presentation of the
contemporary visual arts has improved significantly in the region in the last few
years as an artist-led gallery reported ‘it is more professional, there is an
understanding that there are real methods to bolster careers and the work of
artist-curators’. A small independent gallery discussed the pride and enterprise in
the region, ‘a shared kind of entrepreneurial ambition and approach, synergy
about what people are trying to have happen, often dispersed but it is going
somewhere’. These comments evidence the success of the overall ambitions of
Arts Council England4 as they demonstrate the growth and confidence in the
contemporary visual arts in the north west. The Arts Council accurately
recognises that without supporting infrastructure there will be no visual artists
and ‘without the artist, there is no art’. However, even within these two areas of
the north west, the spread of infrastructure fluctuates and it is interesting that
participants were clear that, in their view, the more that was going on, the more
people showed interest – suggesting that supply stimulates demand.
While Manchester and Liverpool ‘are not London’ this is seen to be as much
strength as weakness, this was echoed by a Cumbrian company of artists who
pioneer new approaches to the arts of celebration ‘why compare ourselves to
other places? Why do we feel the need? We need to concentrate on what we are
like and what we do have’. However, Cumbrian participants also recognised that
the area has similarities with others such as Cornwall, Norfolk and
Pembrokeshire – which like Cumbria are places attractive as ‘second homes’ yet
also where there are towns that suffer from ‘shitty city centres’.
The degree to which environment ‘affects type of work or quality’ was raised by
an artist-led initiative in Cumbria and roundly debated especially with regard to
how the north west region and its diverse communities understand themselves; a
commissioning and residency agency went on to say that ‘people in Cumbria talk
more about what Cumbrian is, who they are, than in any other area’. Across the
region participants felt there was a real community identification, this was best
articulated by Cumbrian participants as ‘a sense of place, but a sense of
confusion too’ who pointed to the degree to which so many people return after
time away.
All spoke of a conscious drive to promote a distinct cultural identity, with
Manchester Liverpool participants agreeing that the region needed to ‘create an
identity like Glasgow’. The distinctive nature of this development was identified
by an independent artist-led gallery as ‘it is individuals who are the drivers in the
north west, who make it, and this is artist led’. The importance of higher
education opportunities such as art schools and other more informal
4
Turning Ambitions into Action, Arts Council England, March 2004
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opportunities to develop practice was agreed as critical to growing a distinctive
identity.
In relation to artists, London was not necessarily seen as the competition : an
organisation for international festivals of contemporary art stated ‘as soon as
people have a bit of talent they go to Berlin, to Rotterdam and not Liverpool or
Manchester – we don’t keep them’.
5 Partnerships and Collaborations
Partnerships and collaborations, between both artists and arts organisations,
nationally and internationally, are cited by the Arts Council as important for the
growth of the arts in England. The strength of the north west region, an
independent curator stated, ‘is that it is hugely successful in working across
venues and networks’. There is increasing collaboration both within the sector
and equally importantly, across other sectors; participants pointed to ‘a raft of
initiatives and collaborations, Liverpool supported Manchester in the bid to host
the 2004 Commonwealth Games, Manchester supported Liverpool as Cultural
Capital 2008’. Two key sector collaborations were mentioned - the north west
hub initiative (Renaissance in the Regions) and the Liverpool Biennial.
The Arts Council recognises that England’s arts organisations and artists ‘are
among the best in the world’5 and are increasing investment to realise the
potential of the sector. The north west has achieved a great deal ‘on not much
resource’ all participants agreed, remarking that there is, in general, ‘a poverty
culture’ in the sector at regional and local levels which is in contrast to the
significant resources of London’s galleries both commercial and publicly funded.
Unlike the major London galleries, sponsorship is difficult to achieve from both
the corporate sector and, to a lesser degree, from trusts and foundations.
Larger venues described the complications of sponsorship in terms of a
‘perverse relationship so that if one commercial organisation substantially funds
the event they may have too much of an influence’ which is particularly true in
the ‘mill pond’ that is the region. The participants in the north west recognise the
dangers of being, and being seen as, ‘provincial’ and ‘self congratulatory’ and
building networks both within the region and beyond is seen as critical though
the resources to fuel this are few. On the other hand, it was reported that where
there is a national sponsor (for New Contemporaries) ‘they are not interested in
their exposure in this region – they want exposure in London’.
5
Turning Ambitions into Action, Arts Council England, March 2004
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The participants regard touring, both incoming and outgoing, as critical in order
to promote and network the region internationally. There is an emerging capacity
to build on initiatives e.g. the Liverpool Biennial ‘we work with people who go to
Rio de Janeiro’, but current Arts Council touring criteria, which require touring to
a minimum of two English regions, work against the sector.
There are interesting links developing between heritage and the contemporary
visual arts in the north west, focusing on heritage sites. Located in Cumbria, the
Georgian period Castlegate House collaborates with artists in the local
community to present contemporary paintings, sculptures, ceramics, jewellery
and glass with local historical references. Equally the Bluecoat Art Centre,
housed in one of the most distinctive buildings in the retail centre of Liverpool,
has an award-winning contemporary art gallery of national profile and a
successful retail craft gallery. Members of the Arts Council England’s Own Art
public purchasing scheme, both Castlegate House and the Bluecoat Art Centre
illustrate that contrasting contemporary work with the traditional environs of
heritage sites (cobbled courtyards, rugged stone exteriors, open fires, and
summer gardens) offers not only exciting settings but also provides commercial
opportunities for contemporary visual artists.
The Arts Centre's own promotions have achieved a national profile, with an
award-winning art gallery presenting a continuous programme of innovative
exhibitions, and a wide range of contemporary dance, music and other live
events. From the local to the international, this programme is culturally diverse in
its outlook, and is accompanied by an innovative participation programme.
In this and in other new initiatives, participants see a role for the Arts Council in
leadership and advocacy but stressed the need for this to be approached
strategically within the ‘broader environment’ of the sector rather than in only
‘directing organisations’ that are funded. In relation to advocacy, the Arts Council
is seen as having an important role in the collection and analysis of data that can
be used by both it and its funded organisations to identify achievements and
make the case for greater investment. Various organisations in the north west
region, especially those dealing with the promotion of culturally diverse visual
arts, felt that the Arts Council was increasingly responding to research and
review findings, stating ‘We are able to talk to key members within the Arts
Council here on a level that we are comfortable with and that is the only way we
can move forward, through understanding, collaboration, and partnerships’.
The most important partners were identified as other galleries, artists and artistcurators, designers, and to some degree the music sector though participants
agree that it ‘depends on the show’. In a minority of cases, private dealers and
auction houses were mentioned. For some, specific funders are critically
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important such as HEFCE (for university galleries) and the Arts Council for RFOs
(regularly funded organisations).
While this study concentrated on two parts of the region, other areas of the north
west were cited as important – the Morecambe Bay and Lancaster areas are
linked with South Cumbria while Preston and Cheshire have strong links to both
Manchester and Liverpool. All these areas are producing new and interesting
models of contemporary visual arts presentation. The larger metropolitan
organisations recognised the ‘need to work tentatively with those organisations
and not treat them as country cousins’. Indeed it was felt by an independent
curator that one of the strengths of the region is its capacity to ‘throw up a
distinction between the metropolitan and rural in an interesting way’.
In contrast to the London study, all the key players know each other and there is
a strong and growing exchange of information but all urged the importance of
keeping this informal rather than being coerced into more formal structures.
Indeed the degree of actual partnership shared between Manchester/Liverpool
and Cumbria was questioned by several participants who stated that while ‘there
is a dialogue there’ it would be a mistake to see the region as homogeneous.
There was, some Cumbrian participants said, a danger of forcing ‘these networks
- we work with Morecambe Bay and there is a limit beyond which any regional
connection becomes irrelevant - we have connections in Vermont, in Holland’.
With Cumbria having recently been transferred into Arts Council England North
West’s remit, there is a developing relationship with the southern areas while, at
the same time, many continue to retain links with the north east.
Local authority support, nationally, the second highest in this English region, is
complex; for example, in Cumbria there is a very small population base which
participants stated meant that there is a limited amount ‘left over to put into the
arts’. Equally, the local authority structures in Manchester and Liverpool (with ten
and five individual districts respectively) mean that the capacity of single districts
to support major regional or sub-regional facilities is compromised.
It is also observed by participants with knowledge of new graduates that there
are still few opportunities for quality, high-value work to be sold, ‘our graduates
sell at crafts fairs at Chelsea and then when the buyers come up here there are
no outlets’. The commercial art market in the region remains small and indeed
this is true generally outside London and the south east. There is some
commercial activity in the sector, largely in affluent areas or those with a tourist
market, but the quality of the offer is mixed and limited. With the increase in
urban living and the upturn in the economy, participants see potential for an
initiative to seed a commercial art market perhaps modelled on the successful
venture in Glasgow.
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6 Participation/ Audience Engagement/Inclusion/
Diversity
Developing new and diverse audiences, including reaching previously excluded
groups and encouraging participation, is a critical goal for Arts Council England,
and realised through increasing international opportunities for artists in England
through exchanges and collaborations. ‘We want to encourage an environment
where the arts reflect the full range and diversity of contemporary society’. 6
In the north west there is similarly a strong commitment to serving – responding
to and challenging – local audiences, which participants in Cumbria formulated
as ‘it’s the community, the people who live here, compared to the rest of the UK,
they have not had as much access, do not have preconceived ideas that exist in
urban areas’. On the other hand, this can be seen as setting problems in that
there is rooted resistance to the contemporary or rather there are ‘different
preconceived ideas’ which also offer opportunities, however other Cumbrian
participants stated that ‘you can do what you like, escape from the pigeon holes,
it is one of the best things about being in Cumbria’. Equally participants
highlighted the need to ‘develop serious critical debate in order to nurture an
interesting and complex culture’.
Environment is ‘a double edged sword’; people come to Cumbria with fixed
ideas, both residents and visitors, and even artists; ‘often artists are escaping the
urban in coming here’ Cumbrian participants stated. But generally the picture is
summed up as a ‘diverse, vibrant culture to work in, the audience is challenging
and not always easy – this is an environment in which you have to challenge and
get challenged’. This is evidenced in areas that remain largely white and
Eurocentric where ‘there is suddenly a recognition over the last 4 and 5 years
that racial diversity is coming through the higher education system’ where
student and staff recruitment is increasingly from overseas.
Despite the fact that many participants are incomers to the region (particularly in
Cumbria), the commitment to and excitement about what’s happening is
palpable. There is now a culture of origination – new initiatives that are also
rooted in local traditions such as the wedding programme at Grizedale or the
snow people project by Welfare State, ‘they didn’t make standard snow people
with carrots as noses and I said ‘why are you not making real snowmen’ and they
said ‘you gave us permission to be crazy’.
6
Turning Ambitions into Action, Arts Council England, March 2004
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Outside the local, media coverage and publicity, nationally and internationally is
identified as a barrier, a situation which one gallery curator described as ‘the art
world is London-centric though we are attracting people from Newcastle and
Birmingham, so we are getting people to notice what is going on here, although
sometimes it is even hard to get those that are on our on door step’ though it was
acknowledged that ‘national coverage helps attract local attention too’. In a wider
sense, the confidence and ambition of the north west is evident, this was best
expressed by an artist-led initiative which stated ‘we are not interested in
London, our focus is different, we look to Europe’. Work in Cumbria is looking at
subjects such as ‘white trash’ or issues of rural culture linked to farming and rural
deprivation though Cumbrian participants agreed that the focus for the
‘institutions is on racial cultural diversity’ which disadvantages contemporary
visual arts organisations based in largely white areas in opportunities to bid for
regional funds. The Arts Council has similarly identified the need to address and
develop these newest of new audiences through their ‘New Audiences’ scheme.
Commitment to cultural diversity and developing audiences is evident across the
region but there is concern that both funding regimes and venues do not take a
sufficiently flexible approach. There is however increased support from the Arts
Council and other regional bodies, a recognition of the need to present and
promote culturally diverse visual art, as well as a dedication to meet the needs of
artists and curators producing this work. Issues faced include a general lack of
knowledge about the range of specialisations that exist, a tendency for
programmes to exoticise the work, and underestimation of the size and diversity
of potential audiences, participants working in culturally specific visual arts
advocacy agencies stated that ‘often galleries complain that the audience
doesn’t show, but they need to be committed to developing these new culturally
aware audiences, it really does need developing, and that does take time’.
There was a feeling among participants working within the culturally diverse
visual arts that cultural tensions ‘resulting from the way in which media is
portraying immigration and Muslims’ is affecting British artists of Asian descent:
‘they have refocused on issues around identity, it’s like they have gone back in
time by 20 years. In terms of cultural diversity we have sort of already ‘been
there’, and some artists do go on to the mainstream platforms but others feel
vulnerable and need support mechanisms to deal with this political climate’. It
was observed that culturally diverse artists of the 80’s produced largely
contemporary visual art, and today the work presented includes references to,
and examination of, more traditional arts and crafts. Working with outreach
departments and talking to schools were seen as the most effective ways in
which to develop audiences for culturally diverse visual arts.
Some participants feel that there are cultural barriers, ‘huge hesitation of
audiences in the north west to embrace real, new and innovative work, majority
of contemporary visual arts is presented in a historical context’. There were a
number of instances where participants identified the lack of a strategy at either
national or regional level particularly in the context of audience development.
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Principles of audience development were discussed and it was pointed out that
this embraces a more sophisticated process than merely ‘more people’,
Manchester and Liverpool participants agreed that, by its very nature,
‘community work hits small numbers and there is confusion between numbers
and goals reached’.
While all participants engaged in some form of development and many in direct
participation projects, there was concern generally that this must not detract from
the core mission and sector becoming, as one independent organisation stated,
‘the basket for other types of social agendas’. So while the principle is good,
participants agree that ‘responsibility needs to be shared’.
Many of the galleries, both commercial, local authority, and independent, are
engaged with schools and the strong view emerged that ‘we are supposed to fill
the art curriculum that is not met by schools, we are used as a resource’. This
was not necessarily felt to be positive in that the organisations do not have the
resources, nor is it their mission, to fulfil this role. Arts Council England is
committed to a fundamental right of access to high quality arts for young people
in schools but also recognises that curriculum-based education should be
provided in gallery settings, an area which requires further investment in the
north west.7
With reference to the survey data, participants questioned the large number of
organisations that reported their highest income as coming from sales;
participants pointed out that commercial venues ‘they don’t need to know how
many people come through the door – they are driven by sales not numbers’.
However, as the data also shows, even those organisations operating in the
public or voluntary sector have significant earned income from diverse sources.
7 New Practices/ Technologies/ Regeneration
Opportunities
Throughout the region there is a wealth of emerging new practice sometimes
linked to new technology but equally to the enterprise and creativity that
characterises the sector in the region.
7
Turning Ambitions into Action, Arts Council England, March 2004
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There are strong developments in publishing both in relation to content e.g.
magazines such as Flux, and distribution e.g. Cornerhouse’ international
distribution service. The markets and the drivers are closely allied, which was
formulated by one magazine as ‘the advertisers are probably our consumers the drinks people, fashion people’. In this area, they went on to say, the
relationship with London did emerge as an issue, ‘in the English regions we have
good links, but we feel stifled because we need to be taken notice of in London’.
In line with Arts Council England’s recognition of the value of art to other national
and local development objectives8, the sector’s role in regeneration was
highlighted both in relation to buildings and facilities, and in public and
environmental arts and wider events. Architects describe the benefits of working
with curators and artists as a fulfilling and effective process stating that ‘urban
renewal is often about changing the perception of an area – artists have a
potentially large role here as they can get to the essence, the heart, the soul of
an area’.
Architects reported that they often felt encumbered by fundamental design
issues such as keeping the water out and getting planning permission while
‘visual artists get freer thought processes flowing. Good design is becoming
more integral so having these people around, artists that fill the executive advisor
roles, is very helpful’.
There are also notable instances of planning gain investment to build facilities
e.g. Castlefield Gallery, or regeneration monies to fund public art. Public art as a
regeneration tool is seen as a catalyst, improving the quality and usefulness of
the built environment through, often collaborative, penetration of, what one public
art agency called, ‘the hard shell of habit, pragmatism and predictability that
characterises the built environment with the aim to generate space for a more
responsive and differentiated approach, releasing creative capacities that are
otherwise squeezed out’. Some participants felt that while the Arts Council has
ceased to offer a national perspective on the direction of public art, there is a
sense of the relatively progressive priorities of the Arts Council England North
West and the North West Development Agency.
The sector is effective at brokering cultural links e.g. in Rochdale, which has a
large Bangladeshi community, the sector acts as a bridge between the
community and the built environment. Many believe that contemporary visual arts
‘is empowering design etc as an economic driver’ but recognise that this is
difficult to prove and there was a suggestion that there should be ‘an attempt to
8
ibid
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look at the influence of contemporary visual arts on the rest of the visual arts and
design ecology’.
It was observed that there is a lack of strategic vision, nationally and regionally,
to develop the potential of regeneration focused funding streams; participants at
the Manchester and Liverpool focus groups said ‘we can’t wait to see what
happens over the next ten years, we need to structure this, plan this – we need
to look at pan-regional opportunities such as the Northern Way’. However, a
need for the Regional Development Agencies to train officers and redefine the
potential of public art was seen as a good initiative best endorsed nationally by
English Partnerships, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, CABE and the national
Arts Council of England rather than coming from the regional level.
This strand of work has considerable resource potential and impact related to
new audiences, diversity and inclusion, and equally an enthusiastic following
among artists, curators and independent art spaces. But what participants say is
lacking ‘is the organisational and strategic role of the Arts Council and how it
uses its funds’ to support and develop this area.
Generally, participants feel the Arts Council is failing to be sufficiently confident
about the potential of the sector, ‘there is a lack of bravery, a lack of
understanding of dynamics of the broader sense of contemporary visual arts’.
Equally participants were concerned that the parity across the regions agenda
could result in too thin a spread of the resources available, as a Manchester
gallery remarked, ‘more venues is a good thing, even if this creates competition it
creates a critical mass’. All recognise the difficulties the Arts Council faces
financially but those funded through public sources lament that ‘money for
programming is hard to come by’ and ‘as a consequence we are presenting a
certain type of art and we need to find different ways’. Participants reported a
great deal of respect between different types of organisation that offer different
experiences, ‘it’s not an either or situation…, we all need different modes of
presentation for different ways of working, but we all need to grow’. Likewise
there was an awareness of the need to avoid competition between similar
organisations for the same funding sources.
In some cases the broad practice of some organisations means they face
barriers from the Arts Council; several participants in each of the areas in the
north west stated ‘we have difficulties because we cross over different sectors –
they can’t categorise us’. So there is an issue here that on the one hand, the
sector and its funders are keen to explore contemporary visual arts practice in
relation to wider sectors both cultural and other but on the other, the funding
structures then have a difficulty with definition.
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All the participants have websites, which are currently mostly used for
information transmission and recruitment though it was recognised by one
company of artists who pioneer new approaches to the arts of celebration that
with the tyranny of distance it is vital to use these new technologies’. In relation
to using new technologies for developing content, all agreed that it is part of the
future but ‘the danger is that it could become a new bandwagon’ and the Arts
Council was urged to support, rather than drive, this agenda.
Using new technologies for learning is gaining currency, ‘online distance learners
is driven through funding organisations’ and in Cumbria the proposed Cumbria
University (with over £100 million committed) is seen as a major opportunity for
contemporary visual arts across the county.
8 Perceptions and the Wider Realm
Participants reported the relative poverty of the contemporary visual arts in
relation to other funded sectors, even larger well established contemporary visual
art venues in Manchester stated ‘we are the poor relation sitting around the table
with large performance art organisations’ though it is recognised that exciting
new cross sectoral collaborations would be desirable. There is a sense in which
the sector feels it has achieved a good deal in terms of practice and engagement
of audiences but the ‘great leap forward’ is still not quite realised.
Participants felt that the drive to engage with social issues has both a positive
and a negative impact; the statement ‘apparently health is important to art at the
moment’ elicited a largely-shared cynical response, not because participants
doubt the role of the sector in relation to health but that for it to be seen primarily
in this context is to under-value and undermine contemporary visual arts and is a
denial of its specific cultural worth.
The position of crafts and its relationship to contemporary visual arts was
interesting; participants had a palpable ambivalence and an uncertainty about
much of crafts’ contemporary artistic value. There is a prevailing view that the
Arts Council should produce some principles that guide the relationship between
crafts and the contemporary visual arts and more generally establish a clearer
definition of the term; contemporary does not, for example, simply mean work
produced by living artists.
Participants reported a range of initiatives linked with wider artistic practice, such
as music, and with other agendas or contexts such as prisons and science. That
these tend to be sporadic is recognised as inevitable and even desirable – the
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sector should not wish to align itself too closely to any particular area and in the
end a good working relationship is fuelled by money.
Finally, participants raised the issue of VAT in relation to the discrepancy of tax
exemption between regional galleries and those funded directly by DCMS.
9 Suggested Changes
Everyone participating in the two groups was asked to identify one change they
would like to see as a result of this study. These are the results, in no particular
order, but they demonstrate the passion, sagacity and commitment that
characterised the consultations with the sector.

Intelligent, effective, appropriate advocacy to increase the resources
available for contemporary visual arts - get art on the agenda instead of
culture.

Resist formulaic thinking about ‘Art’ ‘Society’ ‘Regeneration’ – try ‘Gallery of
the Streets’.

Foster an appreciation of and recognition for the true value of art from the
‘forces that be’ (as opposed to instrumentalising it).

Be creative and don’t squeeze the sector into boxes to get money.

Be aware of the wider opportunities for the sector – the range of art
organisations and the creative industries, the value of art in society, the
health of our communities.

Support and listen to the sector’s regularly funded organisations rather than
directing or bullying them.

Recognise the ‘specific strengths’ of individual organisations and trust them.

Allow and encourage innovation and risk.

Campaign for VAT exemption for independent galleries.

Re-write the National Curriculum for the arts in key stages 3 and 4.

Ensure stronger advocacy based on more resources going into developing
robust data capture (not necessarily just those organisations supported by the
Arts Council).

Make the development of the contemporary visual arts a political priority.

Recognise different spaces are functioning in different ways thus no
application of one set of criteria applies for everyone; use more subtlety, more
judgement in the appraisal of the whole sector.
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
Consider how magazines and other media fit in – not just in the literary sense
but as providing a forum/presentation point for culture, and funding this.

Invest in training for commercial sector operations to develop more
independent galleries that can reduce financial risk and increase new sources
of funding.

Be braver, be bolder, be more strategic, more of a lobbying power for the
sector at levels where it matters.

Recognise the contemporary visual arts’ importance to the cultural economy
– shout about it!

Scrap the necessity for finding partners to be eligible for funding for touring
projects.
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10 List of Participants
Alistair Hudson
Deputy Director
Grizedale Arts, Cumbria
Alnoor Mitha
Director
Shisha, Manchester
Bev Bytheway
Independent Curator
Manchester and the region
Caroline Carr-Whitworth Curator of Art
English Heritage North, Salford
Claire Lomax
Editor
Flux, Manchester
Dave Moutrey
Director
Cornerhouse, Manchester
David McCall
Director
OMI Architects, Salford
Fiona Venables
Visual Arts Officer
Tullie House, Carlisle
Geoff Wood
Director
Working pArts
Gill Henderson
Director
FACT, Liverpool
Hannah Neale
Curator
Abbot Hall, Ambleside
Ian Farren
Head of School
Cumbrian Institute of the Arts, Carlisle
Ivan Wadeson
Chief Executive
Arts About Manchester, Manchester
John Fox
Artistic Director
Welfare State International, Ulverston
Kate Brundrett
Network Co-ordinator
The Cumbrian Network
Lindsay Brooks
Curator
The Lowry, Salford
Patrick Henry
Director
Open Eye, Liverpool
Paul Domela
Deputy Chief Executive
Liverpool Bienniel
Paulette Brien
Director
International 3, Manchester
Sarah Champion Director
Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester
Scott Burnham
Creative Director
Urbis, Manchester
Stephen Snoddy
Director/curator
Manchester[now Walsall Gallery]
Steve Messam
Director
Fold Gallery, Kirby Stephen
Stuart Bastik
Board of Directors
Art Gene, Barrow
Tim Wilcox
Principal Curator,
Manchester Art Gallery
Exhibitions
Yuen Fong Ling
Programme Director
Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
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