As you might have noticed by now I am convinced that the arts sector needs to look towards other funding models and that our reliance on public funding and generous donors has to end. I would like to clarify that I would not like to see a total abandonment of these forms of funding, but to my mind, these should be the icing on the cake and not the premier go to de-facto method of funding. We need to have the backing by state and private funds, we need the endorsement especially when we are talking to or looking to enter foreign markets, the Arts Council logo attached to your work speaks a thousands words and shows that the artistic quality that we provide is of the highest standard. However we also need to be fair to our public funders and make the situation, I dare to say easier as they have another more specific function that we need them to operate, that of addressing and lobbying government policy towards the arts. Anything that we can do to show them that we are a financially aware sector, able to look at and address other options to be financially secure, not only decreases the burden and conversations we have with the various department heads but also means that they can go to government and show that the sector is trying and succeeding in being financially secure. Imagine for one moment how this piece of information would impact on government. I know that this does not sit well with the sector as a whole and that current thought would be that if we were able to survive without public money, public money would be cut completely.
Now if we look at the investment increase that has been afforded to the corporate sector I think it can be demonstrated that governments like to fund success, being blunt, it looks good for them if the sector thrives, so they will pay. They will not pay for a sector in decline because they cannot demonstrate the positive effects that a vibrant and financially secure sector can provide.It becomes a benefit and not a cash cow, especially when it is taken against health or social welfare services.
So what methods are there to get funding? For this let’s look again at the corporate sector and the opportunities open to them as a lot of start-ups and SME’s face the same problems as we do in the arts sector in regards to access to finance. Traditional ways of getting finance still exist, from family and friends or in our case as well our supporters. Banks have a remit to lend to SME’s but in reality this finance is limited by the ability to pay, something I am sure a lot of us have had the opportunity to test of late when we have asked the same question. Then there are the local enterprise boards and state agencies who can offer different funding options as well as associated services like mentoring and business advice. The other funding opportunities are relatively new to Ireland, by this I mean that they have only been on the main stage for the past thirty years or so. This encompasses Venture Capitalists, Seed Funds and more recently Angel Investors who look to invest but normally take some type of equity in the business. Who would want equity in an arts organisation, we might be surprised. A lot of companies are looking at their corporate social responsibility models and a lot are finding them inadequate. Could these companies act as angel investors in the arts sector?
I know I said I would look at the corporate sector first but just think about this for one second so that it gives you an idea of my train of thought. Imagine what impact it would have on a corporate company looking to invest in an arts organisation but they might be concerned that firstly there is no return possible on the investment and also they are concerned that the fit is not quite correct when the arts organisation is taken alongside a much needed service to solve an even more emotional societal issue, like child cancer.
Now what would be the outcome if the arts organisation said to the company, we do not want you to be solely a donor, in fact we want to treat this as an investment on which we will offer you a return on the amount invested in return we would like to access some of the commercial experience you have gained to help us with our business model and implementation. Now this becomes a totally different ball game. The company is no longer giving but it is also receiving. They are also not thinking of themselves as just passive givers who are part with their money to help society but they can feel and see themselves as a major part of the sector. A lot of organisations I have spoken to reiterate that they want to help, but not in a volunteer or charity way but they want to be able to help using the experience they have gained towards society. Ethics has come of age, it’s true corporates do care and more importantly want to care, to be part of. However, if we, as a sector, use the knowledge that these corporates do in a business way, we could look towards financial independence.
There will, of course, be casualties, unfortunately it is the very nature of things, call it natural selection. There will be some organisations that will not survive and some that do probably should not have. Maybe this shake up of the sector will provide positive benefits and a shake up of the old order is never a bad thing.
Ian Oliver
Head of Operations
Head of Operations at Letcombe Production I have been working in the arts and culture sector for over 20 years in Ireland. I am passionate about business development for artists and creatives as well as building totally inclusive societies.
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This misses the whole point of public / state funding. It is a guarantee, not of great art – artists are the guarantors of great art – but a guarantee of public value, so, the state (the collective) does have a return on its ‘investment’. We really do have to shift our cultural understanding of the purpose of art and why support by the collective is legitimate and stop forcing a narrow model of economic value onto what is a participatory rather than a consumerist process!!
Declan I would totally agree with what you say. The issue that I wanted to highlight is the total dependence on state funding. Without art we cannot highlight the issues that we face today, we will have no perspective on what we do and do not know about society, climate, the environment, wars etc. But, and there is a big but here, artists need to be able to survive in order to generate great art. The funding pot needs to be spread out more and more in order to acheive this. Having worked directly with artists for over 15 years and having talked to them on numerous occasions, I have seen first hand the issues around generating enough money to survive. The number of artists who have dropped out from the sector is incredible, some of these could have become the producers of great art. Another issue I have encountered is the grant application process itself and the distribution of public funding. Again, the number of artists who do not receive grants outweighs the number who do. I understand this as the amount of money available isn’t enough for everyone, and not everyone should be funded. My thoughts really were to get aristis and arts organisation to broaden their scope in where they look for fudning, the type of funding and the benefits that collaborations outside the sector can bring.
Regarding artistic production not every work of art has a monetary value, nor should it. The most thought-provoking works of art tend to be those that do not find themselves in personal collections and therefore I feel that what I am suggesting is as far away from a consumerist process as you can get. On the other hand, certain works that the same artists produce can have a sales value. Not all art can be produced in a vacuum, artists need to understand this as do the gatekeepers. We need to look at how we can supprt the production of great art, not destroy it, while providing income for those who produce great art and allowing others the abilty to also produce great art.
Art should be accessiable to all and we should be opening and enlarging the role that arts can play in society rather than narrow or limit the access and production of art. I used to teach creative thinking. One of the models I used was Edward de Bono’s PO statements where you are forced to consider what if’s in a deep way to find or identify new ideas, new solutions and this is what the article is all about. Lets look at alternatives, solutions, areas of and access to funding and not be constrained by the so called norm. The norm needs to be broken apart so that we can truly produce great art.