Responding Creatively to Crisis

Artworks Alliance’s gathering on 19th October 2022 focussed on the cost of living crisis. As the cost of living crisis hits hard and people are struggling with the soaring cost of living, we wanted to explore how participatory artists, organisations and participants are faring and how Artworks Alliance, as a member-led network could respond creatively to the extraordinary times in which we’re living and working.

The Zoom session ran from 9-30 am to 12 pm. The first half of the session focussed on the impact of the cost of living crisis in three key areas; on participants, on practitioners and on the fight for resources. Each area was discussed by a small group in a break-out room and then fed back to the larger group for further discussion.

The Impact of the Cost of Living Crisis

The impact on participants was of great concern to all those present. The group talked about the range of challenges poorer communities and individuals are experiencing and the danger that art-based activities can seem irrelevant to some – at a time when we all believe participatory arts has such an important role to play.

“When people can’t pay for heating or food, the arts become a luxury”

The fight for resources was discussed in depth. So many practitioners and organisations are playing “catch-up” as a result of the pandemic. People are feeling pressured and it has become very challenging to find funders that are prepared to be flexible and responsive.

“The cost of living is making applying for funding more competitive and taking up time that could be spent otherwise”

The impact on practitioners was explored by a third small group. We discussed how the lingering effects of Covid mean that many practitioners we are still in a state of flux and uncertainty. Practitioners and organisations have pushed themselves almost to the limit during the Pandemic. We all have a lot of emotions that we haven’t fully processed and are still ever-present.

“We are in a place of precariousness – feeling constantly that we  need to prove our value and therefore needing to work harder,  better,  longer and smarter”

Participants in this discussion are often working with people who are deeply affected by the crisis. How can we hold the experiences and emotions of participants whilst at the same time keeping ourselves well? We have a strong sense of responsibility for others and don’t want to let people down, but we also need to look after our own health and well-being and to do this we need to establish professional boundaries.

“How do we support and encourage others without developing dependency? Expectations have changed during Covid and we are being asked to and are expecting ourselves to do things we would never have taken on previously”.

How can Artworks Alliance respond to what is needed now?  

The second half of the morning we switched focus to explore what members want from Artworks Alliance at this time. Once again we split off into three break-out rooms to discuss the aspects that interested us most, before opening up a whole-group discussion.  

Themes for future gatherings and Forums were explored by the first break-out group, including creative wellbeing, storytelling in evaluation, sustainability in our work, trauma-informed practice, and keeping practitioners and participants safe.

Funding Artworks Alliance was the focus of the second break-out room. We talked a lot about collaboration and the ways in which individuals and organisations could work together to develop joint training and networking opportunities. The network is highly valued by members but we are not always very effective in capturing and communicating this value to prospective funders. Once again it was felt that we could work together to gather both qualitative and quantitative data and we could approach the dissemination of our messages in more creative ways. This could be a way of drawing on the skills of freelancers in the network to create art works as forms of advocacy, get better at raising the profile of Artworks Alliance and increase our brand visibility.

What do we want from Artworks Alliance? was discussed by the third break-out group. Key themes that emerged were:

• Creating a community of likeminded people – Members said they valued the opportunity to connect with other people in the sector to discuss ideas, challenges, support each other, create a network and share news or stories about their work.
• Advocacy for the sector – People agreed the network has a role in looking at ways to support the participatory arts sector. It can provide peer to peer support in finding useful resources and organisations for potential partnerships or opportunities.
• Promoting a federated approach to Continuing Professional Development – The network could provide targeted support for participatory artists at different career stages including networking and shadow working with participatory artists in different regions.

Thank you to everyone who came together in October attended the gathering and inputted into these lively and important discussions. The conversations we are having during these extraordinary times are crucial for the sector and as we look forward to 2023, Artworks Alliance as a member-led network will continue to offer opportunities for participatory arts practitioners to meet together with peers in our sector across the UK, to grow our networks and share our learning.