Arts Council still relegates participation to consumption, in the arts

VILLAGEAugust/September 

HEILA Pratschke, chairperson of the

Arts Council, has boldly declared that

the Arts Council needs “to conceive

of our activities in a diﬀerent way. We can’t

keep shrinking to ﬁt the budget. We have to

be more imaginative and proactive”.

This ambition is now being tested as the

Arts Council publishes the report of a steer-

ing group established to review its work as a

ﬁrst step in developing a strategic plan.

The central proposal is that the Arts

Council should reposition itself as “the

development agency for the arts focussed

on the public good”. While the report sug-

gests this is a “transformation”, it cannot

really be seen as much more than a shift in

emphasis from its previous branding as ‘The

Arts Council Funding the Arts’.

There is some focus on what a develop-

ment agency would do – proﬁle the needs of

arts areas within its mandate, identify pri-

ority areas for strategic action and inﬂuence

the environment for the arts. There is little

focus on what this developmental role might

seek to achieve. The Arts Council would

become an informed lobbyist for the needs

of the arts with its current funding role

expanded to embrace policy and research

activities. This might well be proactive but

it is less than imaginative.

The review emphasises a focus on the

“public” and the “public good”. However,

it fails to acknowledge the diﬀerent publics

that exist – other than ‘young people’ and

‘children’.

Deploying the artless and depressing,

if telltale, jargon of the administrator the

proposals suggest placing “the public at

the centre of the new Arts Council mission

statement” but fail to develop any analysis

of the implications of the inequalities and

divisions in our society for the role of the

Arts Council.

The report acknowledges “large sections

of the population, chieﬂy deﬁned by socio-

economic circumstances, but critically

related to educational attain-

ment, do not engage in the arts”.

However, it makes no proposals

on how to respond to this ine-

quality other than for the Arts

Council to “identify children and

young people as a primary stra-

tegic priority” so as to “broaden

the socio-economic proﬁle of

those engaging with the arts”.

One challenging ﬁnding in

the review is that “there seems

little emphasis on engagement

and participation as a fundamen-

tal and valued aspect of the arts

in Irish society”. This apparent

call to recognise the creativity of

people, as opposed to relegating

people to consumers of the pro-

fessional arts, holds promise. However,

it is not addressed in the proposals and is

undermined by an elitism that limits it to

the “amateur arts”.

The review oﬀers little to those currently

outside the Council’s concern with the pro-

fessional arts. It suggests that the Arts

Council articulate how such areas of activ-

ity might be “valued and supported (if not

always ﬁnancially)” because of their critical

role in public engagement” and as “pathways

to the professional domain”. So: a pat on the

head for endeavour and no understanding

of the social gains from enfranchising peo-

ple’s creativity.

One promising ﬁnding of the review sug-

gests the need for dialogue between the

“Arts Council, the arts sector, partners and

stakeholders and a range of other individu-

als and organisations with an allegiance to

the public good and to the development of

creative communities and a culture of inno-

vation in which the arts are seen to have a

unique and important role”. A bit of imag-

ination and pro-activity could make this

focus on building creative communities

more central to the role suggested for the

Arts Council, but it remains for the moment

undeveloped.

The UN’s International Covenant on

Economic, Social and Cultural Rights estab-

lishes the right to “take part in cultural life”.

New Irish legislation requires public bodies

to set out in their strategic plans an assess-

ment of the human rights and equality issues

relevant to their functions and purpose and

the policies and actions in place or proposed

to address these issues.

The Arts Council is bound by this and

obliged to see its “public” in terms of diver-

sity and inequality. It is required to make

provision for this diverse and divided

public not just as consumers of arts and

culture but also as creators of arts and cul-

ture to give real meaning to the term “take

part” in cultural life. The review does not

oﬀer a promising starting point for this

challenge. •

CULTURE ARTS COUNCIL

Arts Council still relegates

participation to consumption,

in the arts

Shift from funding, to development and public good, not transformational.

By Niall Crowley

A pat on the

head for

endeavour

and no

understanding

of the social

gains from

enfranchising

people’s

creativity

“

a balance: professionalism and participation