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New facilities, centralised funding and a reinvigorated Arts Commission are just some of the aims of a working group that has vowed to deliver a brighter future for the creative arts.
The Arts Strategy Working Group has today published a wide-ranging report on the future of the arts in Guernsey and the obstacles facing creators and consumers.
The report recommends five actions:
The Group's chairman Dave Warr said:
“A better resourced, more autonomous Guernsey Arts Commission – one which receives and redistributes all arts-related grants from the States – is key to delivering a successful arts strategy.
"Investment in the arts should be professionalized, with funding – whether from the States or from business – being linked to measurable objectives relating to health, wellbeing and community benefits. This will encourage greater investment, help facilitate the creation of new and improved arts facilities, and put Guernsey on the creative map.”
The Group’s recommendations have been informed by consultations including a sector event at St James and a public survey with 700 respondents.
Pictured: Wayne Bulpitt
An implementation group, funded by the Community Foundation, has been charged with delivering on the report’s recommendations.
Its Chairman Wayne Bulpitt said: “The Working Group has delivered a comprehensive report that offers a clear vision for the future of the arts and recommends the steps needed to make that vision a reality. The Implementation Group will make sure that the report doesn’t just sit on the shelf. We will create a detailed action plan that, with the support of the States, will transform the wider arts sector for the benefit of the Island.”
The Education, Sport & Culture Committee has endorsed the report as part of its wider plan for the arts.
The Committee's president Deputy Matt Fallaize said: “When the Committee was elected early last year, we were made aware of a widespread view throughout the arts community that greater support and co-ordination for the arts was needed and so we were happy to support the establishment of the Arts Strategy Working Group.
“The report from the ASWG sets out clear and ambitious recommendations which will be invaluable to the Committee when creating our plan for the arts, which we intend to complete before the end of 2019. We will then put this before the States along with our plans for sport, the language, transforming education and heritage."
Working group member and art collector David Ummels said making a living out of your artistic talent requires a broad skillset that not everyone has.
"Being an artist means essentially being a single entrepreneur.
“The sector is made up of a collection of individuals and organisations which are relatively self-centred and focus essentially on their own specific interest, with very often budgetary survival in mind and little business development vision.”
In his report to the working group, Mr Ummels said art-related organisations have the same problems and that many "could offer immense value to the community, but remain relatively anonymous because of their lack of non-artistic skills or experience."
He concluded: "That is why having patrons, galleries, or private or public institutions supporting the arts sector makes a lot of sense, hence the need to create a credible centralised platform or conduit between artists and prospective funders.”
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