Art of England (issue 68, 2010) has published a short piece of mine. It is about the ‘grants welfare state’ and proposes that artists should be funded more as investments, over a few years, leading to artistic and financial success, rather than supported through project grants.
I see this as a recurring theme of relevance to artists as the future for many will require them to become far more entrepreneurial and commercial. Financial difficulties within public sector funders will only be heightened with rising public debt. There is, too, the continuing debate whether art has intrinsic value and should be funded for its own worth — but of course the problem as always is deciding the features of intrinsic worth.
It also points to the need for more commercial content in the post-secondary arts curriculum. Should art schools and business schools develop some common courses for students to hone their abilities?
