Public Art -

How do I - do with "the powers" – how do "they" do with me!

Most artists work as sole practitioners. For public art projects they find themselves linking in with structured non-specialist organisations over intense periods of time. They are often working under keen time pressures. Mostly, experienced artists are well used to linking in with a variety of organisations and funders to achieve/develop objects, projects, events or small organisations of their own. They get by navigating these systems.

Sometimes organisational systems, for the artist, can seem more daunting than is necessary. This can be true for loads of reasons for this but mostly its due to poor communication and failure to really "think-into" the process. The commissioning organisation can lack resources, expertise and confidence to support the artistic interaction with their organisation. You might have a fantastic strong and dynamic project manager who can navigate a project through the system, but sometimes organisations take on projects with the intention of supporting artists work – and they are stymied by their own organisational cultures. Frustrations then arise for everyone.

With more traditional organisations, after a public art work/project is selected, pass into or through systems which are about regularity, transparency and daily procedures. These factors need consideration at the brief and proposal stage and should be thought through by the organisation and the artist. Procedures designed to support ongoing management rather than one-off projects can be difficult to take on if it seems like a barrier to action. Sometimes the artists need for ongoing idea resolution and fluidity when working through ideas is misunderstood by the organisation.

Good communications is about more than goodwill -public arts projects within more traditional organisational contexts involve lots of negotiation. So its really important that unspoken expectations can be freely and fairly raised should issues arise.

Generally management of public monies veers towards systematisation as a methodology of transparency. Organisations who support public arts projects may be doing so very irregularly and often don't have the experience of cultural of fluidity that matches that of the artist. This shouldn't be translated into a lack of respect or deliberate obtuseness – but a two way understanding of very different work cultures.
For some artists as ideas become externalised and integrated within systems there can be a real sense of deflation. Ownership of their idea passes into a group. The original idea can seem diluted through negotiations. This feeling can be particularly strong when due to unforeseen circumstances there are decisions made that seem for the artist to reduce the ambition of their proposal/ vision. There is a sense that integrity of the project is being compromised by the organisation rather than supported by it. Sometimes artists find an unfair bias towards non-transparent organisational cultures, where there are assumptions about their understanding of organisations and processes.

Artistic disillusionment tends to manifest with far greater force for the sole practitioner because they do not have the same structures of support. For many artists work in these projects is more integrated into their lives and there is a greater blur between life and work. The emotional drivers/ motivation for participation can quite different from the organisation. The artists and the organisations need to be clear, set the scope, depth and temperature of their relationships. Artists need to be aware of the structured frameworks that form the organisations. The organisations need consider how best they can work with commissioned artists to achieve a mutually agreed outcome over a responsible period of time.