Juliana I'm sure your intentions are well meaning but the lack of a response to Leigh and Paula's criticisms (copy below) may lead folk to conclude they are accurate.
A mini straw poll amongst others I know who saw your messages suggests many are equally unclear or wary of replying in full (e.g. "are they asking me to copy out my address book and give my friends marks for the amount of support they give to my practice?") Personally I don't like forwarding things I dont fully understand. What does "IT Scottish Arts Infrastructure" mean? Does the IT stand for information technology? Is someone (other than Simon Yuill) planning on giving computers to artists who don't have them? Who else is on the advisory board? What happens to people's responses? I would like be kept informed of developments and to support your research, but would like to know more before proceeding. cheers Robb ---------------------------------- http://www.chateaugateau.co.uk ---------------------------------- >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: Variant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:07 am Subject: Re: NAN pilot Scotland Dear Juliana Thank you for the request / invitation -- I've forwarded it on to others who might be interested. In fear of repeating myself: I'm not at all clear what forms of �networking� you're advocating and to what ends, or why this is actually relevant especially in the current climate? Is this not a distraction from the important issues facing artists in Scotland? Is this -- yet another -- �consultation� being funded by the SAC? (Would someone please, please work out for me just how much money is being spent on SAC consultancies and the costs of outsourcing at the expense of funding actual artists projects!) When it comes to public funding bodies, a myth of �networking� is that it is open, universally accessible, that there is a process in motion that we have equal access to and are able to influence, clearly they don't behave that way -- we're only just finding out the vague rudiments of instigating an �IT Scottish Arts Infrastructure� -- whatever it may be. Many forms of relationships (which include physical projects) currently exist that DO NOT require additional �networking� (whatever that may be), what they DO NEED is simply support to function, to grow (i.e. money, no strings attached). My concern is: what exists organically, on the ground, within the arts communities in Scotland (which by their very nature are, en masse, pluralistic, disparate, polyphonic) is being dismissed, as they do not match an overarching bureaucratic structure and its momentary agendas. We simply do not need yet another administrative agency, another training body, more managerial clap-trap! And in Scotland, we certainly don't need any more research / consultations (enough already) -- the purloining of funding away from actual activity, especially when the funders� official line is that funding is �oversubscribed� (lets apply that term to "consultations", it doesn't happen!). It truly appears that there's a fear in actually putting support into genuine projects in Scotland, rather than yet more paper trails. There's the Scottish Artists Union which is supposed to provide a platform, I'm unaware that they are doing so effectively or are in a position to do so-- they should be. Glasgow City Council held �Just 5 minutes� platform / exchange events mainly for the theatre sector -- these at least were instructive as they actually gave practitioners (limited) access to funders / supporters, more importantly they gave funders / supporters uncurbed access to practitioners� concerns. Q) I would be very grateful and interested to hear about how you work together with other artists... Variant is free and publicly accessible online and at the broadest set of venues throughout the UK & Ireland, and beyond. It's a small, independent, non-core funded, artist-run project based in Glasgow and Belfast that works with artists & writers internationally. How we actually manage to do so in the current climate is a very good question... Q) what initiatives would be useful to artists living in your area... Giving artists� groups the money that is being ploughed into pointless consultations would be a start -- relatively, a very large start considering the disproportionate figures involved. Actual funding that allows individuals and groups the long term security to develop and to run projects that provide platforms for debate and discussion amongst artists and the wider public. Basically, to fund what's here, to support / �allow� a mature culture to develop -- I would advocate CORE funding: GMAC; Community Radio; Indi Media Scotland; New Media Provision; independent International Film Festivals; Matters; Variant; Product; discussion platforms and conferences, and their wider publishing; academic books; a raft of zines and independent publications; and much, much more... basically, that which gives a voice to and aids dissemination of cultural activity, collectively, to a broad public. HOW?: rather than funding needless public / private sector consultancies, rhetorical questionnaires, oblique training schemes, and the swathe of repugnant managerialism generally that leeches off cultural activity today. �Culture� in Scotland is one of the few devolved areas. We have voted to have the opportunity to �do this differently�, we should be taking the opportunity to do so. If those in positions of power are unwilling or unable to do so, then they should go. Q) How does your network enable the continued development of your practice? Do you feel that you have skills, experience or information which could be useful to other artists around Scotland? Is there an area of specific interest that you would like to be able to discuss with others around the country? Do you feel that an IT Scottish Arts Infrastructure would be an important development for Scottish artists and artists' networks? Or would you just like to register your interest in order to be kept up to date with the progress of the NAN pilot? What is a (singular!) �IT Scottish Arts Infrastructure�? And where did this �suddenly� come from? Is that another way of saying the outsourcing of the SAC�s Opportunities Bulletin, or the outsourcing of other aspects of the SAC? At what cost and to be overseen by who? If you mean something similar to Arts News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> the Arts Council England's "arts news" mailing list, where ANYONE subscribed can e-mail to EVERYONE or to individuals on the list, Variant advocated this a couple of years ago, researched support and held meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh (all of this was totally unfunded) -- there was overwhelming support for such a FREE, DEMOCRATIC resource -- it makes more sense than a centralised SAC bulletin mail out, which should be included in such an e-list anyway. Surely, we don't need dragging backwards through a hedge to get such a basic common sense resource -- if that's what's on the cards? If it's a scheme to plug job creation jobs, or if you have to financially subscribe to access otherwise what can and should be free information, it's of no help or interest (and a tendency towards monopoly, rather than support for cultural activity would have to be investigated -- who remembers the [Scottish] British Council's Overseas Opportunities Bulletin which rapidly disappeared once the [publicly funded] body started charging for it!) Like most artist-run projects in Scotland, Variant �is� a network of concerned individuals and groups. Like most contemporary practitioners in Scotland, I am able to discuss areas of specific interest with others around Scotland and beyond. If there is genuine concern regarding enabling actual discussion and exchange of information (rather than it being bureaucratically or financially mediated, or hierarchically structured) then the simple, culturally diverse solution would be to support a diversity of organic �networks�, and to engage others. There are already a number of IT networks active in Scotland, if by that we can include Ambit and Glasgow Project Room e-lists, not to mention the plethora that have emerged out of the anit-war and anti-globalisation movements. Like most practitioners having been long-term unemployed, I am not interested in the abusive cycle of (skills) training schemes & organisations that substitute for actual support of actual activity, while providing for a highly removed managerial cadre. It's window dressing and we know it. My main worry, born through experience, is that this may be yet another phase of disenfranchising actual independent activity in Scotland. If so, when can we have our culture back? Yours sincerely, Leigh French Paula Larkin __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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