I’M ACTUALLY AN ARTIST TOO… Artists who are arts managers

Abstract

This research investigates how artists might resolve their dual professional identities and continue to be artists when also working in arts management in order to earn a more secure living than is usually possible from art alone. In doing so, it asks how arts organisations could benefit more greatly from the creative practice of the artists they employ as arts managers. The study questions the assumption that artists who work as arts managers must have ‘failed’ in their artistic ambitions and argues that a more nuanced approach is necessary. Rather than artists abandoning their creative practice, and necessitating their identity as an artist being kept ‘invisible’ in the workplace, this thesis argues for both their art and artistic identity to be a visible part of their practice as managers. If this were to happen, it is argued artists and arts management would both stand to gain.

The study adopted a qualitative methodology and involved a multi-method, three-phase approach. The first phase recorded data about the lived experiences of 30 participants working primarily as arts managers across a range of creative sectors. The second phase took the form of an intervention into their professional practice and asked a smaller group to make at least one artwork in the context of their work as arts managers. This included several individuals who work in a single arts organisation. The third phase investigated the data generated from an online group discussion attended by a smaller group of participants. As a former artist, arts manager and maker of contemporary jewellery, I took part in all three phases as a participant-researcher.

The thesis concludes by arguing that arts organisations, and the artist-managers who work in them, need to bring about change through incremental steps, and by consensus. This change is not only to enable artist-managers to retain their creative practices and identity, but in order for the arts organisations where they work to benefit from the particular skills and knowledge artist-managers can bring. It is argued that this is best achieved through dialogue, rather than by keeping the two different, but interdependent practices separate. In this way, through the recognition and visibility of creative practice in the arts workplace, both would be strengthened.