Art is essential

 

These are uncertain times. No one yet fully knows the long-term effects of the pandemic or the impact of Brexit on how we live and work. But it is already becoming clear that the current government does not consider contemporary visual arts to have a significant role to play in their recovery plans.

Hence a new campaign #ArtIsEssential from CVAN, the Contemporary Visual Art Network, which states: "The arts and culture sector contributes £2.8 billion a year to the Treasury via taxation to the UK economy, and provides 363,700 jobs, but recent events have exposed the delicate ecology of our sector leaving it vulnerable. We need to ensure that policy and decision makers are considering the real needs of our sector and see the far-reaching impact the visual arts has in our communities and the contribution it makes to our economy."

At a time of massive economic, ecological and social crisis, it's hard to justify continued public spending on what, to many, appears an elite and obscure branch of the arts. A luxury even. Art can be all of those things but it is also the fuel for the kind of thinking that will get us out of this mess. As artist Helen Cammock said in her eloquent presentation at the campaign launch, we need lateral and nimble thinking more than ever. Doing art, learning about art, experiencing art, being peripherally influenced by art, helps us develop that kind of thinking. Artists draw threads together: they help us think critically about the past and present and, perhaps more importantly, to imagine the future. That means we need to look after artists and their livelihoods and enable them to play their part alongside scientists, engineers, educators, social workers, carers, food producers civil servants, politicians, economists, business people...

Art is essential from a personal point of view too. I've had some kind of art practice all my adult life but didn't call myself an artist until after I’d completed my degree. In the 15 years since I graduated, I’ve patched together a living from funding, commissions, very occasional sales and lots of freelance work. I sometimes think life would be easier if I went back to having a salaried job but #artisessential to me. And I know the experiences I offer through my work are sometimes essential to other people too. It's very hard to quantify... but just occasionally I know that my work has prompted someone to think or act or feel or see a different way. It may be a big shift or only the tiniest temporary flicker of thing but, for all the reasons above, it matters.

https://www.artisessential.art