Case Study 3:
South West Open Studios
Background: South West Open Studios (SWOS) is an independent organisation, funded by the Arts Council SW, that aims to promote the development and sustainability of artists' Open Studio and Art Trail organisations in the South West by:
• providing information, professional development and support for organisers and promoters of events;
• raising the profile and advocating on behalf of Open Studios;
• fostering partnerships between organisations and encouraging good practice;
• increasing public awareness, understanding and enjoyment of Open Studios events in the region;
Open Studios have become an increasingly important part of the visual arts and crafts landscape across the country with new events springing up each year. In the South West region there are at least 38 - either multi-site events ranging in size to cover anything from a few streets to entire counties, or events centred on single buildings housing a number of studios.
Often the workload in organising such events can put an almost intolerable pressure on a few individuals and this is compounded as events grow in scale. The negative effects of this can be at best to compromise the organisers’ own art practice and at worst their health and sanity, which does not make for sustainability.
In November 2002 a few OS organisers in the South West thought that a forum through which resources and information could be pooled would be a valuable service for all organisers and which may relieve some of the pressure and take some of the donkey-work out of putting on events.
Alias supported the fledgling South West Open Studios (SWOS) until it was successful in gaining funding through Grants for the Arts to further develop the organisation. I joined SWOS as a Director and part-time Web Editor in and have been involved in the development and delivery of the website, e-bulletins, training and support activities over the last two-years.
Our Successes: Our key successes have included the development of an online Resources Centre where members can share and download documents, templates and information on a range of subjects, from organisational structures and child protection policies to lists of press contacts and information about event insurance. As well as supporting over 50 events across the South West by providing information, advice and training.
SWOS has also worked hard to raise the profile of Open Studio and Arts Trail events across the region in particular with key individuals at SW Tourism and within Local Authorities. We have also helped organisers promote events and to recruit artists to take part through the SWOS website and bulletins.
Current Challenges: SWOS’ initial Arts Council funding has recently come to an end and we are now in the unenviable position of trying to secure further funding for the initiative. The main challenge we face is our inability to find match funding to help support our Arts Council SW bid. SWOS works regionally across the whole of the South West so we can’t apply for funding from any of the Local Authorities in the region, which leaves us in a tricky predicament.
The team at SWOS are working on a business plan with a view to further funding bids, but we face the same problem being faced by many existing artist-led projects – how do you fund your core activities when the first round of funding comes to an end?
South West Open Studios was set up by artists with the aim of helping open studio and arts trail organisers, many of whom are artists themselves who have volunteered to help run artist-led events, to coordinate better, more sustainable events and to help carry some of the workload involved.
It seems to me that we have reached an impasse where only new projects are able to secure public funding and existing ones are left to fizzle out or are struggling with the challenges of continuing without funding.
Have you had a similar experience? Have you worked your way through the funding mine field and found a solution that works for you? We’d love to hear from you with your comments, ideas and experiences.
You can post your response by either emailing sally@aliasarts.org or by posting your message on the Alias Forum. Please note we will publish your email responses here.
Response from Paul Harper, Alias Arts
The difficulty, identified here, of securing match funding to support an ACE bid will be familiar to many artist-led organisations – particularly to those working across the region who are not eligible for local authority support. It has become a particular problem in the light of the present funding climate, which has seen savage cuts in the Grants for the Arts, and subsequently tighter competition.
Faced with a range of valuable projects, all deserving the funding that they seek, there must be a sense that ACE will be looking for reasons to set some aside… and insufficient match funding might seem a handy and justifiable rationale.
Where larger, long-standing organisations have secured local authority support that is dependent on ACE funding, a reasonable argument is made that unless ACE match that support then that local authority funding will be lost to the arts.
Different groups have been resourceful in addressing this issue: by taking a creative approach to ‘in-kind’ support (it can be helpful if you can identify a cash value here) - one group, for instance, recognised that the rate rebate offered by their local authority equated to substantial financial support; by exploiting their resources to raise income - sub-letting space… charging for services (where this doesn’t compromise the groups aims)… etc; or, in some cases, by raising their game – for instance, by developing an international dimension to their projects, thereby becoming eligible for different funding streams, by touring exhibitions, which can draw in partnership funding from other groups and organisations.
Nevertheless, this remains a significant problem for many artist-led projects nationally. The Arts Council is aware of the problems. The value of organisations such as SWOS (and ALIAS) working across the region is recognised and acknowledged. Individual officers will do their best to offer advice and it may sometimes be possible to negotiate some flexibility in the understanding of ‘in-kind’ support. Whilst ALIAS can play a useful role in helping groups to find creative approaches to funding, is there a need for ALIAS, alongside individual groups, to take a proactive role in lobbying for a loosening up of the rules governing match funding?
Have you had a similar experience? Have you worked your way through the funding mine field and found a solution that works for you? We’d love to hear from you with your comments, ideas and experiences.
You can post your response by either emailing sally@aliasarts.org or by posting your message on the Alias Forum. Please note we will publish your email responses here.