Cutting the Arts budget in Guernsey

Do you remember that chap who stuck up those statues of himself on Guernsey’s Castle Cornet?
 
Gaunt, stick like figures looking out over the ramparts.
 
When they left after two years, one of them wandered over to Herm to go for a paddle for a year.
 
How about that other chap who constructed some big balls in Alderney. Huge things made to slowly decay.
 
Both were projects by internationally recognised artists.
 
So, how much has your life been affected by these works?
 
Were they worth it?
 
Or to expand the question, what use are the Arts to us?
 
Now, I’m afraid that I’m one of those who regard the majority of modern art as just so much hot air. I also think that a lot of arts degrees are exercises in how to talk the talk rather than walk the walk.
 
I can hear the cries of "Philistine!" already.
 
But we need to raise Guernsey’s Arts profile. We should be grateful that these internationally recognised artists are gracing our shores.
 
Why?
 
Think of St Ives, think of Bilbao, think how Guernsey could be developed as an international centre for modern art.
 
I’ve been to St Ives but sadly found more of interest in the museum building itself than in it’s contents. But maybe that’s just personal taste.
 
The town wasn’t up to much either and I bet that any real artists still there just love those tourists.
 
What I’m suggesting is that there are more important things to spend public money on at the moment than Art. There’s even more important things to spend private money on too.
 
But if Art is to be financially supported, then there will always be private money available to do so.
 
There will always be a marketplace where there is profit to be made.
 
But art isn’t about making a profit.
 
Why not?
 
If you are an artist, you will find a way to express your art regardless of money. You will find what you need, to do what you must.
 
You do not need conferences or commissions to make your art.
 
If money will make your life easier, go find a patron. Just don’t look to the public purse.
 
Don’t get me wrong, Art and Culture are important.
 
Important at the grass roots level.
 
Important to those who can’t afford the oil paints, dance classes or drama lessons.
 
Important to those who have never seen the inside of a theatre or gallery, even if they don’t know or value it’s importance yet.
 
So, if we are to spend on the Arts, let’s keep it at ground level. 

Bring over teaching practitioners and let them get involved in workshops. Better still, use some of the local talent to deliver at local level.
 
And keep doing it. If it’s a pottery workshop that works well, then repeat it two months later. If it still works well, repeat it again and set up a self sustaining group to keep things going.
 
Then move on to something else.
 
Create artists, not art.
 
Create opportunities.
 
Don’t create jobs for administrators or talk feasts for arts professionals. We don’t need them and we can’t afford them.
 
Finally, if Art is to serve the people, then it must begin with what they want. Give the kids on the estates some street dance before ballet, and rap before poetry. Get the Mums painting, or writing, or whatever. Get families involved.
 
The creative talent is out there and it needn’t cost a lot to develop it.
 
Just involve the passionate practitioners we already have.
 
Then be proud of the Arts in Guernsey.