***VAI News***
We have received the following communications from our European partner Culture Action Europe concerning EU budgets for 2014 – 2020. They are looking for our support in raising concerns about further cuts to EU budgets.
“We are getting worrying indications concerning the possible impact of the cuts proposed by the national Governments to the EU budget for 2014-2020.
Pressures to cut funds to culture in favor of other policy have grown during the last days and there could be a real risk to see the funds for the Creative Europe programme substantially cut down.
We are using all channels to send clear and strong messages to the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Your voice is urgently needed as well…”
They have prepared the following letter that they are asking for support with.
_________________________________________________
To: José Manuel Barroso,
President of the European Commission
Europe, 8th of April 2013
Dear President Barroso,
At a time of intense financial austerity, the European Commission took, under your direction, a small but significant step by proposing an increase to the cultural budget through the Creative Europe programme. The increase proposed was very small in financial terms but had a high value in signaling a strengthened role for arts and culture in the building of Europe’s future.
Indeed, investing in culture, education and research not only generates prosperity; it is essential to foster both freedom of expression and creative thinking which, in turn, lead to sustainable prosperity. Moreover, cultural exchange brings hope and fosters civic engagement thus contributing to repair torn social fabric. Ultimately, culture means practicing democracy and giving content to citizenship.
Therefore, the step taken by the European Commission in proposing an increased EU budget for culture cannot be totally undone. It is a sum too limited to be an important part of any negotiated budget cuts. And it is an idea too great to be dealt away with too swiftly.
We know that democracy is a slow and delicate process. We know that economic and political compromise is required. We know that there are growing pressures to cut funds for culture but we believe they must be rejected.
We believe that the moment for clear positions has come: we urge you to stand strong with the Creative Europe proposal and safeguard the proposed budget allocation despite any short‐sighted criticism. It is a necessary sign of commitment to the future of European citizens as well as a necessary condition to continue building bridges and trust between the cultural sector and the European institutions.
Furthermore, culture designs new narratives for Europe, narratives that you have personally supported and nurtured. Unjustified cuts to the Creative Europe programme will not only undermine this endeavor but will also be incomprehensible to the cultural sector.
We supported the Commission’s proposal for increased funding for culture and education and we publicly acknowledged its significance. We will definitely further support decisions ensuring that European culture, and the narrative for Europe that it underpins, continues to thrive and we ask that no choice be made that might undermine this.
Signed
Mercedes Giovinazzo, Director of Interarts and Chair of CAE’s Executive Committee
Luca Bergamo, Secretary General, Culture Action Europe
Emina Visnic, Director, POGON
Chris Torch, Founder and Senior Associate, Intercult
Simone Dudt, Secretary General, European Music Council
Henrik Zipsane, Director, Jamtli
Alex Meszmer, member of the National Committee of Visarte
Katherine Heid, Network Manager, Opera Europa
Isabelle Battioni, General Delegate, ACCR – Réseau européen des centres culturels de rencontres
Ferdinand Richard, President, Roberto Cimetta Fund
Paul Collard, Chief Executive, Creativity, Culture and Education
Philippe Fanjas, Director, French Orchestras Association
Noel Kelly, CEO / Director, Visual Artists Ireland
_________________________________________________
If you wish to support this letter then they ask you to
“send an email at advocate@cultureactioneurope.org with the following text: I, surname name, function and organisation, subscribe the above letter to the President of the European Commission and authorize to publish my full name in the list of signatories.
Best regards
On behalf of the Executive Committee
Mercedes Giovinazzo, chair of the Executive Committee
Luca Bergamo, Secretary general”
We would like to highlight our own call for support as we look to Ireland’s preparation for the 2014 budget. Timelines have changed from previous years as the budget will be submitted to Europe in October. We have prepared a brief video asking for support. If you would like to offer assistance in your local area or as an individual then please contact our advocacy officer Alex Davis.
Thursday 11th April 2013
12.30pm in Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
(lunch provided)
The session will explore professional development for mid career artists, with a presentation from key note speaker Cecily Brennan and group discussion on how to create new opportunities for work, exhibition and other forms of artistic output.
Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 77 Malone Road, Belfast, BT9 6AQ
T: +44 (28) 90385200 / E: info@artscouncil-ni.org
The Visual Artists Charter project was initiated by VAI to address the professional relationship between artists and those that they work with. The Artists Charter takes the form of a code of practice, commonly agreed upon, which adopts principles of good practice and demonstrates why and how they should be applied. The core aim of the project is to provide a set of practical and ethical guidelines for the conduct of business between visual artists and organisations. View the charter here. VAI remains open to and interested in feedback from artists and the publicly funded organisations that they work with. This is a living document and may be adapted as issues arise over time.
Visual Artists Ireland announce the creation of the Valerie Earley Residency Award for Visual Artists. Visual Artists Ireland wished to put in place a commemoration of our late friend and colleague Valerie Earley who worked with us as Membership Manager for over 17 years. We wanted to provide a lasting memory of Valerie and hope that this award is one way that Valerie’s care for our artist members will continue into the future.
The award is open to all Visual Artists Ireland members and will be in the form of a two week residency in the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. The residency will be self-catering based, and will provide accommodation and a studio facility. Further details on dates and the application process will be announced in the next few weeks.
If you have recently been involved in a public commission, percent for art project, socially engaged project or any other form of ‘art outside the gallery’ we would like you to email us the information for publication in the May / June issue of the Visual Artists News Sheet. Send images (3-4MB in size) and a short text (no more than around 300 words) in the following format:
-Artists name
-Title of work
-Commissioning body
-Date advertised
-Date sited / carried out.
-Budget
-Commission type
-Project Partners
-Brief description of the work
Work must have been undertaken in the last 6 months.
Send your info ASAP to Publications Assistant, Lily Power at: lily@visualartists.ie
Deadline 29 March 2013.
The Visual Artists Ireland ‘Introducing’ series provides artists with a great opportunity to meet gallery directors, art centre managers and curators in an informal stress free setting. The Series begins in Northern Ireland where you can join Feargal O’Malley, Visual Artists Ireland’s Northern Ireland Manager, for a unique insight into the galleries exhibition policies and to put a face to some of the key cultural providers in Northern Ireland.
We are inviting artists to attend the last of this terms free unique art series of introductions, which will be held at:
- F.E McWilliams Gallery & Studio (Banbridge) Wednesday 20th of March at 11:00am
If you are interested in securing a place at this unique networking event, please register here.
Each visit will have maximum number of 15 places; priority will be giving to members of Visual Artists Ireland. Book now to avoid disappointment.
For any other information e-mail:
Feargal O’Malley
Northern Ireland Manager
Visual Artists Ireland
Email: feargal@visualartists-ni.org
www.visualartists-ni.org
www.visualartists.ie
We are delighted to announce that Visual Artists Ireland has been accepted on to the Cultural & Educational Panel of Nominating Bodies for Seanad Éireann elections. The Cultural and Educational Panel is one of five vocational panels that together put forward candidates for 43 of the seats in the Seanad. VAI was encouraged to apply following a meeting of civil society and arts organisations hosted by independent Senators Katherine Zappone, Fiach Mac Conghail and Jillian Van Turnhout. As part of our programme of advocacy and representation, this presents another opportunity to have the voice of the visual artist heard at the highest levels of the political process.
To support our ASK! HAS THE ARTIST BEEN PAID? campaign, we have updated our Advocacy Datasheets to include Datasheet #7: Artists Payments. The purpose of this document is to outline the specifics around types of payments for artists, the outline of the current campaign for artist payments, and supply information and support material that will be of use to supporters wishing to advertise and participate in changing this inequitable situation.
The key objectives of the campaign are:
- Funding increase to cultural programming to support Arts Council, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Local Authority, and Borough funded spaces.
- Funding applications assessments to include clearly defined expectations regarding equitable payments to visual artists to support the planning, delivery, and supports required for exhibitions.
- Guidelines for payment rates for visual artists.
- Contractual obligations by all parties to be set in place at the beginning of each project that outline expectations of all parties and payment schedules for work completed.
- Payments to be made in full in a timely manner.
Further details can be found in the Advocacy Section of our website, or by contacting our Advocacy Officer Alex Davis.
We would like to invite interested parties to a preliminary meeting on Wednesday, 20th March 2013 at 2pm to discuss the creation of Visual Artists’ Payments Guidelines.
The meeting will take place in our offices: Visual Artists Ireland, Central Hotel Chambers, 7/9 Dame Court, Dublin 2.
The purpose of the meeting will be to hear the ideas and suggestions from interested parties, and will go to formulate structured planning for the delivery of a set of guidelines for artists payments that can be used for the delivery of visual arts programmes across the variety of galleries and other venues in the sector.
If you or your organisation are actively exhibiting or working with visual artists then we would value both your attendance and your input to this process.
The agenda for the day is simple:
- Brief background to the current situation;
- To hear ideas and presentations around existing or potential models;
- Agree actions based on items 1 & 2 and to potentially set up a sector wide working group.
If you wish to put forward your suggestions, or present on the current practices of your organisations, then please contact us beforehand so that we can plan the day. We wish this day to be both collegiate and open in terms of discussion, and appreciate the time that you can give to making it happen.
RSVP: alex@visualartists.ie before March 15th 2013 for attendance.
RSVP: alex@visualartists.ie by return for presentations.
We are also planning a meeting of individual artists and local area groups in early April to further discuss the details of the ASK! HAS THE ARTIST BEEN PAID? We will be reporting on developments of the project in Northern Ireland later in March.
The March/April Issue of our Visual Artists News Sheet out now.
One of the key articles in this edition is ‘Moving Beyond Token Fees’, in which Noel Kelly, CEO Of Visual Artists Ireland, reports on the findings of VAI’s Survey On Payments For Visual Artists, undertaken in December 2012.
In this issue along with friends and colleagues we celebrate Valerie Earley, Visual Artists Ireland’s Membership Manager ,who sadly passed away on the 9th of January 2013, after a two-year fight with cancer. The words of love and appreciation printed on these pages represent only a small fraction of the tributes to Valerie that we have received.
This edition also features two ‘Career Development’ case studies, by Peter Richards and Dennis McNulty. The public art sector, an important source of work for artists is addressed in Remco De Fouw’s detailed account of conception, fabrication and installation of a major commission. Elsewhere, Ciara McMahon discusses in a ‘How is Made’ feature, her project The Aesthetic Screening Clinic and Bridget O’Gorman profiles ‘Dig Where You Stand’, a year-long residency-based project in South Tipperary.
Annette Moloney showcases the depth of knowledge and experience amassed by artists collaborating with the public / communities, as facilitated by the Arts Council’s Artist in the Community scheme, managed by Create – which was recently celebrated at the ‘AIC10’ event at IMMA. Further exploring the public realm, Michelle Browne discusses the outcomes of her research project, prompted by her experience of being a mother and an artist – Walking (with a buggy) in the City.
International perspectives are provided by articles on Brian O’Doherty’s keynote speech at last year’s Frieze Art Fair and Dublin City Council Arts Office’s project at the 2012 Liverpool Biennale. Closer to home, our regional focus profiles visual arts activity and resources in Mayo.
We are delighted to present Commemoration – A Forward-looking Act by Joanne Laws, the winner of the Visual Artists Ireland / Dublin City Council Arts Office critical writing award, that addresses the theme of the visual arts responses and contributions to the ‘decade of centenaries’.
This issue includes the first of three thematic articles by Sinead Hogan exploring art and philosophy, prompted a recent growing mutual interest between the disciplines. This first text addresses the nature of this relationship as well as considering the question ‘why now?’
All this as well as the roundup, columnists, news and opportunities…
The best way to get your hands on a copy of the Visual Artists’ News Sheet is to become a member of Visual Artists Ireland. Membership is open to all artists and entitles you to an annual subscription to the Visual Artists’ News Sheet as well as a host of other benefits.
