Recent Interviews

Thank you very much for agreeing to be interviewed for the South East Open Studios newsletter.

I believe you were involved in South East Open Studios when it started 13 years ago?

Was it thirteen years ago? It was West Kent Open Studios then. It had been started by my predecessor Beverley Whittrick at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Clare Hamilton [KCC] together with Alison Wright of Sevenoaks. The first year it was run by the Arts Officers and later an artists committee was set up. I was always interested and involved in SEOS and in fact hosted the AGM.

Could you give our readership an overview of the aims of the Kent Arts Development Unit?

We work with the Cultural Division of the Communities Directorate within KCC and our function is multi faceted.
Our main aim is to attract investment into the Arts Sector in Kent. Within ‘investment’ I would include finance, training, expertise and talent.
To achieve this we court relationships with other sectors such as Tourism, Economic Regeneration and Health.

I think this is where there is a misunderstanding of the role by the artists on the ground. They still look to the Arts Development Unit to develop their role and remember that historically the Arts Officers were involved in arts activity.

We have moved from being an operational unit to delivering a strategic role. We have gone from directly delivering arts activity to attracting in resources so more people can deliver the activity themselves,

Could you explain the structure of the Development Unit?

I am head of the Development Unit.
Then there is an Arts Manager- they will manage art specific projects such as Find Your Talent [a Shepway based Youth Project] or working with the health sector.

The Visual Arts Officer [who we have not yet appointed]is responsible for the Rouse Kent Public Art Awards, the John Downton Awards, running the Kaleidoscope Gallery at Sevenoaks Library, , and so on. Basically art in the Public realm.
We then have three Arts and Regeneration Officers. They have some engagement with local artists but deal mainly with area specific projects for the North, East and West areas of Kent.

Solo artists feel that there is very little project funding available to them apart from Awards for All out there. Sometimes funding exists such as Member Community funding but is inaccessible to individuals as it can only be paid out to an organisation.

KCC has an investment programme but it too is for the wider benefit. We look for projects to address. Regeneration, Health or Increasing Participation for example,
We now have half the previous number of staff in the unit and more money going in to the Arts Investment Fund.
It is not our remit to invest in individual artists. There is no funding pot.

So no where for them to go then?

I would suggest looking at the Arts Council Personal Development Grants. We can give artists valuable help with the form filling.

In November I attended an excellent evening in Maidstone called Funding for the Arts- a practical Guide. It was truly useful.

We are trying to engage with artists on funding by organising seminars on applying for Funding.
Some local authorities such as Maidstone are well resourced. Each local authority has a different resource. Apart from Maidstone no authority in West Kent has an Arts Development Officer for example; once every authority in Kent had an Arts Development Officer.

We will shortly be employing a Web Officer so information will go on to the web and there will be a lot more signposts there to useful information.

Rather than funding the individual artist we are involved in developing relationships with the sector. We start to create fertile ground so that the artist is more likely to get a good reception.

Some areas definitely seem better served. I work from a group studio in Hextable on projects in Dartford and there is very little obvious support for the visual artist.

Emma Wilcox is our new Arts and Regeneration Officer for North Kent. We are meeting with the Dartford Borough Council’s Managing Director Graham Harris soon to put the case that we can help him to develop the arts in Dartford. Emma is also working with the officer who has recently been given responsibility for the Arts at Dartford,

Our members have very great difficulties finding affordable studio spaces. Is this something the Arts Development Unit has an interest in?

We do get asked about studios. I always say it will be tough. The property prices – until now- have been so high, particularly in West Kent. Having said that CRATE and LIMBO in Margate have achieved studio spaces and funding for themselves. Similarly artists have achieved studio spaces in Maidstone. I think it has to be artist led.

Can you explain the system of galleries in KCC libraries? Things seem to have changed but our members are confused as to how things now stand.

The galleries are presently all run by the library staff. KCC have no resources to run them any more, although we are in discussion as to what will happen next.

I think it has been interesting. Artists that may not have previously been accepted are able to have a solo show for the first time and learn how to move forward. Once upon a time the library exhibition was where you learnt how to hang your work.

Well we certainly want to be enabling artists and be involved in their development. It’s interesting to hear them say that.

I think the idea that we are not relevant to what an individual artist is doing is a misconception because I think we are.

We create the environment in which the arts can flourish; at a high strategic level.

Thank you Sally for giving us your valuable time on what I know was a very busy day.