I am a passionate advocate for outdoor artistry. I delight in the potential to engage with the widest cross section of communities. I remain excited by the opportunities presented to artists and producers outdoors, to innovate with technique and form (unhindered by the formal settings of theatres and galleries), to create experiences that can instil a sense of shared ownership of public spaces and to offer varied and immediate ways for the public to take part.
I was chair of National Association of Street Artists for 6 years, a membership organisation run by artists for artists. During this time, the organisation shifted towards a focus on supporting professional development of outdoor artists, offering Lab style learning opportunities, promoting discussions around critical evaluation and mentoring and hosting the regular and increasingly popular annual event – For The Love Of It! The organisation’s value is in its shared know-how (some members have been creating outdoor work for up to 40 years) and NASA-UK continues to highlight the wealth of this resource.
Images from For the Love of It! by Garth Williams
During my time as chair I noticed how often the voices of artists and freelancers are missing from strategic industry conversations and I was rarely invited. When I was I noticed that beyond the handful of artists who run National Portfolio Organisations, the people around the table are generally festival directors, arts officers or people in similar, managerial roles.
It’s important that artists and freelancers are present in these conversations, for fairer representation and to ensure broader perspectives in strategy building. Given that we operate outside buildings and lack the kind of infrastructure in our organisations that generally offers visibility, I’m not going to hold my breath. But I remain optimistic that we can build the kinds of organisations that present artists in leadership roles.
I am currently on the Without Wall’s Artists Advisory group which gathers a diversity of artists together to feed back on the organisation’s communications and planning. This has been an interesting process so far, with positive steps taken to make the organisation more accessible and to demystify the commissioning process.
Who knows what could be next?
Paschale Straiton 