The Arts Strategy Working Group today publishes a wide-ranging report on the future of the arts in Guernsey.
The Report, which has been endorsed by the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture, makes the case for a new arts strategy that will:
- Secure sufficient and sustainable funding for the arts
- Ensure that everyone has the opportunity to be creative, regardless of their age or background
- Attract the widest possible audience for the arts, including audiences overseas, helping to boost the economy and support tourism
- Help deliver all forms of art by connecting artists, arts organisations and businesses
- Improve facilities and resources for the arts, and support artists in their creative endeavours
- Ensure strong leadership for the arts and ensure that sector participants and stakeholders have a voice
To help bring this about, the Report recommends five key actions:
- Reinvigorate the Guernsey Arts Commission
- Give consideration to centralising arts funding
- Professionalise investment in the arts
- Create new facilities for the arts
- Put the arts at the heart of ‘brand Guernsey’
“A better resourced, more autonomous Guernsey Arts Commission – one which receives and redistributes all arts-related grants from the States – is key to delivering a successful arts strategy,” said Dave Warr, the Group’s Chair. “Investment in the arts should be professionalized, with funding – whether from the States or from business – being linked to measurable objectives relating to health, wellbeing and community benefits. This will encourage greater investment, help facilitate the creation of new and improved arts facilities, and out Guernsey on the creative map.”
The Group’s recommendations have been informed by multiple consultations – including a sector event at St James last year – and a public survey.
The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture will now establish an independent Implementation Group, to be chaired by Wayne Bulpitt CBE (Chair of the Guernsey Community Foundation), that will deliver on the Report’s recommendations. Funded by the Community Foundation, the Implementation Group will be comprised of a diverse range of representatives from across the local arts spectrum.
Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
“When the Committee was elected early last year, we were made aware of a widespread view throughout the arts community that greater support and co-ordination for the arts was needed and so we were happy to support the establishment of the Arts Strategy Working Group.
“The report from the ASWG sets out clear and ambitious recommendations which will be invaluable to the Committee when creating our plan for the arts, which we intend to complete before the end of 2019. We will then put this before the States along with our plans for sport, the language, transforming education and heritage.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the ASWG and the Implementation Group for working with the Committee in order to progress plans for the arts.”
Wayne Bulpitt, the Chair of the Implementation Group, said:
“The Working Group has delivered a comprehensive Report that offers a clear vision for the future of the arts and recommends the steps needed to make that vision a reality. An Implementation Group will make sure that the Report doesn’t just sit on the shelf. We will create a detailed action plan that, with the support of the States, will transform the wider arts sector for the benefit of the Island.”
