Artists know exactly who will feel the ramifications of the Government’s recent decision to pull 60% (£675m) of Arts Council England’s funding, soon to be diverted to the 2012 Olympics. As it stands, nearly half of those working in the UK performance industry earn less than £6,000 per year as performers, or within creative roles surrounding performance production, Equity figures suggest.
In reality, to survive, most spend more time working outside the industry than in it.
In an effort to find out how artists cope with this kind of pressure, Arts Hub spoke to Dragon’s Den success story, Paul Cockle, of London-based circus The Generating Company, and Holly Darton, of Ben+Holly collaboration, recipients of an Arts Admin Early Career Bursary. We asked them how they manage to keep from compromising their artistic integrity in order to not only stay above the breadline, but to flourish. And in the process, we also uncovered some of the pros and cons of going commercial compared to being an independent collaborator.
Being an arts entrepreneur
After four years running his circus The Generating Company, managing director and producer Paul Cockle won the minds and money of two Dragon’s Den tycoons (Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis), who are now on the Board of Directors of his company. That was two years ago. Last year, the circus performed live to over a million people, on par with the audience figures of Cirque de Soleil.
The downside of commercial
Being in with the big boys does have its downfalls, Paul Cockle explains, including giving over 40% of the company to investors. He says that instead of proving yourself on paper, “We prostitute ourselves in order to create work for the market.”
However, Paul believes that once a company achieves a certain reputation, their full artistic autonomy will return. “Our ambition is that we create only the work we want to create, and clients knock on our door and ask, ‘what are we doing this year?’ instead of [us] saying, ‘yep – we can do that!’ We need to keep our eye on where we want to go.”
The upside of commercial
Paul believes that being a commercial company, they are in control of their own destiny. “Commercial is not a dirty word any more. It’s about creating. We produce three major productions a year plus countless smaller ones. Nobody else does that (from the ‘arts world’). We employ so many artists. We have a resident artistic director and support a centre with educational programmes, and loads more (at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London). The Arts Council can’t keep up with that. So it is not useful for us to have a relationship with them, where we are spending loads of time proving our worth on paper.”
Turning the downside into an upside
With The Generating Company about to present their latest show, Lactic Acid, at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London, in September, Paul Cockle’s approach to keeping the work rolling in whilst staying true to his passion is long term, and successful. What will it take to have the clients knocking at his door? “More success, measured in turnover and profit. This is what enables us to keep working”, Paul says.
The downside of independence
As an independent artist rather than a company, Holly Darton, of long-time live art collaboration Ben+Holly has a very different strategy. Holly believes in process over product, which in Holly’s case has meant working outside of her artform, as well as spending 40% of each project writing applications for grants and residencies.
Ben+Holly’s application success rate is around 80%. At such an early stage in their career, this is very high. But Holly says, “We want to stop applying and spend more time working on projects.” Holly feels that she and Ben can relax a little more now, with residencies at CCA Glasgow, Colchester Arts and Chisenhale Gallery behind them, as well as performing at last year’s
Edinburgh Fringe Festival in a 23-day durational piece called Table for Two, on a double-decker bus. They have also presented several funded Audience Participation programmes, amongst many other live acts.
What are Holly’s tactics for a successful application? “We are quite honest and genuine. And we are not desperate to expose ourselves. We justify applying for it to each other first before applying. And we are picky about what we apply for.” Their studio is in an old shed on a chicken farm in Hertford.
When you follow your beliefs over your pocket, Holly feels, “It is unrealistic to work full time as an artist”. She supplements her practice by working as an art tutor at Hertford Regional College, which has turned into a near full-time occupation since she graduated from
Central St Martins School of Art & Design four years ago.
The upside of independence is in the process
“We believe it’s important to surround ourselves with people that are not in the arts industries. Feeling normal by going and doing something that other ‘normal’ people are doing keeps us sane and stable. But in our case, our day jobs influence our creative work in a thought-provoking way. For instance, my practice involves documenting our time at work,” say Holly.
Turning a downside into an upside
Currently Holly is leading a series of professional development workshops under the DIY4 scheme, run by New Work Network in partnership with Live Art Development Agency. Holly’s course, entitled ‘Reworking the day job’, involves tasks for participants to complete during their day jobs, enabling them to momentarily engage with their surroundings as an artist. For instance: write down the first thing that someone says to you that is not a greeting; at 11am take a photo; and at 4:30, collect something.
Even though Holly is not working full time directly on her creative process, at least she is still working within the arts environment. It hasn’t taken her that long to get to this point either – leaving behind the flexible waitressing jobs she worked earlier in her career.
Success takes time and lateral thinking
Arts Hub asked both Paul Cockle and Holly Darton what they think the secret is to reducing the struggle, so that artists spend more time in their practice. Paul Cockle says, “There’s a growth thing that graduates need to go through. Even though you may make R&D (Research & Development) applications, it’s important to think more laterally. Find ways to create more work by approaching festivals, as well as researching the corporate market. Develop yourself in other ways, as the Arts Council can only take you to a certain level.”
Paul continues, “Companies like us look at graduates. They can come and talk to us. I am nearly 50. And there’s a lot to share. Try making meetings with these companies and find out how they work. It’s better than auditioning, because we only cast people when we feel we can trust them as artists.”
Holly Darton says, “Set out a five-year plan. Decide what you need to do to get there.” Speaking of her PGCE qualification, “A two-year course for one day a week gets you a postgraduate teaching certificate. It’s well worth the effort. But if you want to make more work you may need to give something up – your job, or get a council flat and live off benefits – downsize. But then you still have to work (outside of your art). Though I work nearly full time as a tutor, the hours are good and the holidays long.” Choosing the right job is obviously important to being able to keep up one’s artistic practice.
John Galsworthy said “Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” But it’s easy to afford to keep your integrity if you are not standing in the middle of the crisis. The challenge for artists to balance work, art and a liveable income continues.
