It stands to reason that in the world of the arts, with its countless mediums and incarnations, that financial support, be it through government funding, private patronage or the punters pound, would be a relatively finite resource.
Alas, despite individual merit, not every artistic endeavour can receive the support it deserves, and more often than not this support can be the margin between success and failure on the part of any given individual artist or gallery. And with the need for financial support becoming more and more cut throat and competitive, the perspicacity of specialist ‘arts ambassadors’ is becoming a much sought after commodity in the ongoing search for funding.
So what exactly are ‘arts ambassadors’ one might ask, or more frankly – what do they do? The precise lexicographical definition of the term ‘ambassador’ is a diplomatic official of the highest rank appointed and accredited as representative in residence by one government or sovereign to another, usually for a specific length of time. In artistic circles, a more tailored definition is at work, with author Mel Jennings, in her Guide To Working With Arts Ambassadors. Using the definition of ‘a community networker with the objective of spreading the word about arts and cultural events and/or representing the views and aspirations of a target community’, we start to form an impression of who it is we are looking for.
Arts ambassadors provide a very specialised service for their clients. Their primary concern is to get good word-of-mouth out there into the general arts ether, and create a public ‘noise’ about artists, exhibitions and arts happenings. In most cases, the arts ambassador is considered to be ‘directly representative of a specific artistic community and its target audience’. An ambassador is not a new phenomenon by any means. They have been part of UK arts organisations for over two decades, and their contributions have met with a certain degree of success. The ambassador’s roles are many and varied, ranging from effective public relations, to generating ticket sales and providing all the skills of a seasoned marketeer, as they review marketing initiatives for potential audiences.
In her text Guide To Working With Arts Ambassadors author Mel Jennings identifies many of the working models that are being practiced within the sphere of the tasks carried out by arts ambassadors. The two most common being the ‘audience development approach’ and the ‘promotion focused approach’.
An early example of the former – the audience development approach – took place in the late 90s at the Laing Art Gallery, situated in Newcastle upon Tyne. This institution, commonly hailed as ‘north east England’s principal art gallery (founded in 1901), has an extensive collection of oil paintings, British silver, ceramics, glass and one of the finest collections of British watercolours. In 1998 the gallery was looking at ways in which to promote both its profile and its works to sectors in the community that it had defined as socially excluded groups – primarily young people between the ages of 16 and 25 years of age. The overall aim was to encourage a greater interest in both the sphere of the visual arts and in attending exhibitions at the gallery.
In what was then seen as very much a pilot project, over the course of the next six months three arts ambassadors were delegated the responsibility of forging a relationship with thirty youth workers and 28 youth groups. The aim was simple – find out where the interest of young people lay in relation to the arts. As a result of the focus group research and public relations initiatives carried out, the gallery was able to arrange 46 tailored visits for interested patrons, many of whom were first time attendees and who might not have ever made the effort to visit the gallery.
In the case of this model, the role of the ambassador is to work in the capacity of a ‘promotional tool’ for the organizations aims and agendas. In this scenario, where the ambassador is essentially a marketing or public relations representative for the arts organization they are promoting, the aim is to provide promotional community opportunities targeting new attendees.
Another example of how an affective arts ambassador functions is the case of Wolverhampton Art Gallery. With the aid of a panel of dedicated arts ambassadors, the gallery worked towards creating a panel of local representatives from Wolverhampton’s African Caribbean community to provide much needed advice on the issues of race and culture in the arts. The African Caribbean Panel now forms part of Birmingham Arts Marketing’s Networking Project. And this has become a long-term project aimed at fostering and developing the Wolverhampton Gallery’s commitment to representing the needs and ideas of black and minority ethnic audiences in the arts. To date the initiative has met with what has been reported to be enormous success in developing meaningful relationships between local black and minority ethnic communities and the gallery. The profile of panel members is also key to this success. They represent a mix of age and gender and come from various professional and religious backgrounds. Their experience and local knowledge when combined with the efforts and initiatives of arts ambassadors involved has allowed the gallery to expand its audience development and marketing strategies to better suit their demographic market.
Arts ambassadors have shown themselves to be effective in helping to introduce a wider range of audiences to the arts in Britain. Through their efforts numerous artists and organisations such as galleries, audience development agencies, promotional companies and the like, have benefited exponentially in their efforts to promote the arts to the general public. Creating not only increased funding opportunities for the arts – which in itself leads to a more developed community arts program, but is a trend that also has the potential to bolster the economic structure behind the arts –
so that the future for artists and arts workers is not only dependent on government funding.
For arts purists, an arts ambassador may be the forebearer of that black hole that is commercialisation – the pied piper of economic impact at the cost of artistic effort perhaps. Yet for the pragmatic, it may very well be that the successful commercialisation of an arts project is what allows it to enjoy another day in the sun…surely something worth considering?
