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Abstract
In 2002, the Live Art Development Agency, in partnership with the Live Art Advisory Network, initiated a London-based pilot project entitled DIY. Conceived at the outset as a professional development scheme run by and for artists, six artist-led projects were selected, with spaces taken up by 51 participants. By 2019, there had been 249 DIY projects led by some 250 artists, in partnership with 75 organisations, and supporting more than 2,700 participants. Given its longevity, it is surprising that DIY has not been the focus of a case study for thinking through the relationship of (live) art and professional development. This article, combining historical review of the scheme with examples of DIY projects and pedagogical analysis, aims to address that oversight. It asks what ‘Professional Development’ looks like and does in the space of live art. It argues that DIY reimagines professional development as being ‘like’ live art, and proposes DIY as a model of agential pedagogy, with artists taking the lead in identifying, defining and addressing their professional development needs.
Notes
1 The documentation of DIY is published on the Live Art Development Agency’s website. All citations from artists and participants are from published material. The pilot DIY in 2002 (LADA Citation2002a) was documented through extracts from artist and participant feedback, accompanied by a relatively short report. For DIY 2: 2004, a 22-page report was made available in print and PDF format – a practice that was to continue to DIY 10: 2013 (LADA Citation2013), which issued a 99-page report. From 2014 onwards, the print and PDF reports were discontinued, and all documentation became online. Project leads were invited to respond to a series of questions and submit ten images.
2 In 2002, LAAN was a consortium of Artsadmin, LADA and New Work Network, drawing together the expertise from each organisation to support professional development of artists. Artsadmin, founded in 1979, is a producing organisation that supports artists to make and tour interdisciplinary work and runs an Artists’ Development scheme which offers advice, information, training and bursaries. See https://www.artsadmin.co.uk/. LADA, founded in 1999, supports artists through its curatorial and research projects, commissioned publications, discussions, workshops, library resources and bursaries. See https://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/. New Work Network was an artist-led organisation which, for 15 years, supported the development of new work across performance, live art and interdisciplinary practice and also functioned as an advocacy organisation. It ceased operating in October 2012. LAAN continues as a partnership between Artsadmin and LADA.
3 The Network was a partner in Creative Capital, one of ten consortia in the national Creative People pilot, which aimed to help artists to identify, prioritise and implement professional development activities.
4 The pilot DIY intersected with a live art sectoral report published by LADA the preceding year, Focus Live Art – Report and Findings (Citation2001). This report drew on deliberations of the sustainability of the sector by artists, promoters and funders. One of four key challenges identified was ‘Artistic development – process and product’, which highlighted priorities including ‘Support artists in the research, development and ongoing process of their practices in equal measure to the generation and placement of new work’. The report repeatedly noted the need for access to a range of resources and ongoing support, in different forms, throughout an artist’s career.
5 The documentation from DIY 1 to 11 included a short evaluation, outlining the benefits of DIY and suggestions for future development. These remained largely consistent across the years, with just one additional benefit added to the list in 2005: DIY ‘inspires artists to take risks and think differently’. Suggestions for development included inclusion of travel budgets, higher-profile project evaluations, and more funding for lead artists.
6 Diverse Actions champions ‘culturally diverse (BME: Black and Minority Ethnic) ambition, excellence and talent in Live Art’ (LADA Citation2017c).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Deirdre Heddon
Professor Dee Heddon holds the James Arnott Chair in Drama at the University of Glasgow. Her publications include Devising Performance: A Critical History (2005) and Autobiography and Performance (2008). She has co-edited a number of anthologies including Political Performances: Theory and Practice (Themes in Theatre series) (Rodopi, 2009), The National Review of Live Art 1979–2010: A Personal History – Essays, Anecdotes, Drawings and Images (2010), Histories and Practices of Live Art (2012) and It’s All Allowed: The Performances of Adrian Howells (2016). She has recently written extensively about walking as an artistic practice and has an ongoing creative practice project, The Walking Library, curated with Dr. Misha Myers.