Two
fledgling ideas by Dave Duggan, dramatist and novelist, June 2017, written as aspirations.
Maker's
Money (MM)
is targeted investment in entry level artists of all ages, by Derry
City and Strabane District Council (DCSDC), so they can make art.
This ensures the benefit of arts and culture to individuals, while
ensuring maximum community benefit, value for money and public
support. It assists the future recognition of the artists, their work
and its value. It enables artists to begin careers as practitioners
in the district council area. The investment delivers equality,
strengthens the economy, contributes to the growth of the artistic
workforce (a vital element in the creative sector), enhances the
tourism offer and heartens us all, thus improving health and
wellbeing.
Like
all investments, it is not without risk. Making this investment in a
confident manner, however, will enable artists, in particular new
ones, to respond actively and make work across all artistic forms.
Application and reporting can be minimal and not arduously
administrative for the artist as sole trader. The investment
programme should be considered as long-term. Details would require
working up, but, in outline, could include:
-
An investment period of five years, 2017/8-2022/3;
-
an investment pot of £5, 000 per year, allocated as £2, 500 each
for two individual artists per year, no artist being eligible
for two Maker's Money investments;
-
the total investment to be £25, 000 over five years, at which time
it would be reviewed;
-
application is a one page statement of what the artist intends to
make in the Derry and Strabane District Council area, supported by
a brief cv of work previously made. Receipts
to confirm the investment has been received into the artist's
bank account, in staged payments, are
the
only written
reporting
required;
-
the individual investment to be made in stages: £1, 000 on signing
up; another £1, 000 on a successful six-month review interview and
the final £500 at a successful conclusion, all within 18 months.
Definitions as to what constitutes ‘success’ to be agreed and
contracted at the time of the award.
The
programme budget of £25, 000 over five years can be allocated as
part of the Council’s overall budget in allocation models as used
by Invest NI and the Strategic Investment Board. Consideration can
also be given to funds secured by the National Crime Agency in the
form of 'assets recovered'. This investment programme would not
replace SIAP funding offered by The Arts Council (ACNI).
In
enabling artists to buy time to make work using this investment, the
vision is to offer artists an equal opportunity to achieve their
aspirations and ambitions, while tackling social exclusion of artists
in a manner that tackles wider exclusions in society by new,
imaginative works and acts. The theme of cultural togetherness is
made manifest when a society confidently invests in makers who use
their imagination and skills to make the work they wish to make.
These artists contribute to their own and society's wellbeing through
rich cultural expression, rooted in this place and reaching far
beyond it.
THE
WRITING DISTRICT (TWD)
is a designation and a programme by Derry City and Strabane District
Council (DCSDC) that enables expression and storying through
imaginative
writing
from adults across the
district. TWD asserts that the act of writing in all its forms is a
defining characteristic of the district, creating healthy citizens, a
wealth of written stories and texts with social and historical
benefits and contributing to the tourism offer by making the region a
fascinating place, where visitors can see and experience artistic
production through writing.
TWD
is about writing, not writers, in the first instance. Writing in the
work-place, at leisure settings, in families, in
social and religious groups,
on buses, in taxis, bars and cafés, at the park, the sports field
and the gym, at festivals of jazz, film, Christmas and Halloween. TWD
animates the district with writing.
People
in the district, like people all over the world, have stories to
tell. TWD creates opportunities for those stories to be written.
People in the district have expressions to make. TWD creates
opportunities for those expressions to be written.
The
written works, sometimes very short, become public, as the person
writing decides, via blogs, twitter accounts, emails,
pages in the district's newspapers and magazines, dedicated sheets,
pamphlets and billboards, readings, books, recordings, websites and
all other platforms imaginable.
The principle outcome is a
vibrant and lively district with texts and stories, poems and lyrics,
sketches and scenes, memories and speculations written by people in
the district, shared by people in the district and beyond, so that
the district becomes known by its writing. It becomes The Writing
District.
Another
outcome of TWD is that a small number of people may wish to enter the
writing industry. TWD would assist with information, advice,
mentoring and pathways into the industry, across all forms, so that
those people may become writers in formal and industrial senses.
A
one year pilot
programme
and associated projects for TWD takes place in 2018. On review and
adjustment, the designation and activities are rolled out for five
years, then reviewed once more.
©Dave
Duggan, June 2017
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