STARTING A CONVERSATION: SUMMARY OF RESPONSES
"…creating a wonderful forum and venue for new thinking and investigations into art/science."
Introduction
The Arts Catalyst wishes to develop a more interactive conversation with its constituency – our audiences and interest groups – to understand better what they are interested in, how they think we're doing, what they value about Arts Catalyst. The simple questionnaire 'Starting a Conversation' was sent out to start this process to our email list.
There were 145 responses by e-mail, 1 telephone response and 6 surveys that had a greeting, but no responses. It is entirely qualitative research: a self-selecting group.
A summary of responses was collated by Sarah Bedell of Aspirational Arts Partnership in discussion the Director of The Arts Catalyst, Nicola Triscott (both of whom have read all responses), which is already informing The Arts Catalyst's planning for the future. This summary has been put together to let our respondents and wider constituency know the overall response, and to spark further conversation.
Who are the respondents?
There are three main groups making up the respondents (although it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the Arts Catalyst audience for events, given the self-selecting nature of this on-line consultation):
1. Those who attended, then subscribed to the mailing list.
2. Those who subscribe, but live too far away to attend.
3. Current, past or hopeful collaborators and partners who have been in contact with Arts Catalyst. As well as individual artists, scientists and related interested parties, there are a number of consultants and representatives of organisations.
Respondents are largely ‘professional’: artists of all kinds, scientists, curators, writers, consultants, arts managers, academics and science communicators. The largest group of respondents seem to be artists or makers who have an interest in a particular scientific field or aspect. They often seem to have portfolio interests, combining teaching with creating and researching.
There is a large overseas group, who rely on Arts Catalyst’s communication channels to stay updated (Germany, Australia, Mexico, USA, Bulgaria, for example).
The Arts Catalyst’s value and strengths
The main thing that respondents value is Arts Catalyst's arts/science focus. This is coupled with the quality of that work - whatever it is (exhibition, presentation, conference, events, debates were all mentioned) - in production values and rigour. People are glad that Arts Catalyst exists for these reasons:
‘Non-standard crossover between art and science, that doesn't reduce art to illustration, and allows its wider contextualisation in terms of politics and society. An engagement with ecology that doesn't just reduce things to feel-good art, but also works intellectually with scientific approaches.’
‘It is genuinely different, thought provoking and inspiring. Restores my faith in what has otherwise become a pretty barren artscape – thank you!’
The Arts/Science collaboration is well represented in science but not so much in the arts outside of digital media. Arts Catalyst recognises the importance of a wide range of potential in work of this nature.
‘As its name implies, the value lies in being part of the currently important work of illustrating and facilitating the growing extent of interactions between the arts, sciences and humanities.’
‘I value the capability to integrate diverse range of topics and technological mediums in your projects; the social and political engagement of the projects; the spirit of experimentation and innovation and the scale of the work. I also appreciate your ability to involve artists from different areas, who are not working only and particularly with technological means, but who are also capable to evaluate conceptually and philosophically the tech/science application and their socio/political importance.’
You are bringing together art and science - two worlds which I feel are more closely related than most artists and scientists realize. As an artist I feel a responsibility to promote thought with every piece I make. What you write makes me think harder about the world and this will find its way into my work.
Innovative. Space Art. NON-American.
An additional 14 responses refer explicitly to the space exploration strand of our work, the majority of these very positively:
‘For me the space/arts thing is quite unique and valuable. I was initially a sceptic but as so much of our human experience is conducted in and through orbital presence, I think this dimension in art can/ must be worth fostering.’
From the responses referring to space, one was negative about space and one mildly critical; a few others mentioned that they were not excited by the space projects, but did not seem to object to it.
As mentioned above, many responses refer explicitly to the arts/science focus and it is clearly what people hold most dear, tying in particularly with Arts Catalyst’s strengths in communicating and disseminating ideas. Respondents often mention that Arts Catalyst is how they stay up to date, or that they have accessed information via Arts Catalyst.
It is generally acknowledged that Arts Catalyst creates and sustains networks well; respondents see that as being part of what makes the organisation valuable. There are some suggestions made for more pro-active linking to academics and institutions.
Overall, peoples’ responses to the two questions about value and what Arts Catalyst does well, suggest that our constituents think there is a need for an organisation like Arts Catalyst, whether the respondent is a scientist, academic, project worker, administrator or artist.
‘Vision, guts, no one else in a UK context is doing anything else like it. Ongoing working relationships with artists facilitating meaningful development of practices and projects. Huge breadth of works that manifest intelligence and layered access points. Radically interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, creating complex engagement. I'm a fan.’
‘Choice of unusual and provocative settings for events, combination of approaches and disciplines in border areas of art and science.’
‘It is really forward looking and creates genuine collaboration between scientists and artists with the possibility of real gains on both sides.’
‘I consider The Arts Catalyst the international leader in dialogues and practices about art and science, so I keep an eye on its work to keep abreast of this area of practice.’
Other words frequently used include innovation, quality, different, independent, exploration, adventurous, interdisciplinary, varied, interesting, topical, relevant and vital:
‘Innovation, diverse audience base, science art collaborations, new knowledge, playful approach to events.’
Given that so many of the respondents are artists, it is also positive to see that the way Arts Catalyst engages collaborates and supports artists, is recognised:
‘Direct support of artists and commitment to developing artists' projects. Building audiences for emerging forms of practice and providing interesting contexts for the exhibition, installation and performance of artists working with science and technology.’
Respondents feel that the main things Arts Catalysts does very well are:
1. Commission, production and presentation of events
2. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach and highlighting innovations
3. Finding and supporting artists and projects
These quotes are a sample of the responses, and illustrate the above very well:
‘Deliver exciting projects and events.’
‘There has been a very clear and dynamic agenda to pushing art /cultural practice into challenging places; support and initiation have been strong also’
‘Projects involving physics/ astronomy/ geography/ climate/ ecology’
‘Variety of projects and publications but still maintaining the integrity of the sciart field’.
‘You get around, truly national and international outlook; access interesting places inside/outside of art’
‘The high level in artistic research that you stand for, allowing philosophy and poetry to enter the scene of space exploration.’
‘I think that you are creating a wonderful forum and venue for new thinking and investigations into art/science. It is wonderful to see all of the projects that are being conducted and that there is a place for art outside of the gallery and museum. Thank you for making this possible.’
These successes make for high expectations that have to be managed and handled appropriately. Clearly, our audiences are extremely intelligent and have come to expect very high standards in whatever Arts Catalyst does, whether it’s organising an event, exploring new ideas or sending out an e-bulletin.
Areas for development and improvement
There are three main areas that have come up in terms of improvement and development:
1. Continue to diversify our subject interests, while still offering the same mix of information and work. People seem to mention climate change most often; suggestions for new areas of work are frequently linked to the respondent’s main interest, but include:
o More field science, moving out of the lab
o Climate change
o Low-tech projects
2. Communication in general and specifically:
o Being more accessible to and speaking to the public
‘Reach broader audiences and develop marketing/promotional campaigns that target a broad range of media. Improve the profile of Arts Catalyst beyond the current niche market and audience.’
o Making the website more interactive, linking through to different things, using it as a way for people to see what you have done further back in the past
‘Greater publication of contextualising discourse for people who aren't able to visit many of the time-delimited events, video footage online, etc.’
o Clarity around how people can become involved in a professional way: commissioning and related opportunities to work with you
3. Do more work outside London and the South East and potentially internationally, and consider how we can keep intercontinental connections and networks informed.
There is a clear desire from respondents to have more opportunities to attend Arts Catalyst events, in the UK, mainland Europe and internationally, but this places pressure on Arts Catalyst to expand in too many directions, rather than thinking about strategic partnerships (one of the other things respondents think Arts Catalyst do very well). Whilst Arts Catalyst has worked to develop partnerships in particular UK regions, particularly the North-West, Scotland, the South-East and Yorkshire, and with international organisations, it has had a more London-focus in terms of presentations in the last couple of years. Respondents understand that focus and geographical range is difficult to achieve, particularly for a small company, but Arts Catalyst should consider how best it can achieve this, either solus or in partnership.
Conclusions
The Arts Catalyst is well respected in its field and regarded as very valuable by audiences and partners. As long as this conversation is continued with its audiences and wider constituency, The Arts Catalyst should be able to move forward with the support and continued encouragement of its actively interested and engaged audiences. Balancing the different commissioning, programming and communication needs of such an articulate, intelligent, interested and opinionated group of individuals will feel like a challenge at times, but is likely to open up great opportunities.
To recap:
* There is scope to extend the dialogue with these respondents.
* There is no doubt that Arts Catalyst could grow its ‘lay’ audience (ie. those not working professionally in directly-related fields), but will to identify who and why and how. This would have an impact on communication, the need for product, the opportunities to present it publicly (to enough people) and the scale of the operation at present.
* The Arts Catalyst could include the current audience in further discussions about how it might develop in its second decade, in a structured way.
* Arts Catalyst is able to build on a very positive base; the overwhelming majority of respondents ‘get’ what we do, value it, and want us to continue doing this so well.
* The respondents would like to see a broader range of scientific areas and fields covered and would like more opportunities to engage and collaborate with Arts Catalyst outside London, mainly in the UK and also internationally.
Report compiled by
Sarah Bedell
Aspirational Arts Partnerrships Ltd
