For those artists and arts organisations that operate with at least one foot in the world of social policy, the Coalition Government’s proposed approach to public services is bad news.
On one level, it might appear as if the opening up of public services to a range of different providers would be good news – more opportunities for the arts to play a role, yes? Sadly, no.
You can see a couple of excellent summaries of the proposals here:
This new environment which the Government is proposing to instigate is toxic for the arts. Why? Because it’s creating a world in which public service contracts are dependent on quantitative data and pre-defined ‘outcomes’. You want a contract to work with young people with complex needs? You’ll need to show us data about the job outputs from previous contracts you’ve delivered. No matter that this data is effectively meaningless, because it’s not actually measuring what it claims to measure, it’s the data that counts. No matter that the impacts that your arts programme has created in the lives of vulnerable people have been evaluated and demonstrated, it’s only data on certain pre-defined ‘outcomes’ that count.
How is this new, you might ask? Arts organisations have been finding creative ways to interpret and demonstrate value within this kind of social policy landscape for more years than many people would like to count. The new element which is particularly toxic for the arts is the restricted nature of what counts as success. In the old world, arts organisations could show the impact that our work has made on the lives of individuals - for example, in terms of increased aspirations, greater skill levels, or simply belief in themselves and their abilities - and that would count for something. But not any more.
The only ‘results’ that count now are those that are pre-defined by civil servants who have no connection to the lives of the people who are receiving services. So what if getting a particular job is detrimental to the mental health of this participant? Doesn’t matter, you’ll only get paid if you force that person to take that job. What if there are no jobs for the person to get? That means you won’t get paid at all. What happens if people think that a particular individual is never likely to be able to get a job? Good luck with finding an organisation that will take the chance of working with them.
Arts programmes, which by their nature are about creative exploration and empowering people to find their own path, will find it hard to find a place in this environment. So – if you think that the arts has a role to play in helping vulnerable people to find their way in the world, and that the state has a role to play in making that happen, it might be worth responding to the Open Services White Paper here: http://www.openpublicservices.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
And I’m sure you’re full to the brim of your own examples of the arts playing an amazing role in vulnerable people’s lives, but if you want to see more, check this out: http://www.citybridgetrust.org.uk/CBT/Publications/CreateAbility.htm
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