From Network to Meshwork Executive Summary | Page 16

We worked with social practice artists to explore issues they faced in relation
to validation and discussed what model might serve them better. 40 interviews
were conducted with artists, commissioners and researchers; surveys
were run with a stakeholder group that grew to 160 people; and a programme of
artist-led commissions was designed and group members invited to apply to it.
Through the interviews and surveys, we identified five interlocking issues
facing social practice artists:
• difficulty articulating social practice,
including creating definitions and
negotiating roles and values;
• unrealistic / unreasonable expectations
from project partners (e.g. commissioners,
participants, members of the public);
• lack of support and infrastructure
for social projects;
• perceived second class status
of social practice in the art world;
• uncertainty about the validation process
aka ‘validation gap’ (how artists receive
acknowledgment from appropriate networks).
The four-stranded commissioning programme ‘Social Works?’
responded to these issues as follows:
a. To provide a platform for social practice
artists’ critical writing and debate, the
first issue of a new journal called ‘Social
Works? Open’ was published.
b. To combat isolation, four artist-led
network gatherings called ‘Social Works?
Get Togethers’ were commissioned.
c. To explore specific issues (in this case
paid commissions and arts and health),
two artist-led ‘Social Works? Workshops’
were commissioned.
d. To create opportunities for informal
conversations between the wider stakeholder
group through a festival of social art,
‘Social Works? Live’ was held at Manchester
School of Art in April 2019.