CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 70
OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS
By way of conclusion the report suggests that in the short term,
these recommendations be the subject of further consultation
and ‘community of practice’ building. This could take the form of:
• smaller organizations such as Axisweb,
Social Art Network and others being
funded through national sponsorship
to develop networks and communities of
practice via capacity building measures
outlined above (e.g. journal, artist
development, research, networking,
skills development etc.)
• funding bids from researchers to
develop new programmes and research
partnerships to better understand
issues on which we currently have
only anecdotal evidence — for example
levels, types and extent of funding
currently supporting social practice,
models of best practice for social
practice artist development.
• a partnership of artists, more
established communities of practice
and influencers (e.g. ACE, NHS, LAs,
charitable foundations) to consult
on the recommendations set out in the
report, through artist-led and artistenabling
deliberative democratic
enquiry events.
In the longer term, it is clear that social practice is a
potentially valuable and significant strand in the UK cultural
community. Like all professional practice in the arts, social
practice requires validation. In the networked art world this
amounts to a belief — or social imaginary —shared widely
enough to offer assurance that the skills of the producer and
the value of the product are fit for purpose. Artistic careers
grow and flourish, or decline and diminish, due to externally
generated acknowledgements. Social practice offers an
opportunity to go beyond the network model which primarily
benefits the individuals involved, by building communities
of practice where greater benefits are shared, and towards
the tensile flexibility of the meshwork, which brings us into
correspondence not as static points in a grid, but through ever
emerging ‘thread-lines’ out of which relationships might occur.
At its heart [a model of validation]
needs to encourage artists to do this
for themselves and [organisations
should] partner with them to work strategically,
critically. (Artist, 15A).