Issue - items at meetings - Presentation on Open Houses

Verbal update by Janita Bagshawe.

Ms Bagshawe informed the Committee that Renaissance funding had been available since 2002/3. There were 9 hubs across England with 4 or 5 museums in each hub. Initially, Brighton & Hove received £300,000 as a phase 2 hub then got just under £1m per year. This was year 4. The review of Renaissance funding ended last year. The in year savings had not affected programmes at the moment. Ms Bagshaw outlined some of the programmes funded by Renaissance including: work on documentation of artefacts; putting 30,000 items on line; 4 micro museums; the Egyptology room; the Indian Hospital exhibition; work in the sub-regions; and the redisplay of the ethnographic exhibitions.

The Museums, Libraries & Archives (MLA) review was considering core funded museums with designated collections and big audiences. This would be 5 year funding. Challenge funding is being considered for other museums which would involve a strategic commissioning approach. Ms Bagshawe noted that it was not yet clear what the Coalition Government was planning. The spending review in the Autumn was critical.

It was agreed to add an item on the work programme at a later date to update on the Renaissance funding.

The Chair thanked Ms Bagshawe and it was noted how well the funding had been used.

Presentation by Judy Stevens.

51.1 The Chairman welcomed Judy Stevens of the Artists Open Houses (AOH) to the meeting. Ms Stevens outlined the history of the Open Houses which started 29 years ago in Fiveways when one artist, Ned Hoskins, opened his house to the public. Groups of others followed his initiative and created individual trails of around 12 houses each. Six years ago it was decided to produce one dedicated brochure and website for all the trails. Artists Open Houses was a not-for-profit, limited by guarantee company.  The Open Houses had grown hugely to around 220 venues with over 1,200 artists and makers. It was a major showcase for work and in the four weekends of the festival last year, over £1m of sales were made. A survey indicated that 230,000 people regularly visited Open Houses: that equated to 100 a minute. People found the Houses a non-threatening way to engage with the visual arts. 60% of these people were local. The majority of the artists were resident in the city.

51.2 Ms Stevens emphasised that the Open Houses were across the city, including Portslade, Bevendean and Whitehawk.  They embraced all artists, including the homeless, children, and those who were marginalised geographically or through learning difficulties.  They were also working with day care centres. Homeless and marginalised people had reported feeling positively better following the Open Houses work.

51.3 Open Houses did not want to raise entry fees and were looking at the possibility of bursaries. They received no funding of any sort.

51.4 In May 2009, in response to the lack of a contemporary art gallery in the city, the ‘HOUSE’ festival was created. HOUSE was a curated festival which provided a platform for artists working in less conventional ways. It took place in small art spaces and houses around the city. This year it was called HOUSE Gallery and 10 separate artists would have a project, each with an installation in a single room.  These rooms across the city would create the gallery. For example, local artist Tamsin Williams would be working with inhabitants of Embassy Court, including a group of Somali residents to create a performance piece based on childhood games to be shown in the public area of Embassy Court; another artist, Sam Curtis would be working with four Open Houses and creating a treasure trail; and audio-visual artist Nigel Shafran aimed to reflect Brighton & Hove as Cycling Town.  In Wellington House, an artist with learning difficulties was working with a renowned curator (in order to develop curatorial skills) and a full-time gallery space was planned to showcase work from local marginalised artists.

51.5 AOH was developing free education and participation events and working with the cultural sector to provide change.  They had recently applied to the Arts Council for funding and the Council would provide match funding if they were successful.

51.6 Ms Stevens showed the Committee a short film produced by one volunteer student.

51.7 Following a question on costs, Ms Stevens confirmed the Open Houses (not HOUSE) cost around £80,000 which was largely met by the money paid by artists to be in the brochure but crucially this does not include payment to those employed in producing the festival.  It was £240 for a quarter page and £400 for a half page. One house may have a number of artists in.  Councillors praised the Open Houses and the innovative concept that had been copied elsewhere.  Over the years, younger artists worked in different mediums in addition to painting and ceramics. Ms Stevens informed the Committee that it was too early to say whether the recession had impacted on the Open Houses as registration was ongoing.  Early signs were that the recession had not impacted greatly: it was an affordable way for artists to sell their work.

51.8 The Chairman thanked Ms Stevens for her fascinating presentation and film.