The programme is the result of a partnership developed over two and a half years, between PAL, the Cultural Enterprise Office, Glasgow, and On the Edge Research at Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.
Phase one on the programme was a week-long residential Lab held in January 2008 in Arbroath, in the oldest art school in Scotland. Among the impressive, talented and challenging group of artists and policymakers were Roanne Dodds, then Director of the Jerwood Foundation; the poet Jackie Kay; three senior officers from the Scottish Government, including Jim Tough, the acting CEO of Scottish Arts Council; John Wallace, the Principal of the Royal Scottish Academy for Music & Drama and Chair of Conservatoires UK; and the Director of the International Futures Forum.
The follow-up review Lab took place at the RSAMD, Glasgow in June 08, with additional guest particpants from the ACE Cultural Leadership programme and the British Council. . The Artist as Leader Lab programme has already highlighted the fact that building professional understanding and trust between artists and policymakers needs to involve creative risk taking and experimentation. This is the basis of the initiative.
The Artist as Leader research team has published new insights into artistic leadership, drawing on the experience of over thirty artists and policymakers.
We are currently developing Phase II, which includes a focus on the teaching of art as well as the professional practice of artists. We are aiming to identify a methodology of artistic leadership provision that is ‘fit for purpose’.
