I deliver a consultancy service for others, as well as producing projects for Flow. That consultation and research process is the first step towards delivering an outcome – it is a catalyst for action, as opposed to a report or recommendation. I want to make things happen.
I firmly believe that every step on the project development journey demands a high level of critical awareness and reflexivity. It is my attention to detail in combination with rigorous thinking processes that informs each project. Despite the funding cuts in the arts, public art commissioning continues. Indeed we probably need it more now than ever before.
Resilience
Networking
Creativity
The pandemic of the last two years has changed the way we consider our lives. People are reviewing what they do and one of the biggest things many people missed was culture. Galleries and theatres closed down, music festivals of all sorts cnacelled. Coming out the other end (?) work visible in the public realm has come to the fore. Outdoor events, community building work.
Not so long ago, arts organisations were being advised to learn from business models – now business models are proposing that businesses think creatively. Things are changing, and change makes for exciting times.
Whatever the timescale and budget, there are core issues that each public art project needs to address. My practice has always focused on site and place specificity, which means getting to know the location for the artworks well, to enable me to support the commissioned artists appropriately. No commission is too big or too small for me to manage. If it’s small, I have the experience to cover all aspects of the process, whilst if it is longer or larger I can employ specialist services as and when required from a number of highly experienced professionals who I have worked with previously. I can fund-raise for projects too, having over 10 years experience of doing so from numerous sources.
Each project involves identifying new partnerships, whilst always keeping the artist at the hub of her work. That work is an ongoing process of professional development and discovery, resulting in my gaining experience of managing and delivering a diverse range of projects – from urban to rural, temporary to permanent.
My work often involves a substantial amount of writing: strategies, catalogues, press releases, policies, business plans, evaluations, briefs and reports. I have become increasingly interested in how artists and arts organisations can become more resilient in response to the current recession.
Carolyn Black 