All the success stories I've ever been part of or have come across, whether in business and in the arts, in Scotland, England, Europe or overseas, have originated in individuals with a vision, a vision they cared passionately about and had the courage, conviction, and dedication to make real. This is so fundamental to what it means to be an artist, or to what is usually called an entrepreneur, that we assume everyone understands it.
Now we've had nearly fourteen years of consultations and conferences and seminars and summits and workgroups in which the people of Scotland have talked about Creative Scotland, before and after the organisation came into being.
Re-reading the 1999 survey, it's striking how many of the responses are as true today as they were then. There must be rooms full of paperwork and servers full of data somewhere, gathering dust. I have tried to include links to all of those responses where they are stored online so that people can refresh their memories.
Millions of pounds have been spent on the processes that led to Creative Scotland, instead of on encouraging people in Scotland to be creative.
During the decade that it took to bring Creative Scotland into existence, banks failed, credit crunched, property bubbles burst and whole countries went bankrupt but the idea that market-oriented management* of the public sector was the best way of moving forward went seemingly unquestioned by the organisation's midwives.
At the Open Session in Dundee in early March, Clive Gillman produced an improvement on the banking 'return on investment' metaphor currently in favour: Society is a cake; the arts are the eggs that are needed to make the cake rise. After you've put them in, you can't get them out again but without them it's not a very nice cake.
Here is the Scottish Government's Gateway to Scotland website. The Visit Scotland page links to VisitScotland's website. The Creative Scotland tab does not mention the eponymous agency. First noticed in 2010, the assumption was that once CS' permanent website was in place, it would be linked but so far this does not seem to be the case.
Jennie Macfie, March 2013
*See Managerialism
"In Managerialism, there is a belief that organizations have more similarities than differences, and thus the performance of all organizations can be optimized by the application of generic management skills and theory. To a practitioner of Managerialism, there is little difference in the skills required to run a college, an advertising agency or an oil rig. Experience and skills pertinent to an organization's core business are considered secondary".
All photographs © J Macfie unless otherwise indicated
Now we've had nearly fourteen years of consultations and conferences and seminars and summits and workgroups in which the people of Scotland have talked about Creative Scotland, before and after the organisation came into being.
Re-reading the 1999 survey, it's striking how many of the responses are as true today as they were then. There must be rooms full of paperwork and servers full of data somewhere, gathering dust. I have tried to include links to all of those responses where they are stored online so that people can refresh their memories.
Millions of pounds have been spent on the processes that led to Creative Scotland, instead of on encouraging people in Scotland to be creative.
During the decade that it took to bring Creative Scotland into existence, banks failed, credit crunched, property bubbles burst and whole countries went bankrupt but the idea that market-oriented management* of the public sector was the best way of moving forward went seemingly unquestioned by the organisation's midwives.
At the Open Session in Dundee in early March, Clive Gillman produced an improvement on the banking 'return on investment' metaphor currently in favour: Society is a cake; the arts are the eggs that are needed to make the cake rise. After you've put them in, you can't get them out again but without them it's not a very nice cake.
Here is the Scottish Government's Gateway to Scotland website. The Visit Scotland page links to VisitScotland's website. The Creative Scotland tab does not mention the eponymous agency. First noticed in 2010, the assumption was that once CS' permanent website was in place, it would be linked but so far this does not seem to be the case.
Jennie Macfie, March 2013
*See Managerialism
"In Managerialism, there is a belief that organizations have more similarities than differences, and thus the performance of all organizations can be optimized by the application of generic management skills and theory. To a practitioner of Managerialism, there is little difference in the skills required to run a college, an advertising agency or an oil rig. Experience and skills pertinent to an organization's core business are considered secondary".
All photographs © J Macfie unless otherwise indicated