Chris Biddlecombe: Five thoughts about artist-led projects in Scotland
Artist and researcher Chris Biddlecombe has vast experience working with artist-run initiatives (ARIs) in Scotland. He is the co-leader of the major ARI research project One Shared Owner and a key participant in Affiliations, SCAN’s learning and development programme for ARIs. Ahead of his talk at our Affiliations session on 15 January, we asked Chris to share his views on the current state of ARIs in Scotland and what they need to thrive in the future.
I have been working within, and alongside, artist-led groups since the 1990s. My recent mapping and research into the diverse artist-led activity that is currently developing in Scotland – carried out through the Scottish Artist Union – has been a focus since 2021. I have identified over 350 active artist-led projects varying in scale and practice and at different stages of development. I believe this creative activity, happening in diverse locations outside established infrastructure, is incredibly important, with an ability to generate a positive sense of independence, energy, enquiry and community. Therefore it is vital that we continually have a clear understanding of the professional issues, benefits and opportunities that are being generated by these groups.
The support needs of this artist-led activity are complex, so as an introduction I outline here five opening thoughts about strengths and threats. Groups often appear to manage multiple identities and roles, so connections are messy – therefore explanations and definitions can also appear a little messy. Messy can be difficult to manage, but often this is where the interesting stuff hides.
Lessons that sustain artists rarely come from rules or institutions. They stem from shared experience. To me, the act of collaboration is to listen: when I work alongside others, I proceed by listening. This collective connectivity of working and listening together, with a shared governance, is at the heart of most artist-led activity. There is much talk about structuring these groups through current business management models. But remember, many of these groups were never created to become a formal traditional business. We therefore have to support each group to find its own appropriate collaborative governance model to ensure they can grow and develop at a rate and in a manner most suited to the specific artists needs.
Many groups are now moving beyond just an artist community and instead directly connecting with specific social and environmental engagement and placing themselves at the heart of local community activity. Artist-led groups currently exist approximately 50/50 between the complicated Scottish geography of urban and rural locations. We need to explore the relation between art and citizenship as a way to understand art’s role in a broader societal context. This is work that could be explored further through national and international partnerships. It is interesting to link this integrated creative approach and the deepening relationships with local audiences, with the discussions about citizen assemblies and the approach of some UK galleries and museums, who ask members of the public to help them define future policy and direction. I think the most important thing is to build your community with care. Stay close to the people who inspire you, who support you, and who make the process more sustainable.
The practicalities and initial costs of setting up your own studio are often prohibitive. What can be crucial for individual artist’s development is finding an opportunity to work in a shared space. Using minimal resources, this can provide access to shared equipment, communal problem solving, creative feedback from other artists and sufficient project space to operate at scale. It is also about creating a visible destination within a local community. Finding and developing the right space is often time sensitive and difficult to negotiate. Therefore we must continue to educate funders, private landlords and local councils about the need to provide access to creative sustainable workspace that can aid socio and economic development. Although we have recently seen growth in the development and management of temporary artist spaces, we must ensure that we continue to highlight the need for secure longer-term spaces that allow forward thinking artist-led initiatives the autonomy and time to genuinely establish themselves in a community.
Let us be clear, probably the biggest funder of artist-led activity in Scotland is not the government – it is the artists themselves, with their unpaid and underpaid work. Many artist-led initiatives are run partly or wholly through volunteer labour, so we need to continue to explore sustainable working structures and recognise the often invisible labour carried out within artist-led spaces, which support the development of the overall sector. 70% of artist-led initiatives surveyed do not receive regular grant funding and 40% of artist-led initiatives surveyed have an annual income below £5k. It was good to see a number of established artist-led groups receive multi-year funding through Creative Scotland in 2025. It will be useful to observe how this secure funding support will now develop and possibly change the future programming and operation of these groups. We need to continue discussing, exploring and sharing future ideas on sustainability, seed-funding new initiatives, rates of pay, alternative income models, circular economies and collaborative pooling of resources.
As artists we never stop learning. The spaces we create in artist-led activity readily provide an opportunity for knowledge exchange. This exchange should include the development of networks both nationally and internationally at a grassroots level. One of the positives about an artist network is the combined amount of inclusive skills and experience that can be accumulated amongst its members – we need to support and acknowledge the importance of exchange programmes, adjustable services, peer support and the connecting of artist groups through physical cooperative meetings. In turn, we need to explore how art colleges can better collaborate with smaller, less resourced artistic spaces to support recent graduates and how a variety of artist-led initiatives can then create regular integrated support into undergraduate programmes.
This is a brief glimpse into how artists collectively continue to make with intention and generosity. This work is about artist self-identity, that can be oppositional, marginal, independent and often link with many other countercultures. We need to evaluate and re-evaluate – unlearn and re-learn – to find ways to collectively work together. But to continue to do this we need the broader arts sector to listen to and acknowledge the place and importance of these artist-led initiatives.
Artist and researcher Chris Biddlecombe co-leads the Affiliations session Navigating the Commercial Property Market on Thursday 15 January. Tickets for all Affiliations sessions are free for SCAN members and £30 each for non-members. For more information and tickets, visit Eventbrite.
Images: Generator Projects, Dundee