Bookshelf 14.
Why Are We Doing This?

1. Why Art Matters

Art Matters - Reflecting on Culture
by John Tusa
Pub Methuen 2000

A series of reasoned reflections on the current state of the arts in Britain as seen by John Tusa - broadcaster and now General Manager of the Barbican Centre, London. There are three sections - Beliefs, Politics and Actions, and the titles of the essays reveal something of their contents - "I'm worried about Tony", "The Cart and the Horse, which came first the market or the arts?", and "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my identity." They are personal, passionate and sometimes provoking. The A-Z of Running an Arts Centre is an interesting account of the key issues for arts management today. Review

Out of Our Minds - Learning to Be Creative
By Ken Robinson
Pub: Capstone 2001 ISBN 1841121258

Why is it essential to develop creativity, promote creativity, and what is involved in developing it? This book tackles these questions and argues for radical changes in how we think about intelligence and human resources and in how we educate people to meet the extraordinary challenges of the 21st century. Review

For Art’s Sake? Society and the Arts in the 21st Century
Ed Jamie Cowling
Pub Institute for Public Policy Research 2004 ISBN 1860302335

An important publication that tackles the questions of the impact of the arts on wider social goals in education, mental health, community cohersion and offender rehabilitation. Is our evaluation at present more advocacy than evidence? Do we need to be more rigorous? Can we focus on outcome measures? Authors of Chapters include Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of Arts Council England; Dr Gerald Lidstone of Goldsmith's College; and Dr Andrew Miles, Research Consultant for the Unit for Arts and Offenders. Lots of useful information on various evaluation schemes and much food for thought.

The Search for Meaning: The London International Festival of Theatre Lecture
by Charles Handy
Pub: Lemos Crane 1996 ISBN 1898001227

A beautifully produced little book, that captures Charles Handy's address given in the 1995 LIFT Festival. Handy is reflecting on life as we live it now, and exploring the value of the arts, and theatre in particular as a place to think and a means of bringing some sense to bear on the current world. Refreshing, thought-provoking, challenging.

Turning Points: the impact of participation in community theatre
by Neil Beddow, ed Mary Shwarz
Pub: South West Arts 2001 ISBN 1 874396 29 9 £5
An interesting and useful study of the effects that community theatre has on the people who take part. It is enthusiastically descriptive and then analytical. The results of the evaluation studies include both delightful direct quotations and lists of percentages. Review
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Finding Voices, Making Choices: creativity for social change
By Mark Webster and Glen Buglass
Pub Educational Heretics Press New revised edition ISBN 1900219220

An important addition to the tiny number of books written by community arts workers about their practice. As it says of itself, the book "should serve as a general introduction to the uninitiated, or as a provocative read for people already involved in its practice." It defines Community Arts, discusses process, and then tackles major themes, including participation, empowerment, and assessing the impact. Each theme has an introduction by the editor and then a piece by a contributor, taking a particular slant on the issue, and relating this to their own current practice.

Creative Regeneration - lessons from ten community arts projects
By Tim Dwelly
Pub: Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2001 £12.95 ISBN 1 85935 065 8
This report shows how ten arts projects in Wales have made a major impact in their communities. It provides examples for other agencies across the UK to follow, by demonstrating that creative regeneration really does work. Review

Slough Inspired: A celebration of ten years of Community Arts Training in Slough
Pub: Slough Borough Council 2004 ISBN 090416411X £5.
A celebration of ten years of Community Arts Training in Slough (CATS). A beautiful booklet with classy photos and interviews with wonderful people doing wonderful things as a result of undertaking the CATS training courses. Artists who learnt how to work with communities, and people from communities who learnt how to work with artists. The publication celebrates the people of Slough – it is about their stories and journeys in the arts. A great reminder of why this type of arts is so important.
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2. Telling Their Stories

A collection of stories from artists, enablers and other people who make stuff happen discuss their processes and their journeys…

Diverse Voices: Personal Journeys
Pub All Ways Learning 2005 ISBN 0954978501 £12
The first publication in the Collected Wisdom series Diverse Voices: Personal Journeys is a series of interviews collected by Anouk Perinpanayagam and edited by Janet Summerton and Madeline Hutchins.
Eleven fascinating individuals describe the planned and fortuitous paths of their arts management careers. These are people who have made it their business to confront risk; seize and make opportunities; and gather important lessons along the way. Diversity is present here in a multiplicity of management experiences, art form backgrounds and personal approaches to the entrepreneurial edge.
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Common Threads Uncommon People
By Jennifer Williams
Pub CCC 2005 ISBN 095147636X £12
What do an actress, a journalist, a school teacher, a charity director, a musician, a trainer of art teachers, a values specialist, a choreographer, a community worker and a maths teacher have in common? Each of the people presented in this book is engaged in solving local and global problems simultaneously. During a formal research project about social change carried out by the author, a pattern emerged that revealed the existence of a special group of people. They were the committed, uncommon individuals frequently found to be the engines behind creative change, who shared the belief that the world will not get better on its own. Review
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On Creativity: Interviews Exploring the Process
By John Tusa
Pub Methuen 2004 2nd edition ISBN 0413773485

What do we mean by creativity? Can we define it, or at least say what its distinguishing features are? Why does it matter? What separates the genuinely creative artist from the rest of us? These questions are explored in interviews with some of the greatest creative minds of our time: Howard Hodgkin, Anthony Caro, Elliott Carter, Eve Arnold, David Sylvester, Nicholas Grimshaw, Milos Forman, Paula Rego, Harrison Birtwistle, Frank Auerbach, Tony Harrison, Muriel Spark. There is also an interesting piece by John Tusa himself on Creativity.

Art Not Chance: Nine Artists' Diaries
Ed Paul Allen
Pub: Gulbenkian Foundation 2001 0903319942

This book has grown out of the Gulbenkian Foundation’s grants programme ‘Time to Experiment’ to encourage professional artists (from all art forms) to set aside time simply to test new concepts. Nine artists were asked to keep a regular record of how they make their work and here are the results in diary form. They make fascinating reading, provide insights into artists’ processes, and much food for thought. Review

Private Views: Artists Working Today
Ed by Judith Palmer
Pub Serpent's Tail 2004 £14.99 ISBN 185242821X
Interviews with and essays by, a wide range of contemporary artists - across all art forms. "And they said you’d never make it… celebrating Britain’s top artists". There are moving personal stories and humorous observations that confound many of the received myths about the life of the artist, and show shared patterns of experience and outlook across disciplines and generations.
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Eyes on Stalks
By John Fox
Pub Methuen 2002 ISBN 0413761908

This delightful book tells the stories of two families – the author’s family and the Welfare State International family. John Fox provides a vivid account of the company’s working practices over the last thirty years. There’s humour, there’s politics and local planning issues, there’s funding challenges, fire structures, the building of their Lantern-house home and on a more serious note, naming ceremonies and funerals. Illustrated with photos and the author’s own drawings.

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Bookshelf 14