Resources

Rebecca Newell: “Hi everyone, we just wanted to give you some top tips about working with artists ahead of your expression of interest window opening. I'm joined by a fantastic panel of experts here, and I think we'll just kick off with, really, thinking about setting the scene for your artist commission, thinking about your organisational setting. So, from me, my top tip is really to think about preparing A brief. So, what makes a good brief? 

Well, commissions should be specific to your organisation or your organisational setting, your needs, your aims, but also be as open as possible to allow space for creative thought, you're not commissioning an ad agency, you're commissioning an artist who brings a lot to the table, lots of thinking and, and perhaps divergent thinking from your organisation. So, you might want to think about, what are the component aims and, and, and parts of the commission that you want to fold into the practise with an artist? How does it relate to your wider organisational, you know, mission or wider objectives and aims? And what else would you like to pack into the commission opportunity? You know, does it help you stretch your audience development opportunities? Does it develop your collection? Does it extend your relationships or networks in a really interesting way? Or does it extend your, your kind of reach and positionality within the broader heritage context? I think some of those things can be quite challenging, but they can also be really interesting and thoughtful exercises. And I think that just going back to the idea of preparing a brief, it doesn't necessarily have to be a written brief, it doesn't have to even necessarily have to take a kind of logical form, it could be a set of discussions, it could be iterative with the artist. Developing ideas through conversations can be, can be really helpful. I think that's definitely what we found, Iris, in our kind of organisational setting at IWM.”

Iris Veysey: “Yeah, that's right. So, I think that having conversations with the artist is really important and in terms of sort of coming up with that brief internally, I think it's really important to interrogate your choice. So, thinking about, you know, why an artist? Why now? Why for this particular subject? So, workshopping within your organisation what you're doing and thinking about what a commission is going to provide that another activity couldn't do is really helpful and that will really help you sharpen your brief, and it will also help you to champion what you're doing internally within your own organisation. And you can keep notes, you know, keep notes of those conversations, and you can keep a decision log as well, which sort of maps how your thinking evolves, and I think that's really key in terms of making sure you, you start from a clear position of what you're setting out to achieve and also in later kind of justifying the decisions that you've made.”

Rebecca Newell: “Yeah, and I think that that thing about, you know, keeping a log, but also being open to new ideas. And I think with artists commissioning in particular working with artists in general, you know there is opportunity for things to grow in ways that you can't necessarily anticipate at the beginning of, at the beginning of conversation or the beginning of thinking. That's certainly something that you've been really clear about, Nigel, I think in your in your work to date and your advice to me, definitely.”

Nigel Hinds: “Yes, there's absolutely something about, about being there, being, being open to the unexpected. Obviously, the reason why you're working with an artist within a, a, heritage context is that you're looking for that, looking for that fresh insight. And one of the things that we found in 14-18 NOW, which was dealing with the heritage of the First World War, was that that some artists found it very difficult to, to, to grapple with the breadth of the topic. And it was through working with the archives of the Imperial War Museum or occasionally some other organisations that we were able to give artists access to particular materials that suddenly, suddenly, sparked, sparked an idea where they previously felt rather overwhelmed, that, that, that will often be looking for, for that, for that starting point, which, which releases the energy and clearly one of the things that you as the commissioner need to be clear about is, it, it is what the artist getting excited about, but what you, what you think is, is the right thing for your organisation. And, you know it, it can obviously happen that an artist gets excited about something that actually is, is outside the brief that you thought through and you need to say ‘that's great, that's great, but actually don't think that's going to work for us’. So, so all the way through it, you're nurturing this, this, this creative working relationship whereby you're meeting your objectives but getting the artist into a place that they're going to be really proud of the work that they have made being presented in front of your audiences and visitors, but it, it's, it's finding that point of departure that excites you both, really.”

Rebecca Newell: “And I think that, that lines of communication point is really critical, isn't it? That being open and honest and actually saying that, that may not work for us, you know, let's think about some other things or let's think about this, this, you know, adjacent thing that could potentially work and the artist being empowered  to also do that, and, and I think that, you know, it can be quite daunting, I guess, working with particularly, you know, potentially high profile artists and that sort of thing to, to actually make sure that you're driving your, your position forward. And, and maintaining that level of excitement and momentum and inspiration and openness. And I think, you know, on the, on the other side of the communication channel point is that artists, artists I find work in very different ways. Some are very communicative, some rely on, rely on kind of, don't rely on e-mail for example, and want to kind of meet face to face, some are very, you know, organised and, and, want to be in touch a lot and, and it's not unusual for artists to go away and have some, kind of, you know, weeks of, of thinking and, and that you might not hear from them quite so much, and that's all quite normal, I think.”

Nigel Hinds: “Yes, yeah, absolutely. And you need to find a way that you keep in touch with during those moments of silence whereby the artist isn't feeling handed, but equally you're not, you're not feeling, uh, bereft and ignored.”

[Laughter]

Rebecca Newell: “Yeah, absolutely. And that, you know, actually a kind of one-size-fits-all communication plan that you might use for a kind of other sort of contractor or, or agency isn't necessarily going to work for an artist, and, and having a more kind of human conversation can sometimes be can sometimes be really, really useful. But also, you know, it comes to the level of confidence building that you need to do organisationally, which, which was something we were talking about earlier Matt, you know, thinking about the organisational setting and, and the kind of, I guess, the risk and ethical framework that you might be operating in in terms of embarking on a commissioning or artist project.”

Matt Lee: “Yeah, I mean, I think that's, that's very true. I mean, one of the things that you need to, to understand is the, the, the risk appetite your institution has for this project, what you're engaged in, how flexible you're willing to be. And it's not really about constraints necessarily or logistics, I think it's more about practicalities, what you actually want to export, explore collectively with the artists in your institution and, you know, through that process you might find challenges. But I mean, it's really your role to be the champion, the advocate for the project and sometimes people can get a little bit nervous when you have to start talking about contracts, IP, memorandum of understanding, those kind of things that formalise what had previously just been quite normally quite relaxed discussions, but they are actually really quite important so you, you understand the foundational tenets of the process as you go along and you start to put them in writing, you understand that the artist might well retain the rights, but is there preparatory art that has been, you know, created as part of this project? Where does that sit? Do you want to attain any of this? What's the future for it in terms of marketing, promotion, in terms of getting it to your premises, you're building? You know, the costs involved in that, all these logistical things do need to be discussed and it's it, it's important to have those discussions quite early as well so you, you set the tone for how you want to create but at the same times, you know, things change, the art itself changes, so in the past we've worked on projects where we've had quite a detailed written brief, but as the artist has engaged in the process, he's perhaps uncovered or revealed things in our collection that we weren't aware of. It's taken them in a different direction, so it's allowed it, you know, it's cultivated a different approach and I think, as an institution, you need to be able to be malleable and understand actually artists work in different ways to perhaps museums work and the way curators think, so you need to be challenged in these areas and that's one of the great things about working on a project like this.”

Rebecca Newell: “Yeah, I think that that sort of sense of, um, empowering colleagues and, and in terms of their roles and responsibilities to provide expertise to the artist is also, you know, really critical, and, and I completely agree that, you know, having upfront conversations about some of these things as, as and they as you say they might change, they might unfold in a in a slightly different way but, um, having in your mind as the organisational kind of team, the, the kind of potential for the future of an artwork or the potential for how you might think about using it within a broader campaign for your museum in terms of, say, marketing. You know, of course the artist retains IP of the work, but how you might kind of share the, the lifecycle together of the project. So, I think it's, it's again, it goes back to communication, and it goes back to, kind of, confidence building and empowering and, of course, but through this, you know, Legacy Fund Commissioning Project, we're really keen to help our colleagues in other museums and other organisations kind of, find, find their voice in that way and, and grow confidence. So, we're really, really keen to kind of work with you as the commissioning organisations to understand more about those things and learn more about those things if that's something you would like.

So I think we've, we've got a range of top tips there. I think we've basically said, think about a brief, prepare a brief, whatever that means for you, be creative and be open minded about what the commission does for your organisation and where it can take you and also in terms of who the artist is and what they have to say. Interrogate your choice, think carefully and critically about, you know, how it can help you move forward as an organisation. Consider the legal, ethical and best practise frameworks that you might be existing in and think about, you know, the whole project in that sense. Empower both the artists to have a clear space and voice within them, within the programme of work so they're very comfortable and also empower your colleagues to help with that. And overall, for all of those things, maintain clear communication and, and, and make sure that you've got those forms built in so that you can share and exchange ideas. Matt, Iris and Nigel, have you, please do add anything else, but thank you so much for contributing to the conversation.”

Iris Veysey: “Thank you.” 

Nigel Hinds: “Great, thank you very much indeed.”

Matt Lee: “Just enjoy it.”

Nigel Hinds: “Yeah. Here, here.”