Rhubarb Rhubarb and art strategy in Birmingham.

Rhubarb Rhubarb and art strategy in Birmingham.

Introduction:

It is the intention of this essay to give a brief history of one of Birmingham’s most highly visible art organisations and compare their activities with what is happening in the city regarding arts at the community level. By doing this it is hoped that some understanding of how the arts are serving the people of the city with a focus on artist involvement and career development.

In order to do this the following points will be addressed:

What activities are actually taking place
What strategies are being used to foster growth in the arts
Consideration of future development and outcomes
How partnerships can facilitate this growth

In recent years throughout the UK a number of developments have served to raise the visibility of the arts which have engaged the public on a much higher level than previously. The opening of new galleries such as Tate Modern in London, The Lowry in Manchester and the Baltic in Newcastle are giving the opportunity for artists to bring their work to the attention of much larger audiences. Attention in the media to arts related topics such as television coverage of the Turner prize and the subsequent debate over the artistic value of such awards are fuelling a wider awareness of how art can serve and support cultural development. The wish here is to show how this growth on a national level is being enhanced by art activities in Birmingham.

Rhubarb Rhubarb:

Beginning in 1993 with a small number of portfolio events the Rhubarb International Festival of the Image has been attracting worldwide attention in its’ efforts to bring new and established photographers and image makers into direct contact with representatives from the international arts scene. At the end of July every year, gallerists, agents, publishers and other photography & visual art professionals gather in Birmingham to view the portfolios of photographers eager to develop their careers on the international stage and take the next steps towards gaining higher visibility in a burgeoning art market.

The success of this initiative is largely due to the dynamic efforts of Rhonda Wilson, creative director of Seeing the Light, the parent organisation that runs the festival. Wilson, a photographer in her own right, has steadily built the organisations profile to the point where the festival is recognised as one of the world’s premier portfolio reviews alongside the likes of Houston Photofest, Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie in Arles, Photo-Americas in Portland Oregon and Fotofo in Bratislava amongst others.
These activities are supported by a small but dedicated team within the organisation and further enhanced by regular funding support from the Arts Council England and other funding bodies (Arts Council England funding, Seeing the Light 2003 – 2004 £38,000 – ACE website)

Further to Seeing the Lights running of the photography festival are a number of other activities designed to support and encourage new work in the field of photography and emerging artists as they seek to develop their careers as well as projects which engage beyond this focused approach. These activities include: Continuing portfolio reviews, mentoring sessions, a programme of seminars from practising photographers and other arts professionals, a new print sales website (The Rhubarb Farm) and in tandem with the festival itself during 2005 a project entitled “Growing the Light” was carried out with school children from the Highgate area of the city.

This project which culminated in an exhibition at The Mailbox in Birmingham brought the children together with practitioners such as video artist and photographer Sima Gonsai and renound photographer John Blakemore amongst others. The aim was to address how pupils at five schools in this deprived area engage with their immediate environment and how this is affected by the multiplicity of languages spoken by children from widely diverse cultural backgrounds. The children were given the use of digital cameras and encouraged in other art practices such as painting, model making and collage in order to address the idea of this practice constituting what could be described as a universal language.

The successes of Rhubarbs activities can be gauged in a number of ways. Continuing funding from the Arts Council would suggest that the organisation is highly valued as a facilitator for direct interactions between photographers and those looking to commission new work for publication and exhibition. The interest that the festival garners from portfolio reviewers on the international stage is a key indication that the market place is actively seeking out these artists in order to foster growth.

Development of the careers of a small selection of the hundreds of practitioners who have attended portfolio reviews over the years is of course an obvious outcome to consider. Photographers such as Ming DeNasty, Gerard Mermoz and Michelle Lord have gone on to raise their visibility through exhibition and publication as a direct result of their experiences at the festival. DeNasty has become something of the photographer of choice in the field of documenting the work of other artists for exhibition openings, catalogues and other publicity materials and continues to develop her career in this direction alongside more personal work. Mermoz and Lord took part in a group show at the 2005 Hereford Photography Festival which grew out of their meeting during a Rhubarb - Rhubarb sponsored event in Arles. Through attending the festival in 2004 Lord introduced her work to a curator from Denmark and subsequently developed a solo exhibition which took place in Arhaus later that year.

Another indication of Rhubarbs influence in the city of Birmingham is their continuing involvement in driving forward projects which engage emerging artists with practical approaches to developing their careers. The Creative Alliance scheme, which offers twelve weeks of training to artists from a variety of disciplines is in part modelled on the mentoring activities offered by Rhubarb (Rhonda Wilson takes part actively in CA as mentor within the photography strand). This scheme takes individuals through a process of gaining greater understanding of their practice through business seminars, personal development activities, group interactions to develop confidence and critical thinking and culminates in a group exhibition. With an average number of 30 artists per course Creative Alliance has been instrumental in showing the work of some 150 artists over five cycles.

Development of arts strategy in the community (Erdington Arts Forum):

Beyond the high visibility efforts being made to nurture growth in the arts within the city there is good evidence to suggest that community arts initiatives are thriving.

This writer is aware of (and actively participating in) an initiative in Erdington (a suburb/town centre to the North of Birmingham) which is endeavouring to involve local residents in the arts by creating a forum for discussion of art strategy. This takes the form of regular meetings of local artists, community arts workers and other interested parties and to date links have been forged with local schools, the Ikon gallery (leading to an exhibition in Erdington) and Erdington Town Centre Partnership. The intention is that this area should become a landmark example of community arts and a model which can be applied elsewhere in the city and further afield in the UK.

Birmingham City Council arts officer Patrick Hayes is very much the driving force in this area having been involved for a number of years with events such as Erdington carnival, local theatre productions (as well as tutoring in medical ethics at Birmingham University Hayes is a published author and playwright) and other performance based and musical activities. Like many council officials in his position, often his efforts are called upon to go beyond the remit his official job title and dedicate considerable personal time and energy to driving forward arts projects in the community. The latest moves by Erdington Arts Forum include creating a committee structure which effectively delegates some of the responsibilities to willing volunteers and in the longer term, along with opening a bank account and formulating a written constitution the forum will be placing itself in a position to apply for and access funding from outside bodies to support the creation of new work and exhibitions.

Individuals participating come from a wide variety of disciplines and cultural backgrounds which in itself reflects the make up of the local community to some degree. For example the Chinese community is represented by an artist working in origami and the Afro-Caribbean and Anglo-Irish communities are well represented with their artistic practices extending into the fields of photography, theatrical performance, painting, creative writing and music.

The involvement of the Ikon gallery has been instrumental in growing confidence and showing possible ways to engage further with the public at a local level. This high profile gallery has a structured and transparent approach to interacting with local communities and has so far actively contributed in Erdington with an exhibition held in a former newsagents shop (exhibiting work from their own archive) and a project with children and teachers from Erdington Hall School.

The exhibition, which featured work by Indian folk artist Sunderabai, was effectively an intervention into the lives of the people of Erdington which is a location not normally associated with endeavours in the fine arts. Members of Erdington Arts Forum volunteered their time to invigilate the show on a rotating basis and gained useful insight into local attitudes to the arts by directly interacting with people visiting the gallery. In his capacity as representative of the Ikon and position as co-invigilator, practising artist Rob Grose was able to engage with members of the forum with positive results. Groses own practice is very much allied to the interactions that were (and continue to be) developed. This has taken the form of collaborations with a number of participants and his background in law has introduced those artists to understandings of contractual issues related to their own practice. Furthermore it is anticipated that his contributions will continue and to some extent he will take up the position of artist in residence to the local community.

Conclusion:

The indications are that arts activity in Birmingham has reached a steady state and consolidated efforts continue to encourage growth. These activities are taking place at all levels and it is possible to draw parallels between those organistions openly engaging with art practice internationally and smaller scale projects which address community art and social and public inclusion.
Some elements of activity in both camps bear strong resemblance; Interactions with schools to develop early understanding of art practice, engaging with established artists and mentors to share experience and encourage professional approaches and the issue of sourcing funding to finance arts endeavours.

In general there is movement towards bringing individual artists together not only to interact with arts professionals but to engage in dialogues with one another thereby expanding artist networks and allowing for further development to take place. Perhaps some of these interactions will lead to formulating other artist groups which will go on to instigate new work and feed into growth in arts activities in the longer term.

All these activities encourage positive action by empowering individuals and instilling confidence and new understanding regarding possibilities for personal and artistic growth and how artists must consider the relevance of their work to public visibility and understanding.

Mentoring plays a large part in supporting these efforts and evidence of this positive role is given considerable credence by the award of an MBE to Rhonda Wilson in the 2006 New Years Honours list in recognition of her contribution to photography and international trade. This type of high level recognition further raises visibility and draws attention to what is happening in Birmingham not only regarding Wilson’s own creative imperatives but that of the efforts of her support staff and emphasises the importance of teamwork and mutual support.

This strength in numbers approach is particularly relevant for community arts groups where great efforts are required in building confidence and facing the challenge of engaging with a possibly uncomprehending public. This of course is a challenge that faces all artists to some degree but it is up to individuals and groups to work together in addressing this issue. Group activity can also strengthen possibilities when it comes to accessing funding and it is vital that funders such as the Arts Council recognise this and continue their support.

Artists who engage with the activities of Rhubarb – Rhubarb and its allied organisations have gone on to develop their careers and find some success in the wider art world. Evidence of this can be seen through an increase in exhibitions which feature these artists work both in Birmingham itself as well as nationally and internationally.

The Rhubarb Festival appears to be going from strength to strength and it is anticipated that the 2007 festival will attract record numbers of photographers wishing to take advantage of this opportunity.

Artists and organisations also need to realise the importance of engaging with communities in an effort to widen the appeal of the arts and bring greater understanding of art practice to the attention of an increasing number of people. The efforts of the organisations mentioned can only be applauded in attempting to do this. The more support and encouragement that is given by well established organisations to both emerging and established artist will, this writer firmly believes (as a practicing artists and someone with direct personal experience of these activities), feed the demand for arts activities within the city and further afield and show that these endeavours are very much part of the growth of local economies.

Sources:

Information on Rhubarb/Seeing the Light from: www.rhubarb-rhubarb.net and conversations with Rhonda Wilson and the team.
Record of Arts Council funding awards from:
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/
Further information regarding Erdington Town Centre Partnership at:
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=25168&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=12688
Other background reading:
Housing Creativity. Article by Lawrence Becko on Birmingham’s Eastside development. (Ten4 Magazine Issue 2 2006)
Boxes of Light. Article by Rhonda Wilson. (Ten4 Magazine Issue 3 2006)
Eight@the Warehouse/Photographies. Exhibition catalogue Hereford Photography Festival 2005 Foreword by Rhonda Wilson

http://birmingham.nu/?page_id=11 Web log interview with artist Rob Youngson
Note: During the research stages of this essay it became apparent that apart from texts available on the internet there is little published information regarding the organisations mentioned, therefore the larger part of the information contained herein was sourced from direct conversations with those involved.

copyright - S Hope 2007