At the end of Scarborough’s Vincent Pier is a sculpture, the Diving Belle. Commissioned by the town’s Civic Trust, it stands prominently at the entrance to the harbour and is illuminated at night. Some people hate it.
For some, like Nick Taylor, who manages the town’s renaissance programme, it’s a welcome sign of a new civic pride and the metamorphosis of Scarborough from mediocre, down at heel has-been to a lively, enterprising town that celebrates creativity and is a hub for creative businesses. Others in the arts world see the Diving Belle as an example of that safe mediocrity that so appals them.
Nick Taylor’s description of Scarborough’s revival and the understanding of place and possibility that lay behind it lit the touchpaper for a debate about the role of arts and creativity that had been simmering throughout the first day of the Yorkshire Expedition.
This debate bubbled into life at the beginning of the tour, with challenges to the role of organisations like Yorkshire Forward as a regional patron of creative industries, and questioning of the limitations that bureaucracies impose on artists’ freedom; others, commenting from the fringes, wanted to see a stronger focus on social justice, linking the cultural ‘sector’ with change in the poorest neighbourhoods; and some challenged the idea of bespoke studios and facilities for artists, arguing it was better to create a mix where artists would work with scientists and businesspeople.
The idea that arts and culture would lead a new vision of Yorkshire’s tourism industry added spice to the mixture. Was this a case of art serving the economy, being valued only where it contributed to a sense of welcome and pleasure? Are we seeing public organisations promoting a debased idea of culture that is only supported when it ticks a bureaucrat’s box? That certainly seems to be the view of Lord Mandelson’s business department.
And what about sustainability? Yesterday evening Stephen Feber presented his vision for Heartlands, a huge regeneration project in Pool, Cornwall, for a former tin mining area. He’s done big projects before – the Eureka! children’s museum and Magna, for instance – that have arts and creativity at the heart. But some questioned whether Heartlands was truly sustainable: should you support any activity that you have to drive to reach?
These debates are vital because if art, as one participant put it last night, is to ‘occupy the space that makes you think differently’ it has to have a difficult relationship with those who commission and curate it. But that works both ways. There are many in the arts world who are good at challenging but poor at being challenged; many who see their work as a commentary on society but take offence when society chooses to comment on their work.
One of the themes of this expedition has been the role of arts and culture in creating places. And we all have a role in that, whether we’re artists, writers, bureaucrats or developers. Sometimes we’ll get it wrong, and often we’ll produce stuff that could be better. But when the planners and funders want places that are more welcoming, more connected and more pleasurable to live in, we should recognise the legitimacy of their aims. The relationship with artists should be frank and questioning, but let’s at least make it a relationship.