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Make Art not Cuts
Anastassia Kutuzova talked to a photography student, Anastasija Golovicher and Jim, representative from Arts against Cuts, to find out their opinion on the government’s attempt to swing the sledgehammer at the arts.
When Anastasija Golovicher, who grew up in Reading, applied for a photography course at Middlesex University last year, she could not have known the impact the Higher Education Cuts would have on her life. Even though every student and subject is affected by the cuts, it is the arts that the government swung their sledgehammer at.
“If I knew that I wouldn’t have any money because all of it goes on my studies or that it will be this difficult to find a job, I would maybe have chosen something else to study,” says Anastasija. She also says: “If I hadn't got in this year, I simply wouldn't have been able to afford university with the new tuition fees, and I guess this will be the case for a lot of aspiring students.”
When talking about the future Anastasija says:” I’m pretty pessimistic about the future of art and education, because in times of economic distress they always seem to be considered as dispensable by government. Britain is known for its creativity, but without anyone creating art we will just lose our national character. Also without the creative industry growing galleries will start shutting down and a lot of people will start to lose their jobs. I just think that the government can’t see the bigger picture.” This idea of the arts being dispensable is reinforced by government action by fully supporting the utilitarian subjects and planning to educate 17 000 engineers by 2014.
Jim, a representative from an organisation called “Arts against Cuts”, shares the view that arts are important for the British culture. “The arts have a huge impact on the economy and the society of this country. Our creative industry hires a great amount of people, not to mention that it’s famous worldwide and how highly everyone thinks of our art institutions like Central Saint Martins. Now funding will be taken away from art schools, which I must say are the lifeblood of Britain’s arts scene.” Central Saint Martins (CSM) has proved over the years to be a leading institution to educate such people like Colin Firth, Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. This year CSM moved to a new location at Kings Cross. Now they are even better equipped and all of the courses take place in one building. These improvements should attract even more students to study art, fashion and theatre.
Let us not forget the cultural aspect of tourism that attracts a lot of people to this country. London attracts 26 million tourists per year and is known for its creative and edgy vibe. ” Even with all of these arguments showing the benefits of the arts our government still talks about the utilitarian subjects being good for the society. But what good will it do for a society that is defined by its culture? Jim also adds by saying:” Our current government failed to recognise the collaborative way in which engineers work with designers and artists. So in reality all those scientist and engineers that our government so eager to produce may be out of jobs because there will be no artists that will require them.”
“No one is ready to give up,” says Jim referring to a Arts against Cuts organisation. They successfully distribute information about protest and petitions, they also encourage people to go out and stand up to the government. The organisation was originally formed by artists and used art as a tool in protest. They still use art but now they focus on all of the aspects of the cuts not only arts. While some organisations support protest, peaceful ones of course, not everyone fully agrees with them. Anastasija comments on the protests by saying:” I support the protests but I don’t participate in them. Reduced funding for education is like a ticking time bomb, because in consequence, people who do not have higher education and proper qualifications will rely on benefits, which means more pressure on the taxpayers. This is not a deliberate act but it may cause a lot of negative consequences. I doubt that the protests will lead to something or that the government will take the protest into consideration. Most of them are supported by vandalism and send the wrong message about young people.” A lot of people will agree with Anastasija but then there are those students who were peacefully protesting and got arrested or surrounded by police for hours without any valid reason. Jim adds by saying:” The media doesn’t report peaceful gatherings, they need something that sells and riots sell.”
Surely, we all know that the reason behind the protests is the growing cost of our our education. If you are a student then the prices seem unfairly high but if you are an arts student then the prices are even higher. Besides the tuition fee arts students spend a lot of money on art materials and other necessities that are needed to produce their work. “I am spending my own money on the essential materials and equipment like film, photo paper and services like colour film developing and processing. Every week I am topping up my print credit, which is about 4-6 pounds. I am spending money on the photographic services like film developing and processing, where the price differs from the quantity of exposures on my film. This takes about 8.99 pounds per film and after developing you will need to print your photographs, and again, the price is always different. Sometimes I have to spend money on extra art materials like wigs and costumes for photo shoots. So all that makes it about 40 pounds per week,”
says Anastasija. If you consider that most students don’t have disposable income then 40 quid per week is a lot to pay.
A lot of artists have raised the issue of humanitarian subjects becoming dominant by the wealthy. The key idea behind all of the arts is the representation of the society, most importantly all aspects of it. If only the wealthy produce art because they could afford it financially, then art would become disconnected from the culture. Not to mention that if the fees keep on rising, soon only the upper class will afford higher education. Even now universities are becoming more focused on the financial side of education. An example of that was seen this summer in August A level students received their results, the students that had to go through clearance faced the problem that a lot of courses where already full. They where full but only for home and EU students but for the international students, who pay almost triple the price, every course had a certain amount of places reserved. The international education sector contributes 40 billion pounds to the UK economy, second only to the financial service industry. “All of the problems are coming from people prioritising money too much. We need to get our priorities straight,” says Anastasija.
All of the problems are coming from people prioritising money too much. We need to get our priorities straight.
Did you know that...?
UCAS figures show 27 per cent decline in applications for creative art and design courses compared with this time last year.
1 in 3 arts graduate is unemployed three years after graduation.
Britain’s creative sector is the largest and the most successful in the world - employs 81per cent of countries workforce.
Britain’s 3rd largest income is from the creative industry.
Government trimmed £4 million from the Arts Council’s 2010/2011 budget.
The arts budget is 17p per week per person. That is less than a pint of milk.
The National Gallery has suffered a 15 per cent budget cut under the Coalition because of that a lot of front staff has been made redundant.
London has 12 specialist arts and culture Higher Education Institutes.
The Tate Modern is the world’s most popular modern art gallery.
Around 85% of the UK’s fashion designers are based in London
It is estimated that 200 festivals take place in London every year.
Creativity helping the society
Art against cuts - Space for students, artists and cultural workers to display and align their ideas and actions against the cuts.
Art against knifes - Art Against Knives is a youth-led charity which works to reduce the root causes of knife crime through arts initiatives that provide an alternative to a violent gang culture.
Bank of Ideas – A place for the non-financial trade of ideas to help solve the pressing economic, social and environmental problems of our time. The Bank of Ideas is located on Sun Street, Hackney in an abandoned office block.
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