The Artist as Leader
Introduction to the research

Research into the role of the artist working in public indicates that artists are uniquely placed to inform and creatively develop public life. In seeking to understand the Nature of Creativity in public contexts, this research focuses on the concept of ‘leading through practice’. It opens up a new trajectory of thinking about leadership that is not predominantly management based, in which the role of artist operating within social, cultural and environmental contexts is scrutinised for what it can reveal about creativity in general.

Background on Nature of Creativity Scheme

“How to exploit the nation’s creative skills more fully” was the key challenge facing Sir George Cox in his Review of Creativity in Business, prepared for the Chancellor in 2005 (“Cox Review of Creativity in Business: building on the UK’s strengths”). His findings have won the support of Gordon Brown, who announced, “we must recognise the role of our cultural leaders in delivering [economic] success and ensure the emergence of a talented and diverse group of future leaders”. Funded by the AHRC in collaboration with the Arts Council England, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Department for Trade and Industry, the Research Networks and Workshops - Nature of Creativity scheme seeks to enhance understanding about the nature of creativity and its relationships with innovation. The project, Artist as Leader, is described on the AHRC website as follows (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/awards/award_detail.asp?id=326187). The project also features as a case study in the AHRC's annual report for 2006-7 (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/news/publications.asp).

The Artist as Leader Partners

Four established organisations have been brought together to form the basis of the network: On the Edge Research, directed by Douglas and launched by a previous AHRC research grant, which is a practice-led visual arts research programme at Gray’s School of Art, The Robert Gordon University; Performing Arts Labs, London, which provides action-based developmental laboratories for the creation of radical thinking; Cultural Enterprise Office, Glasgow which offers business support for artists and creative micro businesses; and the Scottish Leadership Foundation which focuses on raising the quality of leadership in Scotland’s public services.

The Project

In response to the Cox Review this partnership is constructing ‘The Artist as Leader’, a practice based network within the AHRC's Nature of Creativity scheme.   The research strand of The Artist as Leader is directed by Douglas. The second strand is developed by the partnership and takes the form of 2 residential laboratories in January and June 2008 with five artists, five policy makers and a number of provocateurs to develop the implications of 'Artist as Leader' for the practices of both art and policy development. This strand is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Arts Council England's Creative Leadership and the Jerwood Foundation.

Douglas has started to research the role of creativity in culture using the concept of ‘leadership’, posing questions such as ‘When is an artist the leader?’, ‘How does the artist’s critical thinking influence practices of leading?’ and ‘Who can be leader in addressing new and emerging challenges in the social public sphere?’. These questions are forming part of in depth interviews undertaken by Chris Fremantle, research associate to On the Edge. The interviews take place with artists across art forms and managers who work with artists.  Both groups are able to draw on the experiences of real life practice to inform the research.  Contacts of each partner’s distinct sectors are drawn upon and unite to provoke truly collaborative discussions. 

The project proposes that artists lead through their practice. One quality of experiencing art is that artists enable us to see the world differently. Our focus is on the ways in which this may constitute a different understanding of leadership from that of organisational models.

The most recent output has been commissioned as a co-authored research edition by ‘a-n’ featuring artists such as Suzanne Lacy, Helen Mayer and Newton Harrison, Reiko Goto and Francis McKee (Leading through Practice Douglas A. and Fremantle, C., 2007, commissioned by a-n Commissions fund).  Noting Cox’s recommendations, the project addresses issues of raising the profile of creativity through networks and broadening the creative understanding and skills of tomorrow’s leaders. Chris Smith, the Director of the Clore Leadership programme, described the project as unique and unprecedented in its grasp of the significance of the artist’s role in leading.

Partners

The On the Edge Research at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (academic research partner) www.ontheedgeresearch.org

Performing Arts Labs (PAL) in London (cross-disciplinary development of professional creative practitioners in the arts, sciences, education, industry and government) www.pallabs.org

Cultural Enterprise Office, Scotland (business support for artists and Micro Businesses in the creative industries) www.culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk

Scottish Leadership Foundation (raising the quality of leadership in Scotland's public sector) http://www.slfscotland.com/

Outputs and presentations

Douglas, A. and Fremantle, C. (2007)
When is the artist a creative leader? A provisional framework
Invited keynote for ‘Creative Rural Economy. The arts and regeneration: mapping the new creative rural industries’, CRE Conference PDF
organised by Littoral - http://www.littoral.org.uk/HTML01/

Douglas, A. and Fremantle, C. (2007)
Leading through Practice
Commissioned research paper - a-n Commissions fund; invited contributions from Francis McKee, artist, writer and Director of CCA Glasgow; Reiko Goto-Collins, artist and environmentalist; Linda Frye Burnham; director of communityarts.net and Tim Nunn, playwright and Director of Reelin and Writhin theatre company. ISBN: 0 907730 75 2
http://www.a-n.co.uk/leading_through_practice

Douglas, A., Fremantle, C. and Goto, R. (2007)
The Artist as Leader
Invited paper in ‘Common Work’ conference 19 - 20 April 2007, organised by
Dr Heather Lynch, Institute of Education, University of Stirling.

Douglas, A. and Fremantle, C. (2007)
The Artist as Leader
Invited presentation, Collective Gallery, Edinburgh (October)

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Arts and Humanities
Research Council Annual
Report and Accounts
2006-2007 Artist as Leader featured as a case study

The Artist as Leader
Research Report
2009

Leading Though Practice - artwork by Reiko Goto

Photograph: Tim Collins