MANCHESTER’s football teams and musicians are celebrated all over the world. The city also has one of the most diverse and innovative visual arts scenes in the UK.
Yet very few artists who live and work in the city have received any significant exposure in our major public-funded venues or the Manchester International Festival. Nobody is to blame for this, we are simply asking curators to have more confidence and pride in Manchester artists.
Culture brings wider economic benefits.
When artists choose to live and work in a region they revitalize neglected urban areas, stimulate tourism, and boost the service, education and construction sectors of the local economy.
Manchester galleries need to recognize the strength of the visual arts community in the region and to invest in its growth by doing more to support, promote and showcase its artists. Endorsement by our public institutions creates confidence among collectors and encourages more people to begin collecting, making it financially viable for artists to settle here.
We have to ask ourselves why there has been no comprehensive survey show of Manchester artists since 2003? ('Thermo 03' at the Lowry, Salford).
Why don't we have any open submission exhibitions on the lines of the London Open at the Whitechapel?
Why isn't there a Manchester Art Prize?
Why is there no Biennial, and why have we never been in the running for European Capital of Culture?
Why are there no purchase schemes or artist residency programmes at our biggest galleries?
Manchester isn’t even mentioned in the review of artistic innovation in the North in the Arts Council Plan for 2011-15. Manchester galleries need to increase participation by the region's artists in the work they do. Cities that have recognized the contribution of the visual arts to their cultural heritage, such as Glasgow, Leeds and Liverpool are celebrated as centres of creativity.
While paying tribute to the exciting artist-led initiatives and first class art schools in Manchester and beyond, our legendary DIY spirit can only carry us so far. We believe that the abundance of emerging and established artists in the region deserve a wider public platform alongside the international artists who are invited to exhibit here.
Everyone in the city will benefit from experiencing great art from all over the world side by side with the great work being made right here. A 'globalised' art world need not mean that the regional is overlooked. With committed and consistent support for Manchester artists, we can reverse the talent drain from the North.
A recent independent report (Rebalancing our Cultural Capital: 2013) exposed a huge London-centric bias in arts funding and recommended investment in artistic production outside the capital.
The Arts Council plan for 2011-2015 talks about ‘encouraging national and international recognition of the North’s artists’. At a time when there is ongoing public discussion about economic growth in the regions, the entire artistic community must come together and work to make Manchester an internationally recognised artistic centre.
Let’s make it happen.
Maria Balshaw, Director of Manchester City Galleries and Whitworth Art Gallery, responds:
"We see ourselves as part of the visual arts scene in Manchester and so welcome all dialogue with artists about the significance of arts in Manchester.
We do show a significant number of Manchester artists across a wider range of the visual arts, from fine art to major installations, to textiles, to photography, ceramics and fashion. We're proud to be showing Dan Dubowitz and Alan Ward's marvellous photographs created in Central Library right now. We look forward to continued discussion with artist colleagues across the city and continuing to show and acquire work by artists based in our city. "
If you’d like to respond or contact the signatories: manchestercurators@yahoo.co.uk
Signed by: (artists in alphabetical order)
Judith Atkin, Matthew Bamber, Darren Beatty, Bartosz Beda, Mike Black, Axel Bottenberg, Sandra Bouguerch, Hannah Leighton Boyce, Alan Buckingham, Lindsey Bull, Janette M. Byrne, Margaret Cahill, John Carroll, Annie Carpenter, Jane Chavez-Dawson, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Jan Chlebik, Sophie Nixon-Clarke, Jenny Core, Stacey Coughlin, Nicola Dale, Chris Paul Daniels, Kate Davies, Jez Dolan, Fiona Donald, Tracey Eastham, Abraham Emajaro, Sarah Feinmann, David Gledhill, Lily Greenwood, Evi Grigoropolou, Susan Gunn, Geof Hadfield, John Hamilton, Annie Harrison, Michelle Harrison, Ian Hartshorne, Lucy Harvey, Sarah Hindhaugh, Stuart John Hine, Len Horsey, Jacqueline Quinn-Howarth, Hilary Jack, Catherine Kaufman, Emmylou Kelly, Ilona Kiss, Michelle Leigh, Ivan Leudar, David Lowther, Lee Machell, Jo McGonigal, Sam Meech, Sheila Meeks, Adrian Moakes, Siobhain Moakes, Fiona Moate, Geoff Molyneux, Emrys Morgan, Brian Mountford, Martin Nash, Paula Nield, Steve Oliver, Eileen O’Rourke, Jen Orpin, Daksha Patel, Michelle Pouncey, Rosanne Robertson, Katy Rutherford (Untitled Gallery), Lauren Sagar, Bridget Schilizzi, Jo Scorah, Debbie Sharp, Rebecca Sitar, Andy Smith, Liam Spencer, Evangelia Spiliopoulou, Mary Stark, Emily Strange, Dylan Thomas, Darren Tolliday, Robert Walker, Cerise Ward, Liz West, Bex Wild, Penny Williams, Janine Williamson, Ged Young.
The Lowry - a local artist features but he's been dead a while
