This issue of Performance Magazine has been reproduced as part of Performance Magazine Online (2017) with the permission of the surviving Editors, Rob La Frenais and Gray Watson. Copyright remains with Performance Magazine and/or the original creators of the work. The project has been produced in association with the Live Art Development Agency. WHATNEXT FOR PERFORMANCE? THEARTS COUNCIL'S performance artofficer doesthe performance artdepartment. Perform­ interestin liveart is partlythe result of a pursuit JeniWalwin recently attempted to instrumentance is oneof thepriority spending categories of noveltyon the part of thepresenters. Gone a newstrategic policy for thedevelopment of for the newfunds made available to regional arethe days when It was considered artistically performanceart. Shefailed. The committee that museumsthrough the Glory of theGarden re­ daringto evenconsider putting on livework monitorsand advises on the expenditure of the gionaldevelopment strategy. Southampton City (althoughsome still insist that it is) whenyou performanceartbudget rejected her new policy. Art Gallery,Nottingham Castle Museum, the canput on StephenTaylor Woodrow or Bow It didso on the grounds that the new proposal Laing in Newcastle,Stoke on Trent City Gamelanwith the certain knowledge that they woulddivert cash away from the art itselfto­ Museumand Art Gallery,Wolverhampton Art will attractmore people to oneperformance wardsother related activities. That failure repre­ Gallery,Cartwright Hall in Bradford, toname but thanyour permanent collection does in a month. sentsa serioussetback for thefuture of per­ somehave, over the past couple of years, done That'snot to suggestthat the presenters in­ formanceart anda victoryfor an understand­morefor thedevelopment of an audiencefor terestis entirely cynical. You need to have some ablebut nevertheless shortsighted dogma. performanceart that almostanything else. genuineinterest in and sympathywith the Theessence of thenew policy was to stop the Severalhundred people saw Alistair Maclen­ mediumin orderto be ableto presentit suc­ promotersscheme and replace itwith a rangeof nan'sperformance inthe dungeons ofthe Cas­ cessfully.The problem is thatthe novelty value strategicinitiatives which focus on the need to tleMuseum, Nottingham. Performances bythe of performanceartwears thin as quickly as the createa fargreater understanding and appre­ wholespectrum of albeitfamiliar names of Brit­ valueof anyother novelty. ciationof performanceart, its history, its role, ishperformance have had full houses in these Thereare other important factors in thecur­ andits meaning. Thepromoters scheme, initi­ museumsand galleries in recentmonths. Per­ rentgrowth of interestin performanceart. One atedthree years ago by Walwin, dividesthe bulk formanceart hasbeen cropping up in many is thata certainbody of individualadministra­ of thecouncils performance art allocationbe­ moreindependent galleries than ever before as tors,writers, andindeed artists are just now tweena smallnumber ot promoterswho then wellas becominga familiar feature of festivals achievingjobs and places on committees and usethe funds to commissionand present new and specialevents. The special art projects panelswhere they can influence things. The works. Thethinking behind the scheme was that departmentat theArts Council has also given generationof peopleprofessionally involved ratherthan the arts council attemptfng todevise substantialsums to performance recently, parti­ withperformance art is forthe most part in its somesystem to selectindividual projects to cularlythe Edge 88 festival. Thedrama depart­ thirtiesand younger. It is in theirthirties that fundon a nationalbasis the schemewould mentat the ArtsCouncil now funds Station peoplein the arts start to get full-time or perma­ createcentres of concentratedactivity which HouseOpera, Bow Gamelan, and hasjust nentteaching posts in artsschools, get invited couldcreate more impact and therefore be of givena projectgrant to Dogsin Honeyfor the to siton selection panels and committees, and morebenefit to the artists than would individual first time. All this meansthat thereis more getprogramming, curatorial posts in galleries isolatedone-off projects. It alsomeant that money, andtherefore more opportunities avail· andtheatres. We are taking our interests and therewould be threeor four organisationsable to performanceartists than ever before. preferenceswith us into these positions of re­ selectingwork by their own criteria and tastes Nowbefore we get all this out of perspectivesponsibility and influencing the tastes of audi· ratherthan there being just one, the arts council weare still not talking about very much money encesand students, and the decisions of com­ andits advisors. by any standards.Performance is still very mittees.This does actually hold out a genuine Thepromoters scheme had a lotof merits.It muchthe poor relation of the arts but right at this opportunityfor a sustainedefffort over many wasa wellconceived solution to problemsthat momentit is enjoying acertain vogue. There is a years.The problem here though is that the jobs wouldhave occurred if they had tried to spread moodwithin the arts, as just about everywhere and committee seats that get offeredto the anextremely meagre dollop of cream very, very elsein Britishsociety of a growingconservat· kinds of peoplewho support performance tend thinly. It hasmade a majorcontribution tosome ismwhich amounts to a kindof wearyaccept­ notto bethe top ones. To move up the career memorableseasons of work.The New Work ancethat Thatcher isn't going to go away and so ladder.from ..~ing a juniorofficer in the.~s Newcastleseasons organised by ProjectsUK, wehad better try working with it. Yetart institu­ Councilto beinga realpolicy maker you would manyof the MidlandGroup commissioned tions and theindividuals within art institutionsneed to ameliorateyour fondness for perform­ works,including works from Bow Gamelan, Sta­ actuallyenjoy a far greater degree of freedom in anceart. No-one with a backgroundinperform­ tion HouseOpera, and others who are now spendingpublic money than almost any other anceis goingto becomeDirector of theTate. becomingwell established enough to succeedsector of thepublic economy. They are using Also,this whole arena of jobs and committees is inraising support from other sources, as well as pe.rformanceartas both an effective marketing entirely publicly funded. Thisof course is vulner­ forthcomingprogrammes in the West Midlands tool, its weird so it grabsthe attention, and also ableto thecurrent government's stated inten­ andHull have all been made possible in partby ina kindof stoical attempt to assert that despite tions.There is alreadya wholecatalogue of fundsfrom the scheme. themarket place mythology there is a needand instanceswhere an institution has hadits fund­ However,the worldchanges very quickly, a placefor the revelatoryand disconcerUng ing threatened oractually withdrawn by a local especiallyin thelast few years. For a longtime possibilltiesof art. authorityor evenon occasions the Arts Council, theArts Council's tiny allocation toperformance Theworry is thatthese are all short term and forputting on art thatwas too risky.Perform­ artvia Jeni Walwin's department was more or ephemeralmeasures. They make little contribu­ anceart is stillconsidered polltically risky even lessthe only source of funding available. Today tionto thelong term survival and development though it lostits abilityto genuinelyshock, or howeverthere are various sources of funding. of thework. To believethat simply by makingthreaten years ago. For example,the regionaloffice of the Arts moreperformance available to a largernumber Thereis alsoa sensein whichthe current CouncilArt Department spends more on per­ of peopleyou can ensure its future health is to expansionof performanceis not an expansion formance,indirectly through Its clients,than beguilty of wilfulnaivety. The current growth in at allbut merely a misappropriationof a name. ~ This issue of Performance Magazine has been reproduced as part of Performance Magazine Online (2017) with the permission of the surviving Editors, Rob La Frenais and Gray Watson. Copyright remains with Performance Magazine and/or the original creators of the work. The project has been produced in association with the Live Art Development Agency. 2 / PERFORMANCE ..,. In the raceto capitaliseon the explosionof labelany artist could be saddledwith if they bitlike the kind of dancer you usually get to see. so-calledalternative culture it has definitely wantedto workin Britain.'Performance artist' ThereforeI make performance/dance pieces or beenof advantageto be ableto claimto be howeverhas launchedmany alternative performancetheatre pieces or just perform­ weirderthan thou. Wild,whacky and outlandish, cabaretteson the road to notoriety.There is a ance".The fact that the term 'performance art' evenoffensive, obscene and shocking are the parallelwithin the artistically motivated perform­ orjust 'performance' isused now with everyday kindof medialabels hankered after by most of ingarts. If youare a youngdancer, or a young familiarityis not an indication that there is more thealternative entertainers. What could better theatregroup, or a youngalmost anything, and realperformance art in theworld. seducean audience that what they are about to youhonestly want to makeart thatisn't hide Clearly,this is goingto beshortlived. In the receivemay be trulyesoteric and off thewall boundby the conventions and current practices meantimewe