25 routes to a sustainable international arts practice

Solid professional support is what you wish for all artists. Previous research has shown this to be a ‘critical success factor’ for sustainable organisational or career development. The importance of this was noted several times during the (Re)framing process. This of course isn’t really a new perspective, but it seemed useful to reiterate it.

Precisely because many cannot afford professional support on their own, sharing is important. In recent years there have been a number of artist-run experiments with collective organisational models such as L’Amicale de production, SPIN, Manyone and Jubilee. These types of organisations are interesting for several reasons: there are not only economic solidarity mechanisms available, contacts are also shared and they stimulate critical reflections on various topics, and therefore also on sustainable international work.

Especially in the music interviews, there were managers who indicated that they dealt with big data in a creative way: examine where your band has a lot of clicks and streams, and bet on that (Oscar and the Wolf). Based on the data collected from various web platforms, Flanders Arts Institute created www.havelovewilltravel.be, a web tool with which musicians and managers can clearly see where there are options for their type of music.

In 2021, art is still being subsidised primarily based on national frameworks. However, some initiatives are transnational. Depending on domicile, an artist or an institution has greater or lesser access to public funds. How can you practically organise transnational solidarity? Culture Resource is a transnational fund that redistributes grants from various public and private funds in the Mediterranean region so that Arab artists can make better use of them. In September 2018 reshape initiated a Creative Europe project in which various new working models are explored, as well as a European transnational fund for artists and artist initiatives.

In February 2017, Flanders Arts Institute organised an expert meeting on international (co)productions in the visual arts. The conversation evolved from the rather technical topic of ‘(co)production’ to the heart of the matter: the concern for sustainable artist careers and fair practices, thus from a long-term perspective. This switch from ‘project’ to ‘process’ also appeared to be a useful approach for the performing arts to take. This artist-oriented approach was embodied later in the process by former gallery owner Simon Delobel: ‘Being commercially successful is not my immediate interest. I’d rather create the right conditions that allow inspiring artists to realise new projects.’

How do we close the gap between the way ‘the system’ functions and the artists’ value framework? While some in music underlined the importance of professional management, Colin H. Van Eeckhout (of the metal band Amenra) swore by the DIY approach: No one knows better where Amenra wants to go than we do. Benjamin Verdonck also said that the way you organise yourself should be an extension of your artistic development: ‘I don’t know many artists who just do something. It should therefore be possible to extend this to the way you organise your practice. The strength of a work of art also lies, by extension, in the practice itself, the way in which a work comes to life and exists.’

We came across a number of initiatives that take into account or require specific attention to the fact that the balance between life and work is not easy for artists working internationally. In our own country, the Brussels arts atelier FoAM has had the Family in Residence programme for some time. Abroad, there is the Sustainable Arts Foundation, which awards grants to artists who are parents: ‘We offer unrestricted cash awards to artists and writers with children.’

After a premiere, a long tour and a major exhibition abroad, the A Two Dogs Company team asked for a break of a few months to think together about how things could be done differently in the future. Kris Verdonck: ‘How do you find a healthy balance between participating in the international circuit on the one hand, remaining visible and informed, and on the other hand a healthy team and a responsible ecological footprint?’

There are many initiatives that aim to increase the mobility of artists with difficult access to mobility. Here we highlight two recent international initiatives. The Keychange initiative is a response to gender inequality within music, with grants for among others participation in showcases, network development and investments. Artists, writers, curators, critics and researchers who are the target of political threats and persecution can contact the platform Artists at Risk, which helps them to safely flee their country of origin but also puts them in touch with participating residency locations.

Various initiatives are aimed at strengthening the peer space, that space where artists meet and exchange without having to achieve a result. Consider, for example, Jan Ritsema’s residency, the Performing Arts Forum, or locally established artist networks such as State of the Arts in Brussels. These are environments that have a strengthening effect on artists, because experiences are exchanged between like-minded people in similar situations.

Rósa Ómarsdóttir’s project Second Hand Knowledge was a way to circulate knowledge, experiences and concerns that exist in dance communities in ‘peripheral’ areas, along with possible answers to those issues. Einat Tuchman, who made the switch from the international dance circuit to a more local practice, has a great need for international exchange and knowledge sharing about urban artist initiatives. Connecting locally anchored practices in a European framework can not only strengthen those practices, it can also contribute to the development of a broader movement, with an impact on policy. That was the plea of Hilde Teuchies in her three-part essay ‘Reclaiming the European Commons’: ‘Many initiatives are true laboratories that test what such a different society might look like. The sum of micro initiatives can be precisely the hotbed from which real change can develop: a rootstalk growing throughout Europe.’

‘Anyone who thinks that artists can solve the world’s problems is as idiotic as the chicken that flies over the soup in which it is about to be cooked. But what the arts can nevertheless do is call things by their names.’ This is how Pieter De Buysser opened the kick-off conference of (Re)framing the International. And indeed, for many artists their work is a place to conduct research into and feed the public debate about geopolitical developments and international cooperation. Consider, for example, the work of Thomas Bellinck: his fictional museum of European history Domo de Europea Historia en Ekzilo (KVS) presented perspectives that could not be addressed in a real museum of European history. For some artists, the work itself is about the conditions in which the work is created. Think of Caveat!!! by Vermeir & Heiremans (about employment contracts of artists) or Kobe Matthys / Agency (about the legal context in which art is created and distributed).

Performing artists Hans Bryssinck and Pieter De Buysser noted that an artist, as an outsider, is able to identify things in a local community that no one else can. Both point out that taking time and space to familiarise yourself with the local context is a must. De Buysser used the metaphor of the jester, Bryssinck that of the intruder (referring to a book by Jean-Luc Nancy).

For violinist Wouter Vandenabeele, making music is a way to forge bonds with people you’d otherwise never come into contact with. For Bára Sigfúsdóttir, travelling is not a way to be far away, but rather a way to connect different places. As a choreographer, she investigates whether dancers’ bodies can be a medium for this.

Ils Huygens was very enthusiastic about how the Z33 arts centre has initiated the shift from a rapid succession of thematic exhibitions to a more long-term approach. They are now setting up longer processes with partners from different sectors and many interim presentations. ‘As a working method, this is more sustainable, because the partners, the artists and the public can better develop their vision and participate in different events at different phases of the project.’

After she consciously left the international dance circuit, Einat Tuchman looked at what she could do as an artist in the poor, multicultural Brussels neighbourhood where she lived. With Espacetous, using scenographic and dramaturgical interventions, she stimulates the exchange of skills in a neighbourhood in Molenbeek. Phillip Van den Bossche of Mu.ZEE aims to start more from the environment (‘hyperlocalities’) and use the museum’s collections to test one’s own biased view against the diversity of local perspectives. Abroad is just abroad, soprano Lore Binon told colleague Nico Kennes. Benjamin Verdonck planned a world tour in Antwerp in 2019.

Sarah Vanhee pointed out that demography is more important than geography when you claim to reach ‘new audiences’. Her project Lecture for Everyone is a good example of how you can break out of the bubble of art institutions and at the same time function ‘within the system’: an art house could book the project, but only if they also programmed a series of unexpected lectures at the same time (for example at companies or in auditoriums).

Working internationally takes place in an unequal space, in which geopolitical interests and sometimes violent histories have an implicit effect. How can the arts deal with this tension? Questions about international artistic collaboration are becoming more complicated. Read the special in the magazine rekto:verso on decolonisation, including tips for ‘white’ institutions to congolise and decolonise. Organisations need to be aware of their blind spots. ‘Flip the table’, take a seat on the other side of the table, that was the advice of artist Nedjma Hadj during a round table about collaboration between artists and curators from Belgium, the Middle East and the Arab region. Fascinating practical examples were the Masarat Festival (near de Hallen van Schaarbeek), Moussem’s urban cycle, the actions of the former KVS team in Ramallah, S.M.A.K., Met-X, Espace Magh and the various editions of Meeting Points, the transnational arts festival of the Young Arab Theatre Fund, and the projects of successor Mophradat.

Both Wim Wabbes (Handelsbeurs) and Kurt Overbergh (AB) indicated that programming an international (lesser known) band in Brussels or Ghent can be a way to bring a new audience to your concert hall. This does require an adjustment to the promotion, with especially engaging the local community being viewed as efficient. What is interesting is the increasing sensitivity to labels with which to promote the work of bands.

For all forms of capital (except economic ones) ‘time’ is a precious resource. This also applies to building up social capital and networks. In the first re/framing magazine, Tom Van Imschoot’s interview with the inseparable artist duo Selma and Sofiane Ouissi was mainly about that. As producing artists and organisers of the Dream City festival in the Medina of Tunis, the social interconnectedness and impact of art is crucial. ‘We don’t have a website and don’t promote our work online. (…) We’re not interested in the economic system of the art market, which revolves around marketing and consumerism. First we want to get to know people, to see if we can really work with them. Our work is spread by word of mouth. We’re not a product. We look for a dialogue that can continue over time’. Mutatis mutandis you see this attitude among many musicians and visual artists in the underground and specific niches.

Develop a decision framework to travel differently and less. When is international travel really meaningful? Is flying obvious and unavoidable? Asking yourself these questions makes it possible for you to deal with invitations critically. Jeroen Peeters wrote about his own experience: ‘Travelling less and differently means for me: always considering whether a trip abroad is worth it and actively refusing invitations, and in principle taking the train for international trips and only flying in exceptional cases. I also look for ways to ‘strengthen’ a commitment to stay longer in a certain place and to be able to engage in different interactions (performance, discussion, workshop, hanging out in a city, etc.) or to expand a tour with other venues.’ According to Peeters, such a principled attitude does make a difference: the ecological footprint of my travels has been systematically smaller and is now only a quarter of what it was a decade ago. Kris Verdonck also listed criteria for a decision framework: the ecological footprint, the human effort of the artist and his/her team, the type of contract (long-term or one-shot), the inspiring feedback from the audience, the international recognition it brings, economic aspects such as income and the chance that a performance generates new professional contacts.

There are already many tools for more sustainable mobility in the cultural sector, and many of them have been bundled on www.cultuurzaam.be. You’ll also find calculation tools to determine your footprint, and websites where you can offset your CO₂ emissions. A lot of information has been bundled internationally on www.juliesbicycle.com.

Can this adage also be applied to the arts, where embodied experience is so important? Is a different, lighter and more local form of production possible? Benjamin Verdonck switched from large-scale to small-scale projects, which allow him to travel by train and bicycle.

The decision to take the train made Wim Wabbes (Handelsbeurs) think differently about time. In our search for more sustainable mobility, slowness is a crucial concept. Taking the train as an alternative to the car or plane is not only sustainable. It increases the quality of your time. Travelling by train often means long and relaxing journeys, where you can work, read, sleep, stretch your legs, eat and drink.

How can you raise awareness within an organisation, within the sector and among the public? In more and more organisations, a conversation is starting about these types of choices and behaviour. Organisations are also discussing this among themselves. For example, SPIN discusses a different approach to touring both internally and with partners, and advertises efforts regarding sustainable mobility on the website (for example Flanders Arts Institute).