The Art of Dying
The Art of Dying
By
John Knell
SUMMARY
This essay considers how arts organisations might live a little better. Would a more concerted effort to correct deficiencies in evaluating performance, defining success and establishing a more developed culture of accountability across the sector instil greater dynamism and excellence?
The narrative focuses more on the ‘art of living’ than the ‘art of dying’, and suggests that the relative stability of funded arts organisations in the UK symptomatic of more profound and fundamental problems.
As a consequence the sector urgently requires transformation – not the snail paced professionalisation of a dysfunctional system that we are currently witnessing. Like all polemics it simplifies and amplifies – but it is based on views shared by senior figures and practitioners in the sector. The challenge for all of us is that those views do not yet form the warp and weft of mainstream discussions about the arts. We must make them so.
