Why ‘who you know’ doesn’t fit the bill

There is no doubt the last year has been difficult for the creative sector. A series of storms have ravaged our industry, slamming our doors shut and blowing cash flows to the wind. Many of our communities are still locked in their own homes coming to terms with an unknown future. This holds especially true for emerging creative talent.

Understandably, arts institutions have mitigated risks in 2020. Unfortunately this in turn has led to a lack of opportunities for creative talent across the industry at a time when they need it most.

Being quiet any longer will be to our collective detriment; we will lose exposure to our audiences and put future funding at risk. But most importantly, we risk alienating a generation of creators whose output we depend on.

A lost generation

It’s easy to romanticise pre-Covid times. A world in which face masks were to improve the complexion of your skin (cucumbers slices optional), where blowing on birthday cakes was encouraged, and where hugs were not met with general disdain (well, mostly).

In truth, our creative pipeline was starting to splutter before Covid-19. Uncertainties around our relationship with Europe and a plummeting social mobility barometer have led to decay in the diversity of talent we support. Coronavirus has just thrown fuel on the fire, forcing a generation of creators closer to the bottom of Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs and towards alternative methods of survival. If we’re not careful we will end up with a polarized industry representing only those who can afford it.

What can you do?

There is no doubt remaining solvent is your absolute priority. You owe it to those you support to be there in a decade. However, supporting creative talent doesn’t need to be a massive drain on your resources. You should at least consider doing so while the pandemic continues.

As a baseline, most talent needs money, exposure, kit, space, and knowledge. But even the smallest kindness could give someone the courage to continue their journey. Remember resources need not come from you; there’s nothing stopping you from being the catalyst. Think about money: you may not be able to hand over a cheque, but can you sell their work in your online shop?

The simplest way to understand what you can give is knowing what you have. This can be broken down into:

• Physical resources (spaces, kit, unused merchandise)
• Services (shop – online/offline, café) 
• Contacts (prominent individuals, partners, social following)
• Time (an hour a week to mentor talent)
• Money (£100 from your marketing budget for a micro-commission)
• A mix of the above

A good exercise would be to write down everything you can spare, no matter how small. Once you know what you have, think about how to put it together to make it valuable to creators.

A free space can be an open exhibition; a free desk and a few hours with experienced individuals could be a residency – if Covid lingers, this could turn into portfolio reviews or mentorship. Micro-commissions from your marketing budget can help you generate coverage or celebrate the reopening of a building. Access to prominent individuals, a good social media presence and some unused merchandise could become a competition. Use your imagination and think about the value you can create for yourself and others.

Engage with your community

Once you’ve established what you can give your creative community, you’ll need to find a way of choosing who to give it to. You could just give away resources to the talent you know, but that wouldn’t be very equitable. And it does nothing to ensure diversity is at the heart of your work.

Open calls offer the perfect alternative and, if done correctly, will allow you to not just support creators, but also diversify your audience. Capturing the voices of your communities gives you an opportunity to be remembered by those currently closed out of your institutions and ultimately make a stronger case for future funding.

Ways to make your open call as inclusive as possible include:

• Diversifying the panel of selectors (ensure representation, filter candidates across rounds, open to a public vote)
• Marketing your call out through organisations representing the specific communities you wish to celebrate (marginalised or otherwise)
• Simplifying the submissions process as much as possible (limit structural discrimination)

Running an open call can be daunting, and if done incorrectly, can lead to being buried in administration and drain your resources, but this doesn’t need to be the case.

We built Zealous to streamline the whole process, facilitating submissions, judging and selecting candidates for any of your projects online. It’s efficient, cost effective and allows organisations to make selections remotely – a bonus during the pandemic.

Our collective responsibility

Empathy is the antidote to the extremism we see in the world today. But fewer opportunities for creators means the richness of our creative output is at risk. If we don’t address this, the power the creative industries wields in healing society by creating empathy will wane, giving way to an even more polarized world.

Our industry is nothing without its creators. The actions we undertake today will ripple through society for the best part of next two decades. Now is the perfect time for us to galvanize our values and support the creators that make our world so rich in experiences.

You can find out more on how we can help you here.

Guy Armitage is the Founder of Zealous
 zealous.co
 @zealous_co

This article was sponsored and contributed by Zealous, which supports cultural organisations by offering a simple, admin-light, cost-effective system for inviting creative submissions to competitions, exhibitions, awards, residencies and other opportunities. Find out more here.