Week 5 | Organisational Report
Public art organisation: Creative Time
Introduction
Creative Time is a public art organisation whose mission is to present contemporary art, develop public spaces in the city and provide a platform to promote art events and art conversations.
I chose Creative Time as the subject of my organisational research report. On the one hand, I am interested in the relationship between art and social issues. On the other hand, Creative Time, as a well-known non-profit arts organisation, is a good example for me to understand how non-profit organisations actually work, in terms of how they operate, how they got support and other issues. I also try to use the program ‘The Last Stand’ by creative time as an example to explore how creative time as a public art organisation responds to social issues.
Vision and values
Creative time is a public art organisation and I agree with the vision and values it presents, but there are parts of it that are worthy of further discussion. The three core values of the organisation, clearly stated on the creative time website, firstly, ‘Art matters’, and I agree with this, so I guess I don’t need to go into it here. The second ‘artists’ voices are important in shaping society’, I think this is a step in the right direction, however I am concerned about whether this goal will make the artists involved in the project feel pressured to act on their ideas. The last value is ‘public space is a places for creativity and free expression’, and I share this value, which is the clearest organisational belief expressed by Creative time as a public organisation.
The organisation’s vision is also clearly stated on the website: ‘We are committed to presenting important art for our times and engaging broad audience that transcends geographic, racial and socioeconomic barriers’. As a not-for-profit arts organisation, this is a very clear way forward, which shows that the organisation has a clear vision of what it does and who it serves. With a clear vision and core values, Creative time has a clear idea of where it is centred and where it wants to go.
Organisational structure
As a public organisation founded 48 years ago, creative time has a relatively large staff. From the website, I see the list of its permanent staff, each of whom has her job function. And Creative Time has collaborated with over 2000 artists, producing more than 335 public art projects. In addition, Creative time organises events and summits related to art or social issues. A clear structure of staff, visibility and a large body of work are the foundations that support Creative time’s vision ‘present important art for our times’.
Also, as a non-profit organisation, I think creative time’s funding operations are worth looking into. Through the information provided on the website, I discovered that creative time has many partner organisations, which I have divided into three categories. The first category is government departments such as NYC Cultural Affairs, a department of New York City government dedicated to supporting the cultural life of New York City and providing funding for New York’s non-profit cultural organisations. The second category is charitable giving organisations such as Open Society Foundations, an international grant-making body which provides financial support to civil society organisations around the world. The third category is commercial organisations, such as ‘The Last Stand’, the program I discuss below, whose lead support, Costa Brazil, is a skincare brand. Organisations in the third category are usually associated specifically with only one project that relates to their organisational vision. （In addition, the organisation has its own shop selling a number of products in collaboration with the artworks on display, and I will not discuss the profitability of this project here.） These three organisations provide creative time with the necessary financial help to make the organisation run smoothly. I have not been able to find data on the level of support for creative time in different types of organisations, but it is certain that funding plays an important role in the operation of the organisation and the realisation of its vision. (I would also guess that the source of the funds could potentially influence the organisation’s decision making, but I still need to investigate further into the specifics.) In addition to financial support, support in terms of location or space is also an important part of creative time. As one of the tasks of Creative Time is to commission artwork in unique landmark locations, it is particularly important to gain the support of that landmark.
It seems to me that the structure of a public art organisation includes not only the people within the organisation, but also the artists that the organisation works with, the partner organisations that give financial, technical or locational support to the organisation.
Specific Program
Having outlined the vision and organisational structure of creative time above, I will then use the programme The Last Stand as a specific example to analyse how this programme embodies the vision of the organisation.
The Last Stand is an experimental opera and sound installation for trees, project attempts to remind humans to care for nature. This is a contemporary art project dealing with environmental issues. The project runs in Prospect Park, hold projects are free and open to the public. Accessibility is central to the composition and production of The Last Stand, (The program composed with sonic and subsonic sounds in order to create vibrational surfaces for hearing and non-hearing people as well as the nearby trees to experience the work. The access design for this project was developed by Kevin Gotkin in consultation with 6 artists whose work engages Deaf culture and the artistry of accessibility.) It reflects creative time’s determination to appeal to a broad audience that transcends geographical, racial and socio-economic barriers.
In addition to the exhibition site, creative time has arranged other aspects of the project, such as the’DIGITAL PROGRAM’, ‘Podcast’ and the ‘GLOSSARY’. ’DIGITAL PROGRAM’ is an online course intended to provide viewers with more of the story behind the project and to give them an insight into the concept of the project. The ‘GLOSSARY’ is an introduction to the academic vocabulary related to the project and to environmental issues, which will help visitors to gain more academic knowledge. Both of these tasks are used to introduce knowledge related to The last stand in order to help visitors understand the project. I think the exhibition institutions need to take on not only the commissioning or selection of exhibits, but also the work of making them accessible to visitors and making the exhibition a place of open learning. And that is ‘presenting important art for our times’.
The “the open call” campaign was also interested me. According to the website: The Last Stand is the winner of Creative Time’s 2021 Emerging Artist Open Call. Creative Time’s Emerging Artist Open Call is a biennial initiative that invites emerging artists to propose compelling, cutting-edge projects that address a timely social justice issue. Open call demonstrates the function of an arts organisation as a curatorial body – nurturing new artists and helping artists push the boundaries of public art through funding and platform support.
Through the program The Last Stand, I learned about how Creative Time plans and implements a project based on its vision and values, from the organisation of the exhibition (accessibility, free admission), the supplementation of knowledge outside the exhibition (digital program, practical glossary) and the organisation of an open call for emerging artists (The Open Call).
Summary
Creative time showed me its vision and values as a not-for-profit public art organisation, and through an in-depth investigation of its projects, I learned about the organisation’s funding sources and other functions that creative time should have as a public art organisation. At the same time, I have learnt that it is important to have a unified vision and values that all members agree on as a team, which means that all departments of the organisation work well together. Creative time is a non-profit organisation, but the ‘support’ part is still very important and I was surprised when I looked at the support component of The Last Stand project. In addition to lead support, the project has more than a dozen other supporting organisations, as well as many individual supporters. This made me rethink my perception of arts organisations.
Creative Time is a great choice for your organisational research report. Focusing on ‘The Last Stand’ helps to create a some insight into what is a huge back catalogue of 2000 artists, and more 335 public art projects! ‘The Last Stand’ draws out how Creative Time is really a partnership model – groups of artists and stakeholders are tied together by Creative Time. Creative Time act as an enabler of projects in this sense – they are in the business of ensuring that that projects are well funded and well managed.
“‘Art matters’, and I agree with this, so I guess I don’t need to go into it here.” Well yes, but it doesn’t matter to everyone does it? Showing that it does isn’t always an easy job. I also think there’s a double meaning here, that Creative Time is concerned with ‘matters artistic’ (perhaps for those who are already converts) as well as with showing that art is important. ‘The second ‘artists’ voices are important in shaping society’,” I think you’re right to say that artists who get involved with Creative Time will feel an obligation to identify with and act on this set of values. I imagine the pressure would only be there if artists had no option other than to work with socially engaged organisations such as Creative Time (which is not the case). You could, of course, flip this and examine how many organisations do NOT focus on social engagement or public space. Creative Time is, arguably, in the minority in pursuing this vision.
Their third value: ‘public space is a places for creativity and free expression’, is an interesting one. Public space (‘the commons’ is shrinking. Does Creative Time have a job in maintaining public space? If so, how does it do this? Is this public space maintenance role related to its assertion that ‘art matters’?
The partnership/stakeholder model is important here it seems: “In addition to financial support, support in terms of location or space is also an important part of creative time.” Creative Time are involved in what you might call ‘sanctioned’ public art. The space is negotiated with stakeholders of that space. This differs from unsanctioned public art – which simply pops-up unannounced (e.g. graffiti). This might be worth looking at in relation to your own curatorial project?