state of the arts 2011

so the biguns have been talking about art. a lively tweeting on twitter....see #sota11 and #sotaflash.

My main points are:

Without artists art organisations cannot exist.

Artists subsidise the public art experience
(OK if no organisations maybe artists wouldn't have convenient places to show work/perform but we are a resourceful bunch, surely?)

Artists often can't afford to go to these big conferences (well not even to some small ones)

And devolution drives me crazy at times (both art and politic wise - whole of UK needs to be devolved). Big national newspapers ignore Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland and talk of "the" arts council when they mean the one in England. It can cause cross border difficulties.