Artistic creation is a very complex phenomenon that moves along paths that are often difficult to explain; why is it, for example, that in one particular time and place there emerge a large number of high-quality artistic products? Why are there sometimes such differences between the works created by different artists in similar circumstances, or even between different periods in the career of one and the same creator? To what extent is artistic creation on one hand an individual, subjective phenomenon or on the other hand determined by contextual circumstances? What are the criteria that both audience and creators can use to judge the value or quality of a particular production? These are just a few of the questions that artistes, critics and publics have historically posed themselves in order to decipher something of what deep down (fortunately, it seems to me) has never ceased to be a mystery, since it is undeniable that artistic creation draws greatly on what is spontaneous and irrational.

In spite of this elusive nature and the fact that we know these questions have no definite answer, there is one which, at least within the public administration and the municipal councils in particular (since we are the sphere of administration closest to the public), we are obliged to ask ourselves: is it possible to do something to favour the emergence of high-level artistic creation that is diverse, innovative and accessible in all senses? While maintaining the precautions on the characteristics of the creative act that I have just mentioned, I believe that in this case the reply has to be clearly affirmative: we institutions have in our hands instruments which, if well managed, can have a positive influence on artistic creation in many ways, with the beneficial repercussions this can have in the improvement and progress of cultural activity in general. Unfortunately, however, there is no automatic formula that enables us to apply these tools and achieve positive results; but in any case there are a series of prior considerations that I think deserve careful attention.

In the first place, it must be borne in mind that creation is just one link in a chain of production and reception of culture that has many other essential elements, and that only by taking these into account will it be possible to create the space in which certain policies of support for creation take on any real meaning. Consideration must be given, then, to these other elements: high-quality training of both artists and creators and the public; existence of spaces of research, reflection and investigation that favour artistic innovation and the emergence of new proposals; the possibility of being able to present and transmit creative work to the public in suitable conditions in well-appointed spaces; and the will to carry out an active task of dissemination and explanation of the artistic proposals that will allow the latter, however daring they may be, truly to find appropriate channels of communication and reception.

Only by acting in all of these areas in a global manner will we succeed in creating general conditions that will make it possible not only for creators to carry out their projects but also for these to have a space where they can be displayed and a possibility of being studied by people interested in them. In this respect, it seems to me that in recent years all of the administrations who are aware of this complexity have understood that in order to foster artistic creation we cannot limit ourselves to a policy of subsidies which, while being indispensable insofar as many bold and innovative proposals need public support in order to see the light of day, can also finish up generating unwanted effects of clientism and complacency.

Within the competences assigned to each administration, then, the policies of support and promotion for creation must be conceived from a very broad viewpoint. It is necessary, for example, to coordinate and review both the matter of specialised art education and the teaching of the arts within the compulsory school curriculum; only in this way can the emergence of new creators be stimulated and favoured, and moreover this can help to form a public that is better trained, more critical and more demanding (but also more interested) when it comes to assessing artistic proposals. We must also act decidedly in favour of the creation of new audiences, programming activities that interest a wide variety of social sectors and providing facilities in order to ensure that no-one feels excluded from cultural activities; in this way we not only offer everyone access to culture, but we also facilitate the economic viability and autonomy of many artistic projects. From within the administrations we can also work in artistic dissemination and coordination, in such a way that we can give concrete support to creators in moving around and showing their work in different places.

At another level, we can also contribute to generating or facilitating the existence of experimental spaces which can serve in a way as ‘laboratories of ideas’ in order to renew artistic thought and creation. This line includes, for instance, the projects of centres of creation and production in various disciplines which the Government of Catalonia is currently promoting in conjunction with a number of municipal councils and organisations of the country. The purpose of these spaces is to perform a number of functions, but without doubt one of the principal ones will be to offer sufficient resources to develop innovative and audacious creative projects that would be impossible to carry out in other contexts and in this way can attain international repercussion.

One last sphere of involvement of the administrations must be to provide suitable spaces and conditions for the exhibition and dissemination of artistic work; nothing will be gained by producing a large number of new artistic creations if afterwards we do not have places where they can be presented and made visible. In this respect, it is necessary on one hand for these places to exist (theatres, exhibition spaces, auditoria, cinemas, concert halls, etc.) in accordance with a distribution that takes into account criteria of territorial balance and artistic potential of the various points of our geography; and on the other hand, it is also important that they do not draw up their respective programmes solely with an eye to economic criteria but also (or particularly) bearing in mind the need to support those creative proposals which otherwise do not find circuits of dissemination. In this context it is also important, finally, for the administrations to be aware of the need to remunerate creators in accordance with the task they carry out, as in any other field, in order to overcome a certain position of individual generosity in which they sometimes seem to have become trapped.

As is well known, officially the municipal councils have very few specific competences in the sphere of culture, but in practice they perform a large number of actions in all areas of cultural action. From within our councils, then, we can take an active part in many of the processes we have discussed here: constructing and equipping infrastructures, generating attractive cultural programmes, working in the search for new publics, and so on. Our task also includes making direct contact with creators and organisations and collaborating with them in many respects, not only in economic terms, so that we can also help them in their work.

Only within a framework of cultural action in which all of these elements are taken into account will a policy of promotion of creation through direct economic assistance have any possibility of contributing in a real and effective manner to a greater development and diversification of our country’s creative activity. In this respect, too, the administrations have made a considerable effort in recent times, attempting to endow with more significant quantities all of the announcements of grants and subsidies and improving and fine-tuning the criteria under which they are given; in the case of the Girona City Council, for example, this year’s subsidies announcement saw its endowment increased by 40%. This joint action is contributing, little by little, to laying the foundations for creative activity in our country to reach a status of normality and break out of the stage of guarantee of subsistence in which it seems to have lived until now, to advance towards a stage of creative explosion. Whether or not this will happen, however, is impossible to foresee; only the creators have in their hands and minds the capacity to turn it into reality.

M. Lluïsa Faxedas
Contemporany art and Catalonia contemporany art professor from Universityof Girona, and Councillor of the Area of Culture of the Girona City Council