European League of Institutes of the Arts
"If you as fifty people from within arts education institutions in Europe to define arts research, you will probably get fifty different answers".
This paper sets out an approach for the immediate future for how The European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) will contribute, initiate and stimulate dialogue that enhances opportunities for artistic research across Europe and for shaping the development, production and application of creative ‘new knowledge’ within a variety of institutional and public contexts.
Over the last ten years, the agenda of Higher Arts Education has become increasingly influenced and conditioned by an emphasis on research and on the increase of third cycle degrees in Higher Arts Education. The ELIA 2004-2005 survey re:search in and through the arts has shown that artistic research and third cycle degrees are defined differently within the Higher Arts Education and professional arts sectors across Europe. In the context of this paper ‘arts’ is used as a generic term to represent a wide range of disciplines including the visual arts, design, performing arts.
Arts education providers continue to develop their own research priorities, methodologies and approaches fitting the needs and specific characteristics of the discipline and the specific institutional and national contexts. Even though the pace of change and the levels of expertise vary from country to country most Higher Arts Education Institutes across Europe are now fully aware of the importance of arts based research. There is however a lack of cohesion, approach and common understanding in the sector to enable the creation of a strategic arts focused European research culture.
It is not the role of ELIA to articulate or create a fixed position on behalf of its members on the definition of arts research. Its primary function is to stimulate further cross disciplinary and cross institutional discourse with the aim of creating a persuasive, compelling and collective argument focused towards all interested parties, advocating the essential value and importance of arts research as a significant and specialist contribution to new knowledge.
The question therefore is not so much how we define research in the arts but how we define what we mean by 'new knowledge' and how arts research and professional practice can be accepted as a process of knowledge creation relevant to the wider public domain.
ELIA's research strategy is building on the analysis of shifting professional and academic contexts in Higher Arts Education and research, as well as on the assessment of transformations going on in Higher Arts Education, In particular the Bologna Process and the inclusion of the third cycle in higher arts education have had a considerable impact on these transformations.
Professional contexts
Artistic research and development is intrinsically linked with the changing role of the arts and artists in European societies. There is a strong trend in arts practice to move away from the classic way of looking at the artist, especially when operating in the public domain. Performers, designers and visual artists play key roles in interdisciplinary project teams. For instance curators, architects, sociologists and urban planners and other specialist creatives work in increasingly complex, often international environments.
As an integral and recognised part of these new ways of working, artists, designers and performers increasingly need to be equipped to shape new knowledge and to embed this into academic and public domains. Research competencies of artists add to new employment opportunities and in particular business creation for artists in a much wider range of commercial and public sectors than ever before. It will be essential in the future to increase the number of artistic researchers and access to research related professions.
Academic contexts
A significant number of institutions are in the process of establishing research teams and research centres within which larger projects are being developed, often with a combination of funding and support in the form of external assignments and contracts. Many institutions have also developed a research infrastructure, policy and strategy with identifiable and accessible outcomes enabling them to take advantage of their national contexts and identifiable areas for supporting research through funding bodies.
Increasingly graduate schools are being established that bring together groups of taught post graduate students, research students, research units and centres in a coordinated constituency along with professors, research fellows and post doctoral students.
Structural collaboration is also being explored with (other) university departments. Inter-institutional initiatives are also being taken, in the form of research pools, joint supervision arrangements and international research projects. There is still significant variation in the structure, parity, recognition and experience of research degrees across Europe and real potential for establishing cross institutional supervisory and validation procedures.
In many cases governmental policies and local funding conditions impact on the way arts and design institutions are able to develop their research models. This is particularly the case with the ability to award research degrees and the level of priority given to arts based research funding opportunities in some member countries.
European Higher Educational and Research Policies
The inclusion of the third cycle in the Bologna process, since the Bergen Communiqué in 2005, has had a significant impact on Higher Arts Education and the conditions for developing research. In most countries - with some exceptions - Higher Arts Education Institutes are authorised to award third cycle degrees or develop third cycle programmes in collaboration with universities.
In common with all higher education in Europe, arts education is subject to increasingly complex internal and external assessment and has to meet stringent requirements. National and European funding councils use standards for quality and for transparency of artistic research that are not necessarily different from the sciences. In order to be successful, the level of credibility of artistic research is often required to be of similar significance as the sciences. The increasing importance of artistic research and development should also open possibilities for European funding of artistic research in a cross-national context. The European Research Area, which aims to create free circulation of researchers in Europe in all scientific fields, also has great relevance for artistic research.
Further enhancing the research competency of the higher arts education sector and gaining credibility for arts and design research in a National, European and International context will be main challenges for the coming years. In order to increase the profile a joint strategy will be developed between the higher arts education member institutes that are committed to invest in a shared knowledge and experience to further the advancement of arts and design research.
Establishing and encouraging a ‘research culture’ and infrastructure within the institution and across institutions requires a great deal of investment, vision and strategic commitment from ELIA member institutions. This can be evidenced by the following indicative summary of issues initiatives:
- Designing and implementing masters and third cycle programmes.
- Creating an international focus for research collaborations within the arts and with other disciplines.
- Initiating and facilitating individual and collaborative research through scholarships and other means of support.
- Recruiting a ‘critical mass’ of third cycle students and research professors/teachers to facilitate a cross disciplinary research culture.
- Recruiting and ensuring effective training for specialist supervisors.
- Collaboration with partner institutes in creating research pools, international links and consortia.
- Integrating research to inform and develop the curriculum of the first and second cycles of higher arts education.
- Developing joint research approaches in collaboration with other disciplines.
- Developing specialist approaches that make the arts institution a unique location, attractive to national, European and international students and staff with research ambitions.
- Ensuring that research cultures are recognised as needing a high degree of freedom to develop and should not be constrained by processes of over institutionalisation
- Creating effective processes of archiving and dissemination of research and ‘new knowledge’ in the public domain.
- Advancement of the arts disciplines
- Intercultural dialogue and social change
- Promotion of the value of social and cultural capital
- Role of individual researchers and research centres
- Sustainability and environment
- Technical and commercial innovations and enterprise
- Urban regeneration, innovation and creative cities and regions
Employment
ELIA will, in collaboration with member institutions, explore employment opportunities of artists/researchers within and outside the creative industries and in other relevant professional sectors. It will also explore the potential for business creation and viability of commercial applications and processes to support research innovation and enterprise.
Funding
ELIA will intensify its efforts for better access for arts research to the European 7th Framework Programme for Research & Development and other potential sources of public and private sources in general. It will advise members of opportunities and undertake advocacy especially for institutions in new member states.
Mobility
ELIA will actively encourage higher levels of mobility between artists/researchers through research-oriented joint Masters’ and Doctoral Programmes, undertaken by member institutions. It will also promote mobility of advanced researchers and research supervisors.
Quality
ELIA will intensify its function as a European platform for constructive debate between researchers, research centres and member institutions on standards and new developments. ELIA will also compile expertise and contribute to the scrutiny of quality of research through peer review in order to promote the dissemination of good practice and parity of quality.
Visibility
ELIA will prioritise the visibility of the sector’s research competency through identifying ‘inspiring practice’ in an interactive database and through publishing a yearbook on artistic research. Research activity will also be profiled through conference and symposia presentations.
Professor Chris Wainwright
ELIA President
This publication has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
