'The cause of making the artist’s life sustainable is close to my heart' - DACS Chair Margaret Heffernan on supporting artists
Chair of the DACS Board Margaret Heffernan explains why she joined DACS and her vision of a better future for artists.
I was drawn to DACS for many reasons. I am not an artist but I buy the work of living artists when I can. The pictures and sculptures I’ve acquired over the years still give me joy and much to think about. During a career in radio, television, film and technology I’ve been lucky enough to work with different kinds of artists – writers, composers, designers – and from them I’ve come to see how difficult it is to persevere with work that many don’t ask for or understand but work which gives our daily lives meaning, contemplation and joy. As everyone today comments on the increasing uncertainty of life, I’ve more than once thought that this is a subject on which artists are experts and always have been. So the cause of making the artist’s life sustainable is close to my heart, as is a compulsion to try to get the wider world to appreciate just how much it takes – in time, effort and courage – to dare to be an artist, and how pointless our lives would feel if you did not do so. I also believe quite passionately that artists should be paid. So I like to think I bring to DACS something of a missionary zeal for its work.
The pandemic has proved devastating for artists: both because so many freelance and part-time jobs disappeared without warning (and mostly without furlough) and because many have found the experience of lockdowns creatively enervating, resulting in a loss of both income and output. But this crisis has also galvanised DACS into a campaigning organisation, building fierce and committed coalitions to support the working lives of artists in every way possible. We can all see now how far the life of the nation depends on many of the most precarious and vulnerable, among which artists loom large. We are proud to have distributed over £15.2 million to artists and estates during 2020 and DACS is wholly committed to making artists’ lives sustainable. This is the driving vision behind the Manifesto for Artists, the Smart Fund and a series of new initiatives and events in the pipeline.
While the pandemic has grabbed most of the headlines this year, it has sometimes distracted from other sources of change and challenge. Chief among these is the emergence of new technologies that can identify and track the use of artists’ work online. We expect this to make it easier, faster and cheaper to protect more of the work of our members. This is a very exciting prospect but also daunting, because it means DACS must become adept at the design and deployment of new technology, a task that is never as easy as its evangelists proclaim. It will be important for DACS to become an organisation that is digital first, while remaining also entirely human, connected to and deep in its understanding of our members and their values. In my wildest dreams, I see a world in which anyone with tenacity, daring, commitment and vision can afford to be an artist in a country that values their work.
