Research papers: leading through practice.

Artist as Leader is a programme that aims to understand the ways artists lead through their practice with a view to informing and developing a critical understanding of the role of creativity in culture. There are two complimentary parts to the Artist as Leader programme.1 The first is the research which takes the form of in-depth interviews with a range of artists and managers who work with artists. The interviews focus on practice and the perceptions of the interviewees of 'leading through practice?. The second part is the development of a laboratory space. Over seventeen years Performing Arts Labs (PAL) has evolved a methodology for bringing together individuals increasingly from different disciplines, in the development of new work. The Lab draws together artists and policy makers with a view to exploring scenarios. The policy makers will offer their key challenges in the social, economic, cultural sphere within the next ten years as a basis for new collaborative work. The research, which is across art forms, is being tested on a wide set of constituencies. With a-n's readership in mind, this publication focuses on the visual arts. This publication also comes during the research, not at its conclusion and its main motive is to lay out a typology of issues, substantiated by experience, with a view to enabling and encouraging debate. We have invited four contributions - Linda Frye Burnham, Reiko Goto, Francis McKee and Tim Nunn - to demonstrate a range of perspectives. The debate continues and is open to all online at www.a-n.co.uk Artist as Leader is funded by an AHRC (Creativity) Networking award2. It is developed as a partnership between On The Edge Research, Gray's School of Art, The Robert Gordon University; Cultural Enterprise Office, Scotland; and Performing Arts Labs, London; and is also supported by the Scottish Leadership Foundation