Institutional absorption of the context idea
In comparison to the world which spawned our course, Art and Social Context, in the late 70s there has since been a profound re-configuration of the arts and an absorption into the main stream of much that we were attempting. 'Cultural democracy', the holy grail of community arts, clearly did not come about, except perhaps temporarily, for a particular community at some special moment (e.g. Craigmillar), nor was there a complete re-conceiving of Art and Design education, such as was mooted in the1970s. Yet, many of the approaches to art that existed only as fringe movements when we began, have since become an integral part of official cultural policy.

Today there is a huge subsidised sector of the visual and other arts (as distinct from the commercial sector). The funding policies of Regional Arts Boards and The Arts Council of England now clearly reflect an obligation towards the community at large. These official bodies generally require subsidised artists and groups to give convincing evidence that their work will reach and benefit (perhaps directly involve) some disadvantaged sector of the community. Public galleries, art museums, and arts centres, maintain highly active educational and outreach policies. In addition specific cultural groups, which by virtue of class, race, gender, etc., were excluded up to and during the 1970s, are now very deliberately included within the collections and exhibition policies of public galleries.

Community Arts, Hospital Arts, Arts in Schools, and residencies in general, have all been taken up and absorbed into public sector arts policy. Public Art (often funded by 'percent for art' schemes) now graces almost all urban centres and the presence of art in public places is now seen as 'a good thing' by almost any planning authority or local council. Such bodies will happily spend sums on art as part of urban regeneration, in the expectation of a future economic return from the environmental and social benefit. A network of independent agencies regularly commission permanent and temporary work in public places (eg. Artangel, Artists Agency, Locus+). Many lesser known and well known artists now make a career in this field. (The success of Anthony Gormley as an exponent of public art is a case in point). Art therapy (a continuing outlet for some of our students), which was once regarded in the Health Service as a rather suspect and unproven therapeutic practice, now has a recognised system of accreditation and has become an accepted part of healthcare provision. A broad spectrum of work under the heading 'Arts and Health' now also receives funding. While the commercial gallery world does not need to demonstrate any particular sense of public obligation, many of the artists it fosters pursue social, political and cultural questions in their work and this is rather more accepted today than it was in a more formalist and detached period, say, thirty years ago.

Taking all these examples together, it is clear that contextual art in its many forms is now firmly on the map. Universities and Colleges need to take account of the opportunities for graduating students. Since few make it into the gallery world as a career, this means that a high proportion of those that carry on in art at all, will find themselves practising some form of contextual art (many working both within and outside the gallery system as opportunities arise). (13) Most Fine Art courses now offer at least elements of contextual art practice within their curriculum, even if not formulated as such. Yet, Fine Art education in general seems to remain deeply committed to the conventional image of the gallery artist. In his intelligent and penetrating essay, The Good Enough Artist, Donald Kuspit argued the need to "recover a sense of human purpose in art making" (14). His view (shared by many others), was that the over heroic and grandiose idea of the avant-garde artist, so prevalent in the 20th century, had outlived its time. Avant-garde had become a self serving stereotype - merely a form of self marketing. Without going into his arguments, I like to think that the student artist working 'in context' is a prototype of Kuspit's 'good enough artist'....an artist for the future, not seeking to heroically change society through utopian visions, nor, in another heroic stance, to see their art as some superior form of suffering, but instead engaged in rediscovering a human sense of artistic purpose through relating their work to the realities of life as it is actually lived.