Manick Govinda works at ArtsAdmin as an artist producer. He also runs the advice and information service for up-and-coming artists in the UK.
He spoke about the practical difficulties of bringing in overseas talent, and concerns that new visa policies could restrict international artists from coming to the UK.
International artists coming to the UK
"I've been working in the arts since the mid-80s. I've always worked with that sense of having an international perspective around the arts. Artists that came from overseas, made the UK their home, the second generation of Asian and Caribbean artists and so forth.
"It was something that I took for granted: that artists come over, perform, present, take up residencies, collaborate. It was just part of the lifeblood of the UK arts scene.
"So it came as a real shock to me when I heard two years ago that government legislation, in terms of the Immigration Act, new policies were going to be coming into place. These would create a huge amount of restriction and bureaucratic procedures for overseas non-EU artists coming to the UK for performances, talks, concerts, exhibitions, book launches, etc.
"I thought, 'this sounds a bit unsettling, a bit Big Brother-ish. We've had this vibrant international cultural scene going on for decades and why is this happening?'"
New regulations for international artists
"I investigated further and did a bit more research into what the regulations were. I was quite appalled by the amount of red tape that arts organisations and overseas artists would have to start going through. That was since November 2008, when the Home Office introduced the points-based system and more stringent visa regulations.
"An artist coming over for a book launch, for example, or to open their exhibition in Mayfair at a commercial gallery, would have to get what's called a Certificate of Sponsorship. That can only be issued by the organisation that's inviting the artist, who would then have to apply to become a licensed sponsor.
"It's a huge amount of paperwork. You have to submit a lot of evidence that you're a bona fide organisation:
- that you're VAT-registered
- that you're a registered company
- that you've got audited accounts over the last so many years
- that you have human resource personnel specialist
"All these systems have to be put in place in order for you to qualify as a licensed sponsor. And what if you're not VAT-registered? What if you're not a registered company? What if you don't have audited accounts?"
A-N magazine, the artists' information company, commissioned an article ('Home Office curbs non-EU artists'), and while I was writing it, I had e-mails from galleries saying, 'this talk we were due to have with a Russian photographer has been cancelled because he wasn't allowed entry into the UK because of the new regulations.'
"I heard about artists not getting visas. I did more research and found out that big international festivals like WOMAD, particularly artists in Africa, were having difficulties getting visas to come to those. Then I thought something needs to be done about this, more noise needs to be made."
The economic impact of visa restrictions
"It can have an economic impact because some very renowned artists who have lots to contribute, economically as well as culturally, will have second thoughts about coming to the UK.
"In the past, people used to be able to send off an assistant to go off and do all the visa paperwork. But now artists have to do that in person and have their passport taken away from them for days and weeks on end. A musician who tours across the world incessantly – that's his passion, to play his music live – for the UK to lose out on such artists will have an economic impact.
"The mayor's Cultural Manifesto has put a call for the point-based system to be reviewed. It will affect the cultural landscape and identity and internationalism of London. I think there could be a case where you might see less cutting edge, experimental, grass-roots – stuff that goes on at a smaller level which the public engages with a lot more – will be affected a lot more. It will hit the smaller organisations."
Problems with bringing in non-EU artists
"If a ballet company wants to bring in a prima ballerina from China or Russia, they still have to go through loads of ridiculous meaningless hurdles like, have they advertised the job in local networks in the UK?
This is not about skills. It's about the individual and the personality and the charisma that those artists have. It's not just about employing a ballet dancer, it's a certain ballet dancer.
"If someone's going to set up an idea, let's say this wonderful fringe festival in Camden, and companies from outside the EU are starting to apply and you want to have them as part of your festival, you have to think about what the implications are. Because you don't want your guests to suddenly be detained at Heathrow for seven hours and sent on the first plane back to wherever they came from. it's not good for the host, it's not good for the artists, it's a complete waste of money and it's demoralising and humiliating."
Challenging the visa restrictions for artists
"One has to do the necessary homework and find out how you can get advice, Now it's not easy to get advice because the UK Borders Agency makes it very hard for people that don't have the necessary skills to handle all that kind of stuff, so it will put people off. For me, obviously we have to campaign against it and there has to be a political change.
"There is quite a lot of opposition to it. As I said, Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has voiced his disagreement with the points-based visa system and the potential impact it will have on London – 2012 is not far!
"A number of people in the House of Lords have objected to it, so we need to have more political lobbying. More people who believe in international cultural exchange and collaboration need to write to their MPs to start debates around it, to make noise about it in the media.
"That's the only way I think we can start getting some results where there's a change of policy or a review of policy, at least, to simplify the process."
