With many institutions that support artists under threat, an artists’ union is even more necessary, argues Bob and Roberta Smith RA

In 2013 I organised the Art Party in Scarborough. It was not a formal political party but more of a grand gathering of concerned artists, teachers and audiences. The idea was to push back against government initiatives such as the English Baccalaureate, or EBacc, a performance measure at GSCE level that diminishes the status of the arts in schools.

Lots of household-name artists spoke at this gathering. Jeremy Deller told us about how the ceramics room at his school had been a refuge. Cornelia Parker RA told us about how art taught her that play was possible (she had spent a good deal of her childhood working on her parents’ smallholding). The event was a huge success. After the Art Party I stood against the architect of the EBacc, former Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, in his constituency of Surrey Heath in the 2015 General Election. But I did not stand as an Art Party candidate. I stood as an Independent for the arts.

Through all this I became aware of a powerful phenomenon in the art world that makes unionising artists an unlikely prospect. Artists are essentially independent beings. All artists are powerful individualists who want to initiate their own activity. Artists do not want to jump on other people’s bandwagons. Herding artists is like herding felines. Give 30 artists a question and you will get 30 different answers.

There is an artists’ union in England, which was initiated around the same time as I was organising the Art Party. It concerns itself with artists’ rights, as does the Scottish Artists Union, which was established in 2001. Both unions are involved in advocating art in schools and proper pay for the work of artists, who are increasingly caught in precarious working environments.