Wildewire

I can hardly believe it! I passed my driving test!!!! I only had two minor faults this time (you can have up to 15 and pass). I was concentrating so much I could feel beads of sweat rolling slowly down my face. I messed up the drive on your own bit- where they say "follow the signs to..." but I was concentrating so much on the road etc I missed the sign. Fortunately, my driving was better than my navigation. I decided I wanted to celebrate so bunked off work early and encountered a friend at The Yard and downed a few pints with him. Someone with whom I worked last year until his ego left no space for partnership flounced in. Both my friend and me have no time for this individual but he had clearly decided it was time to forget the past or something so (in a weirdly aggressive way) he said "Hello" - with a sort of querying inflection, my friend and me managed a grunt in his general direction. -While I am being bitchy lol- I saw his ex-boyfriend a few days ag...

!!! I found this in an 'unpublished folder' Its a pretty standard rant from me, I can't remember when it was drafted, might as well post it... Now is not the time for investing in “strategy”, at least; in minority arts! I have lost count of the number of consultations and strategies I’ve witnessed and to which I have contributed since 1985. Each one promised a great leap forward for minority arts and culture, so why does it seem that so little has been achieved? How many full time UK creative companies, let alone venues are run by and for people from minority communities? How much public money has been spent to deliver consultations and research ‘on our behalf’? Why does it seem that so many of those consultations were conducted by the ‘Usual Suspects? Why are so few professionals from minority communities acceptable to “Strategic” agencies to conduct consultations and deliver reports? How did those who have the confidence of ‘Strategic Agencies’ ...

Its impossible to go from "A" to "B" if you're at "C"! I've been preoccupied with my relationship with my godson and thinking with hindsight that it was never going to work out the way I hoped when I agreed to foster him three years ago. I thought I would be able to give him security, guidance, support and to build up an affectionate relationship with him that would help him make his own way in the world. I hadn't accounted for how self-reliant this tri-lingual 13 year old had become- had needed to be to survive his childhood. Self-reliance seems to be an increasingly important quality or skill-set, but it can be a problem if it is based on insufficient knowledge, experience or both. He endures my nagging with stoicism but, despite his intellect, fails to make the connection that if he struggles to exist in a home where his meals etc are provided and he has most of the things he wants, how is he going to survive when he doesn't have acc...

Well; "empire" is obvious hyperbole but I am quietly excited by how well my company is taking shape as we roll into the third month. Last week was packed with  obvious opportunity to develop subsidiary activities able to deliver additional income and provide work for creative professionals in a shrinking market. Our main project: the online LGBT archive is gaining a lot of interest from potential contributors and organisations and is actually on schedule -except we've had to take the website down to develop it. After a meeting with clients from last year's main project, I am delighted to discover demand for the additional services we want to deliver. I really enjoy going into our odd office every day and work happily making new connections with organisations and potential clients, writing promotional stuff and update reports for funders and 'stake-holders'. The internet stuff has been installed, but doesn't yet extend to our office so I am still relyin...

I am really pleased with the way that the main project on which I am working with my colleagues is taking shape. The training with the regional archives has been invaluable and has changed the way we want to do some key things. We even received our first contributions last week. I am determined to make a success of it, in part to prove some people wrong and because I have a profound belief in the power of communities to bring about positive change. I am so surprised to be on track despite the Archives starting their training two weeks later than we had planned, that I keep checking and refining my "master plan' for the project in case there is something I have missed. The more we work on it, the more additional interesting things pop up like a film club and also; working with the film-maker we've commissioned for the archive to work with us to offer services to clients like the community centres. The lack of effective LGBT activism in this region surprised me when I fi...