Wildewire

I went to Leadgate yesterday to meet a group of older people who're comparatively new to the village and who have started new community activities largely because they found what was on offer restrictive and cliquey! My friend warned me that they might be friendly with the self-proclaimed leading light of the village: the person who had refused to accept grants because he thought his organisation could do without them and yet complains about the lack of public sector support he receives for his activities. The reality couldn't have been more different, this group identified the "leading light" as a force for stopping things from happening. What is more: as they have been drumming up interest for their ideas a common refrain from villagers has been to the effect of : they'd do it as long as [the leading light] isn't involved. I felt sorry for him. I also found out that he had been rather over-egging his military career: When someone says they were involved in...

So... I drove to Sheffield yesterday. My faulty sat nav behaved itself and I got there with about an hour to spare to go over what I'd written and the job description etc. I couldn't get over the feeling that the job was a little vague but I was heartened by things like: " The Enablers will be experienced Black arts professionals who demonstrate a clear comitment to supporting artists and developing new work as well as he cuture of the black theatre sector " "It is important that whilst participating in this programme they are also delivering their own projects a independent practitioners..." "...being a voice of the independent Black arts sector..." The interview was a little weak! The first thing I was asked was to tell a story in four minutes ending with "So then I decided to apply for this job". I spoke of my disappointment at the demise of Intercultural Arts and my desire to revive it and saw that the remit of identifying...

The youth project in the community centre I'm after for my company is pulling out in February claiming cuts as the reason. They're in fact a branch of a huge and wealthy global charity that COULD fund its individual projects if it wanted to. They'd been threatening to go ever since they lost a grant from the local authority last year. The kids aren't happy and are writing unprompted letters to the Council and the papers. I was invited to speak with them yesterday and tried to get them to understand that the council isn't responsible. The council has to find cuts of £250m and central government wants all local authorities to pay for themselves with no central funds by 2020. I explained that if my company is chosen we will honour a commitment to retain an independent youth project with the same youth leaders and that I believe it will be eminently fundable. I encouraged the kids to spread the word about my plans and at very least, to demand that the council gives ...

Yesterday I met with a woman from Kenya I've known professionally since around 2005 to discuss what she's doing, what I'm trying to do and how we might collaborate. I was amazed at how similar her work experience has been to mine. She shared similar frustrations, watched inept people be continually rewarded whilst work in which she has been involved has been starved in the hope it would disappear. She articulated the same feelings about 'playing the game' to acquire favour as opposed to rocking the boat by doing the job you know needs to be done. Perhaps it was a case of "misery loves company" but I went away from that meeting feeling just a little less insane! When polite and reasonable people regularly tell you that the things about which you're passionate aren't really important or that you haven't really understood what is going on, it isn't surprising if you begin to believe it. My colleague reminded me that this is an effective ta...

Part of my plan for community centre is to resurrect the organisation I built up and had to leave in 2011 when Arse Council funds were cut. There was more to it of course: I'd foreseen what was going to happen after the crash started in America in 2008/9 and I was convinced that once it hit UK, the government would be true to previous form and cut the arts and culture budgets first and most fiercely. I started reporting to the Board of Trustees in April 2009 about the need for diversifying income and not depending on a single source. They patted me on the head and ignored me. When the cuts approached, the Arse Council fell on its own sword and made its own cuts perhaps hoping to be spared but it was not the case as additional cuts were demanded from central government and, as the organisation did not produce art but supported minority ethnic artists, it was one of the first to go... ...Anyway: as you might imagine, although we were "civil", this was another of the job...

One of the things I really appreciate as an ex-Londoner, is how quiet it is where I live. In New Cross you'd be hearing three or more assorted sirens per hour, only marginally less through the night whereas here; hearing one at all is unusual. The fly in the ointment is 5 storey block of flats 100m from my house that contains a load of Yoof- its some sort of half-way house for kids who've been kicked out/left their families. There's a warden, but he goes at about 6pm and isn't there at week ends. I've been here since 2006 and the council was promising to close the project then. It is the source of expected levels of antisocial behaviour (loads of unsupervised yoof, what do you expect?). Last night I was woken by som Chavaette screaming about how she "didn't want to be here no more" -something I echoed, and she "wanted to be with my grandma in heaven" etc. The issue seemed to be that "I always back yous up and you nevva back me up for any...

Wednesday already! How did that happen? I'm not made for this sort of existence. More Stir Crazy each day.  Eclipse have invited me back for an interview for their "Enabler" job which would be nice as I wouldn't be desk-bound and would be able to continue to develop my enterprise and community support ideas. The interview's in the afternoon so at least I should be able to do the drive in daylight. Got to get the windscreen wiper fixed first. I'm continuing to job hunt like a good boy. I haven't found anything that really excites, though I completed an application to join a regional funding body today LOL. Poacher-turning-gamekeeper! Though I very much doubt they'll invite me for interview it keeps the Universal Creditors off my case. How stupid that is: the hours I spent completing the application for something in which I'm interested in the sense that if they offered it to me I'd accept it, but it doesn't really get my juices flowing. ...

Its great when my low expectations are proved entirely wrong. Sustained Theatre set the bar very low for me and I'm not sure I would have bothered with the Eclipse Theatre Audience Development Training if I had been more economically secure, and it would have been my loss. I came away from the two days feeling like there HAS been change in Black British Theatre- at least for this company who have landed big bucks from Esmee Fairbairn and Heritage Lottery Fund- Arse Council is there too, but they aren't funding the actual development work- they fund the basic existence that kept the company inside another company for 5 years. It is exactly that resistance to true black independence against which I railed as Chair of Sustained Theatre: Arse Council were willing to release funds to black artist groups IF they remained under the 'care' and control  of established (white) venue organisations. This arrangement does not work for the black company: when they manage to get a t...

I'm in Sheffield. I was invited to join a team of Audience Developers in support of just about the only black British touring theatre company. Their plan is to produce a range of new plays with the background of 500 years of black history in Britain and to tour them around the country. Having people in each region who will work with the venues to raise awareness and drum up audiences is a great idea. I left Newcastle at 7am yesterday and the drive was OK until I got to Sheffield on the motorway and the sat nav stopped working lol. I'd overshot the exit and had to double back. Once in the city, things were only marginally better: there is a shitload of roadworks and route changes in the city that my sat nav doesn't know about. Once I ditched the car I walked around in circles for about 45 minutes until I gave up and took a taxi to somewhere that I later found was about 10 minutes from where I needed to be so I was a little late. Later on; I popped back to pick up the car...