I suppose I should laugh!

 

The safest response, in terms of my sanity, would be to laugh... So, I was contacted by a friend a couple of weeks ago, asking me if I was involved in the 'cultural archive project' to which she'd been asked to contribute. I knew nothing and reminded her of my persona non grata status among the creative elite of Newcastle. She insisted and sent me some information. I saw that all of the people and organisations who seemed to be leading this project were women. I told her I really wasn't bothered about not having been involved. My friend drew my attention to the fact that the project had been initiated last September to run for a year. She was annoyed that they could have done almost a year's work about minority ethnic arts development and not contacted the organisation that was set up to develop that sector...

... With some reluctance, I accepted her prompt and recieved a missive from one of the organisers with whom I had worked when I ran Intercultural Arts. We ended up speaking a couple of times by 'phone and shared revelatory experiences about our respective places within the arts establishment in the region. We share a similar response since the murder of George Floyd about what is has meant to both of us to have been part of cultural institutions to fulfill their 'diversity' obligations yet both of us have experienced similar experiences of being wheeled out for photographs, but suppressed for any real developments we've attempted, being called "aggressive" being assumed to be less capable than we are etc. We both have a feeling of complicity. I remember being aware of it when I created Intercultural Arts, it was because I was being PAID that i put so much energy into representing the members at the Arse Council etc. the contact has been on sabbatical from her main employer which gave her the perspective and courage to hand in her resignation last week. She had still been working where I had first met her and felt little or no practical change. I found that someone with whom I had had... 'unfortunate' experiences in their capacity as an Arse Council (sic) "Relationship Officer" is still there. Actually they were such a "yes person" I am not really surprised. My favourite memory of this person was listening open mouthed to a fantasy version from them of a meeting I'd attended in Leeds on which she was reporting to a large group in Newcastle. I felt restrained from reacting as I KNEW I would once again be branded a bully. Luckily, the guy who'd driven me to the meeting stood up and quite politely, but firmly challenged her version of events. She left the meeting in tears, I congratulated my colleague and verified his story with a 'dig' by stating how pleased I was that someone else had witnessed what had happened as I knew the Arse Council chose not to believe what I said.

The event will be online at the end of the week and online. My expectations are subterranean. I'm not sure what real use a digital archive will be, but there is talk (!) of a "Resource Centre"... Actually TBH that pisses me off even more: I see it as another example of the Arse Council funding "research", "consultation", "Admin" etc which they will ALWAYS prioritise over practical support to creative professionals outside the mainstreams. I plan to observe. When I speak about what happened with the North East Sustained Theatre project irrepressible bile rises and I can't shut up! It is interesting that two of the people who objected to purchasing the building I'd identified are now managing buildings of their own for example. It is also interesting that the organisation of the person who took over the Chair of the national Artists Group was awarded "National Portfolio Organisation" status when she dropped the independant Sustained Theatre projects outside London. The Arse Council kept quiet the financial irregularities that later followed with that organisation...

...You see: so much left unsaid LOL. I will NOT say it at this event, I intend to use it as a thermometer up the arse of minority ethnic arts in the region in 2021.