Joining up the dots.

I've been meaning to write about the need for small-scale arts organisations to connect with each other. I believe we need to join forces, to compare methods, to explain what we do - we need to connect, assemble and aggregate. 

Bubble recently offered a flat pack version of a script to other small organisations to read locally and I've written previously about Hiroshima Dispersed - it was a simple idea and worked pretty well. Some of the responses are below - and I want to share them as they capture how people truly appreciated working locally and globally. 

FROM PUNE

To be a part of something that is much bigger than you, is a strange feeling. The emotion that such an experience stirs may range from being completely humbled to feeling immensely powerful. The humility stems from realizing how insignificant you are in the larger scheme of things; while the sense of power is inspired by the knowledge that your actions, no matter how small, contribute to this whole.

This ‘feeling’ is impossible for me to articulate in any language and the attempt in the previous lines may have been futile. But I felt just that, as part of a small, seven-member team that recently performed a reading of a play, to an audience of about 35 people, at an unconventional venue (a rock themed coffee bar) in Pune, on a sleepy (and rainy) August afternoon.

However, it wasn’t much the location, the weather or the size of the audience that made a difference. The feeling stemmed from what I was a part of – the play itself – The Grandchildren of Hiroshima – true stories of real people who survived the atomic bombing in Hiroshima.

Initiated as an oral history and performance project, by London Bubble, a London based theatre group, in the year 2014, ‘The Grandchildren of Hiroshima’ is rooted in interviews between local children in Hiroshima and survivors who were the children’s age when the bomb was dropped. The project aimed to reach out to people across the world through community performances in August 2015 to commemorate the 70^th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombings.

On August 6^th 2015 and over that weekend, community theatre groups across Hiroshima, London, Wimborne, Palestine, Johannesburg, Brisbane, Milwaukee and Manila performed readings of ‘The Grandchildren of Hiroshima.’ And we (Orchestrated Q’Works) became a part of this inspirational global movement by reading the play in Pune.

Weeks before our performance, when we had started rehearsing, these powerful human stories of people residing miles away initiated a subliminal emotional upheaval in me. I knew I might never be able to truly empathize with them, as I have never been through such horrifying circumstances myself. It made a part of me feel grateful for my own protected life. However this gratitude was smeared with a sense of melancholy as somewhere I could sense a portion of the pain they had endured.

Most of these stories are very detailed and skillfully paint a vivid picture of the massive destruction and it’s agonizing after-effects. Part of the play also presents historical facts about the bomb, the war and the politics and conspiracy behind it.

But beyond all the politics and war, these were stories of real human suffering, tales of survival against all odds and most of all rebuilding life and one’s own being, piece by piece. Underlying somewhere in the recounting of all the demolition and death, is a story of hope and peace – a story that goes beyond the bounds of language, age, culture and borders. 

Being able to share these stories; being a part of the vessel that transmitted the energy in these stories to others was an unforgettable experience. At the end of the performance, when we bowed, there was a sense of oneness … with the team, the audience, groups across the world who organized similar readings and with Hiroe, Hiroko, Teruko, Suzumi, Fumiaki and others who’s stories we shared through the play.

A feeling that is both humbling and empowering at the same time.

Contributed by Ritwik Borthakur

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FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Just wanted to give you feedback on the 6th August reading. We were a small group of 11 including my 7 year old daughter who sat through the reading listening intently.

We created an 'alter' of sorts with the image of the river and 7 candles which were lit each representing one of the rivers. We sat in a semi circle and basically read the script one line at a time going around in the circle, this was the best solution and worked well. At the end of the reading we had at least an hour sharing where all of us shared our responses and thoughts to the reading. This was very productive and heartfelt. Some of the reflections were profound and initiated a discussion of the contemporary relevance of the Hiroshima bombing, especially in post apartheid South Africa.

Thanks again for this opportunity, we thoroughly enjoyed being part of this process.

I hope to send a small video soon.

All the best

Colin

FROM MANILLA

Here are a few pictures from our gathering on Thursday. It was a tight international group of 12 (artists, cultural workers from different regions in the country), a good number for creating the intimate feel we wanted. Aside doing the reading (improvising props with whatever was at the house which also serves as a semi-storage room for our Ensemble!), we folded paper cranes, feasted together, and had charged conversations on peace, our role as artists and social beings in keeping & creating it, and what greater togetherness and solidarity can mean for us today. 

Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to be one with you in this. We appreciate everyone's effort and generosity! It's been especially exciting to read how the readings have gone all over the world.

Wishing we meet in person soon!

All the best,
Sarah (in behalf of everyone from Sipat Lawin Ensemble)

FROM PALESTINE

Dear Colleagues, 

Hope that my email finds you well. I have attached here some pictures for our reading. It is worth mentioning that the event was attended by more than 150 individuals. In my next emails, I'll share you articles and TV interviews that were conducted by Palestinian and Japanese journalists to cover the reading.

Note: One of the Japanese citizens who is visiting Palestine right now, came to attend the event and brought with him a flame from Hiroshima that it is still lightning since 1945 as a symbol of peace. 

Regards

Saja Shami

Yes Theatre

00972- 2- 2291559

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/Yes-theatre-Palestine/289764851145997?fref=ts

FROM WIMBORNE

Dear Dispersers,

First, the twelve of us gathered in the nearby White Hart garden for a planning pre-read.  As we left to make our way to the Minster Green, a gardener having a pint, said, “I’m not into culture, but that was very interesting.’  

In the shadow of the War Memorial, commemorating the lives of local men who died in both World Wars, we laid several kimonos in the shape of the rivers and positioned ourselves in a semi-circle.  We wore black with brightly coloured scarves.  

Over twenty people gathered on the grass and the memorial steps to listen as we read ‘The Grandchildren of Hiroshima’ by Misaki Setyoyama, accompanied at times by live flute and recorded rivers - as well as the real sounds of aeroplanes, car horns, and rubbish trucks.  When we spoke the storytellers’ memories, we held up their portraits.     

A Japanese women and her daughter  travelled many miles to hear the reading and were moved by the retelling of the story they know so well. Somebody brought a basket of origami cranes to distribute to the listeners, and as we handed them around at the end of the reading, a dove was spotted flying over our heads to join its partner on a nearby roof.

Thank you, Peth and London Bubble, for this opportunity to look beyond our own lives, and to learn. We look forward to hearing more accounts.

Good wishes from Wimborne Community Theatre

Gill Horitz
on behalf of Wimborne Community Theatre 

www.wimbornecommunitytheatre.co.uk

FROM BRISBANE

At 8.15 Hiroshima time, we observed a minute's silence, standing in the space where third generation hibakusha Yukiyo Kawano's soft sculpture of "Little Boy" was hung, as a centre piece in our exhibition of artworks developed with atomic survivor communities. Simultaneously, on the other side of the Pacific, Yukiyo herself was also standing silent with a group beside a replica of her "Little Boy" sculpture in the Seattle Asian Art Museum. For us this was the start of a two day seminar attended by students, academics, art workers and others at Queensland University of technology, in their multi-media venue "The Block". We had twenty people present on that morning. After the minute's silence we proceeded with our reading of "Grandchildren of Hiroshima" and then discussion of the script. We selected Fumiaki's story to develop into a filmed reading, with "Little Boy" as the backdrop. We went for the simplest of staging – to speak the lines around a circle, facing each other, allowing contemplation of the words, rehearsal of the lines, and ultimately the filming. Once we'd done that we reflected on our responses to the reading and the play overall. Perhaps our feelings were best summed up by one of the students present. She had spent a year in Japan, and was familiar with Hiroshima and its Peace Park, and she told how moved she was by reading part of one family's story – at one stage almost unable to get the words out because she felt emotional, but determined to do them justice. We all felt very privileged to play a part in the project, and grateful that we'd made the connection that has allowed us to share in this important work. We will shortly edit and make available the film version of Fumiaki's story, along with coverage of the discussion we had after the reading. 

Many thanks to London Bubble and all the contributing individuals and groups.

Best wishes

Paul

Paul Brown

Hon. A/Prof Institute of Environmental Studies, UNSW

Creative Producer Nuclear Futures

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FROM BOHOL

Dear Jonathan and  All

Good evening.

We NGO Ikaw-Ako in Bohol, Philippines finished our reading program today.

We held it at one elementary school in Ubay Bohol, explained about Hiroshima,

World was 2 and atomic bomb a little bit and read the script with 87 grade6 students

, 4teachers and one JICA staff and 2Ikaw-Ako staff at 9am.

We gave the script to school one week before we hold the program but

students prepared very well.

They read Fumiaki's parts.

We didnt have any music and items, so it wasn't a play but they enjoyed it.

Thank you very much to give us this oppotumity!

For Ikaw-Ako its first time to have like this program, because we focus on

environment basically and mostly our activity is mangrove planting ,

but it was nice challenge.

I put some photos today as attached file.

Thank you very much.

Best regard,

Miyuki Fukuda

Coordinator

Ikaw-Ako Bohol

FROM MILWAUKEE

Dear Dispersers-

Wishing you all meaningful readings and presentations of Hiroshima Dispersed.  I was reunited today in Milwaukee, USA with a wonderful former student of mine, Anne Schulthess, who I last saw in 1999.  Anne lives in London now, and with Bubble Theatre and Peth, brought this to my attention.  She will be with us in Milwaukee, USA tomorrow evening and join us in the reading of the play as a part of the American Alliance of Theatre Educators conference, where 350 Theatre Educators will be here and some will participate in the hearing and reading of this play.  Our presentation is scheduled for the Milwaukee Hilton City Center, Juneau Room, 5^th floor with young performers and adult performers at 4:00 pm Central Standard Time  (Milwaukee/Chicago time).  I believe we will be either the last or one of the last readings as these will begin shortly.

Thank you all and hoping for meaningful reports from you all.

Jeff Schaetzke
Company Manager

325 West Walnut Street | Milwaukee, WI 53212
(414) 267-2985 direct | (414) 267-2930 fax

FROM TOKYO

As promised, here's some photos from the event. We invited a "Tipi" making artist who makes Native American style tents with second hand materials.

After the talk back session, audience and participants and staff(Yes all of us)  joined to add a small decollation on the tipi with pieces of used kimono.

I hope you enjoy them!

In the post showing discussion, there were many participants and audiences who showed strong interests on knowing more about the war history and they mostly gave positive comments on the script as well as the entire project.

Best regards,

Yorie

FROM DEPTFORD IN LONDON

Our reading took place at the Deptford Creekside centre an extraordinary environmental education centre in the heart of South London on the edge of a creek which carries the water from the Quaggy, the Pool and the Ravensbourne rivers into the mighty river Thames. 

Exactly 70 people gathered to remember the events of 70 years ago. (It wasn’t planned that way but that is honestly how many people turned up.) Together we made and decorated lanterns and as the light began to fade, the script was read. As requested in the instructions we let the words do the work, adding just a few moments of simple imagery, wild rice scattered on a white sheet to represent the black rain, lanterns raised on poles during the final testimony.

The lanterns we had made earlier in the evening were carried down to the creek and people gathered on a footbridge to watch them being floated towards the Thames.

As a nod to the next part of the project in London, ‘After Hiroshima’ which will gather testimony about the Anti nuclear and Peace movement,  the evening was supported by a simple rendition of songs from the peace movement including Tom Paxtons  ‘Peace will come’. Amidst the noise and bustle there were moments when the city seemed to go quiet and reflect with us.

Adam Annand

FROM A READER IN WIMBORNE

I felt it was very powerful to read such moving stories while the world around us kept on moving.

A dust cart was uploading rubbish.

A child was singing and playing on the green near our performance place.

People were walking by chatting.

Normality and all I kept thinking was this is how it must have been just before the bomb was dropped in Hiroshima and how would my town be if that happened now.

The vulnerability of lives came across by performing it in such a familiar and open space.

Best wishes, Tracie.

Laying the table and lighting the candles

We are about to start the technical rehearsal of Grandchildren of Hiroshima It's quite a complicated show, many sound queues, quite a lot of lighting, puppetry, live overheard projection and various everyday objects. We have an excellent crew, and it's fascinating for me, as a stage manager/technician in a previous life, to watch how the technicians work with an application and precision which is admirable.

I'm writing as the lights are focussed with a long pole*, and Sayuri San (who I have cast as the stage-servant) practises manipulating a glass cup above the light of the projector. Into the cup she will pour water and then droplets of ink - the black rain that fell after the bomb.

The audience will be sat on two sides in traverse, looking on to a wide long stage space which gives the cast of 21 space to run , and throws balls, and fire elastic projectiles.

Around the room are the props, 5 large brooms which silently sweep away the rivers of Hiroshima, narrow copper pipes that drip water, and tiny houses on stilts which light up behind the audience as Hiroshima is re-built.

In two hours the cast will arrive to get into costume. The magic of the space, equipped and theatrically lit will excite them and the adrenalin will kick in. The work they have done over the last two weeks, working 12 of the last 14 days, deserves this.

Meanwhile around the world, 10 other small groups are getting nervous about their reading of Grandchildren of Hiroshima. In Wimborne they will sit in a semi circle on the village green, in Brisbane beneath a sculpture of the bomb, 'Little Boy', made from fragments of Kimono sewn with hair, in Manilla they will share a meal, in Milwaukee it is part of a conference of educators, in Palestine it is being read in Arabic and televised, in Pune, Delhi, Bohol and Belgium plans are being finalised, and in Deptford in London, Bubble participants, actors and board members will hold a public reading at the Creekside Centre in Deptford.

Our best wishes from Hiroshima go to all those groups.


*actually after I wrote that, an electrician climbed up a tall ladder tied to a table top on wheels - frightening looking home made Tallascope, from which she is doing the 'Shoot' or focus.

Confidence and the balloon

When I am asked what's the point of people making theatre I often talk about building confidence. We put it in funding applications and wax lyrical in reports about how people grow. But not only does it sound patronising, the claim can lack evidence and can be misleading.

It can sound like theatre requires people to speak more loudly or stand more upright - and that adds to the common assumption that theatre is acting. Acting a text by a playwright.

Instructing people to 'be confident' is like trying to inflate a balloon by pulling the outside apart. Confidence - surety, congruence, comes from our centre. Confidence is keyed by feelings. When we say something and others agree or approve - we feel affirmed... and we say more.

When making theatre with an intergenerational group, we regularly sit in a circle and listen to what people have to say. We affirm or disagree respectfully. We model good listening. Adults and children are equals. We shape the opinions and ideas into something to be said collectively and artfully to the outside world (and in this case world is the right word).

Yesterday I read through a report on Bubble's Speech Bubbles* project - another example of creative listening and I was struck by a quote from a teacher's report on a child:

Pre project ‘Below AET (Age Expected Target), reluctant to speak in class, poor listening skills, low confidence when speaking to adults ’

Post project ‘AET, more eye contact, engages fully in learning, speaks out in class, questions if unsure’

This mirrors what I see happening to Hikaru, a 7 year old girl who joined our Hiroshima project quite late, and who I wrote about in my last post.

Hikaru now has lines. A few days ago she took on her first text - the words of a girl searching for her family through the radio. Calling, 'I am here' her voice was plaintive and barely audible. Then we created a story told by a chorus, and Hikaru was given more to say 'I needed to run away', and 'close to me was already burning', and 'she groaned'.  She learned the lines by the next rehearsal. (Well nearly... there was the run through when we got to her line and everything had to stop while she crossed the rehearsal room, found her script, found the right page, checked the line, walked back to her place and then said, 'she groaned').

Now Hikaru also has lines in the end section, but this is her own text. This has come from a recent exercise which asked the children their opinion about war - in the discussion Hikaru said 'I think it's ok to fight, but you have to sympathise and listen to people too'. Her opinion has now become her lines. We want the children to interrupt the solemnity of the narrator to deliver these lines directly to the audience  - in Japan children are not expected to speak up, but the current generation are growing up in a country whose Prime Minister is seeking to change the constitution, signed in 1945, which forbade the maintenance of an army. The Hibakusha (survivors) want the children to speak up in a way their generation did not. Many of the Hibakusha vehemently oppose the Prime Minister's suggestion but seeing the children speak out also means that perhaps their messages of peace have been heard.

If we have no opportunity to speak, if others put us down, we are hurt and remain silent, we don't want to feel that hurt again, it is safer to say nothing. Before long, we have no voice. The process of making theatre is built on many strategies for getting people to speak out - to pool information or disagree. Performance outcomes can present a magnification of that voice - and yes at that point people need to stand tall and speak clearly.

But do the behaviours we practice in the rehearsal room/speech bubbles session, transfer to the outside world ?  Do those feelings engendered in the artificial tribe become extinguished by the reality of the classroom or office. I can't prove it. But I do know that Hikaru is enjoying herself hugely - and that she is watching her mother enjoying herself too. And I do so recognise the observations of that teacher.

*Speech Bubbles is delivered to groups of 10 children at a time, once a week for a year, by a drama facilitator and teacher. The children who would benefit most are referred by the class teacher who also helps evaluate the outcome. The core activity is the gathering of stories from individual children. These dictated stories are then acted out by the whole group. For more information go to http://www.londonbubble.org.uk/projectpage/speech-bubbles/

People make theatre - in Hiroshima

We're in what I call the cooking stage of the Grandchildren of Hiroshima.


There is concentrated application and these are long rehearsals - on Saturday and Sunday we worked for 7 hours in 30 degree heat. But as they say, 'if you can't stand the heat get out of the cooking metaphor'*. There is also broad ownership - last night four different participants stepped up to direct scenes as we recalled them from the workshops in April.

But even as we cook, new people are joining. I was worried the cast lacked any older people, then out of the blue a lady of some years, came to watch. After watching for 3 hours, smiling and sometimes correcting details (how a scarf was worn, how a word is said), we asked her if she could read the  words of a woman who had described being trapped in a collapsed building. The words went with a simple image of an upturned table being slowly lowered on to a young girl. Her delivery carried the soft force of the older voice. The scene pierced the heart. She has joined the cast on the understanding that she can read rather than memorise her text. Deal.

Also watching that day were Fuji and her 7 year old daughter Hikaru. Now I thought they had said they couldn't be in it, I thought they had said they were going on holiday. But no, 'we might be able to be here'. The mother is keen - and the mother enjoys performing. But Hikaru is very very shy. They too watch for a couple of hours. We're staging a scene about a girl who's parents ran an inn where soldiers stayed. The soldiers would give the girl sweets, and the girl would take them to school - and at that time sweets were rare. The school scene has 4 children in it, all between 8 and 11. One has to leave rehearsal early. Will Hikaru step in ? we ask. She's watched the scene several times. She knows about sweets, she knows about school, she brings her expertise into play and she's in.

The company is a blend of experience and first timers. It requires generosity from all. When you watch this group in action it's like watching an ideal. There's a weight, an authority that comes from these citizens. And as they tell this story they gently help each other to tell it as well as they possibly can.

*At Bubble we use a painfully extended food metaphor to describe how we make Vernacular Theatre...

First we forage for ingredients - in this case we've got 20+ personal stories from people who survived having an atom bomb dropped on their city, facts about how you make an atom bomb, facts about what that sort of bomb does, a map of the 7 rivers of the city, a lot of pictures, a lot of fabric, a lot of everyday objects, around 20 performers, a team of technicians, a team of encourager/fixers and a venue.

Then we take all the ingredients and prep them - workshop their tastes, look at fusions, season lightly with Yorie's neutral puppets, then find out what is fresh and what might be a bit off.

Then the recipe writer (Misaki) comes up with the script. 19 pages currently - dialogue, images, different forms of voice, loads of meaty and meaningful parts. Loads of the ideas that were tried when we prepped. And the recipe designer (Yasuko) frames these visually - in this case a traverse space flanked with houses on stilts and flowing cotton drapes.

Then we cook.

Next week we will serve up the feast.

Meanwhile in London, South Africa, Palestine, Belgium, Pune, Milwaukee and Wimborne Minster, groups will be holding public readings of the script of Grandchildren of Hiroshima. We've called this small endeavour Hiroshima Dispersed. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/933166890074856/
or #hiroshimadispersed to find out more.

A small story circle shares a huge story

The company I work with, London Bubble, run a lot of activities where people connect through stories. Working with all ages we mediate creative spaces that offer an opportunity to create, or re-tell stories. I don't want to over-claim but the simple act of sitting in a circle and attending to someone performing a story is often therapeutic. We know from evaluations that children who do not otherwise speak in school, not only speak in these conditions they weave stories. Through stories problems are shared, messages are sent, solutions are rehearsed and narratives are invented that allow us to be ridiculous and to escape the everyday. We call it theatre, someone recently described the outcome as accidental therapy.

Mostly we do that in South East London, but at the moment we’re working on a world story. The story of Hiroshima. A true story of the first deployment of the atom bomb, 70 years ago.
It feels a bit to me as though Hiroshima is a person – and this person has a story, a story of being attacked, suddenly, violently, and experimentally. Hiroshima wants to share this story, partly to process it, partly to warn others – just like we all want to tell our friends about the things that happen to us.

Over the past year, Marigold Hughes the project leader has trained and supported children in Hiroshima to interview survivors of the bomb. Twenty-five interviews have been transcribed, workshopped, and shaped into a script by Misaki Setoyama.

Although the script will be performed in Hiroshima this August it seemed to us that the story needed a wider circle of listeners and that Hiroshima itself needed to share this story with others beyond Japan. But the act of sharing needed to be intimate, to allow the story to work on a human scale, to connect as we connect in those small circles of listening empathisers.

So we have issued an invitation to small companies like ourselves in other parts of the world asking them to mount a reading of the script. To arrange a small act of listening, and consideration and empathising with Hiroshima. Seven readings, one for each of the seven rivers of Hiroshima, are planned - in Pune in India, in Wimborne in Dorset, in South Africa, on Bohol Island in the Philippines, at Bubble in London, at First Stage in Milwaukee and at Yes Theatre on the West Bank in Palestine. On Hiroshima Day, the 6th August these groups will read Misaki’s script and lay out clothes in the shape of the seven rivers of Hiroshima.

As these small rivers flow into the sea, our hope is that next year each of the seven companies might contact seven others, who the following year contact seven more. And that this continues for seven years - small companies, sharing the script with the younger generation who may not know the story of Hiroshima but might be prepared to listen.

The role of the arts in the new politics

It's the day after the full election result. Saturday. The radio and papers are full of bemused reflection - how did the opinion polls get it so wrong, where has liberalism gone, what direction should the Labour Party now take, whither proportional representation ? Friends, family and colleagues are slowly emerging from shocked despair and bracing themselves for five more years.
But what's to do ?

Partly inspired by Stella Duffy's listing of her practical response and partly provoked by the fallout from Participation on Trial, I am wondering if the electoral outcome actually offers a challenge to the arts sector.

My fear is that the result of the election showed middle England's default position. People might flirt with Lib Dems but when the chips are down the tick goes to Conservatives - or possibly UKIP. I am trying to put myself in the position of a young first time voter not living in London or one of the cities like Leicester or Bristol that shunned the Tories. The serious conversations going on around this young me are about jobs and mortgages. My parents and teachers talk about interest rates and eradicating the national debt. I turn on the TV and any debate is framed almost entirely in the language of numbers and the context of money. In my area schools are becoming academies and seem to reinforce this default thinking. In the state schools too, arts subjects are becoming marginalised. And in the current climate my mates sort of think this is rational. Arts aren't going to get you a job - well not a proper job.

Is this the dominant thinking that young people are growing up receiving and believing ? Is it therefore becoming normal - even cool - to vote for a party that puts the individual before the society ? The shareholder before the customer. The self before others.

I think we should assume that these are now the default values of middle England. Beyond London apart from a few northern outposts and a scattering of island-cities surrounded by a sea of blue voters, for the majority the dominant values are the values of the market.

So what's to do ?

A coherent political response is going to take some time to formulate and I fear it's going to get worse before it gets better. But while we're waiting for the party wheels to grind I think the arts, especially participatory arts, can offer a surprisingly different way of looking at things.

Arts activities offer young (and old) people a space where things are valued differently. In the best cases they offer a space where we value ourselves and each other differently. Countless arts projects involve people in playing, making, writing and performing, and these operate through a different set of values. Most encourage co-operation, accessibility, listening, respect. Many build work from individual personal narratives, but artfully amplify these with the contributions of many. A recent piece at the Young Vic was woven from the testimonies of female carers over several months*. I was fortunate to catch one of the performances given by a cast of about 30 female carers. The sense of solidarity was tangible. The exploration and celebration of an abstract concept ('care') had the audience doing that smiling/glowing thing. And the dancing was fantastic. The values on show, and I suspect throughout the process offered an alternative argument of what is important in life, and - and this is key - that argument was registered emotionally and physically.

In many instances art is increasingly regarded as a commodity rather than a means of self and/or group expression. Even in participatory arts there seems to be a greater emphasis on the product rather than the process and I am seeing a growing tendency to think about the market and the wrapping of the goods for sale, right from the off ? Sometimes our responses themselves are monetised - if a viewer or participant values art for what it does to their mood or mind, spirit or soul, then that response may well appear on the billboard or in the funding bid for the next endeavour.

I think many of us are falling into this money and numbers game - it's not surprising. The number one coffee break conversation at any conference is going to be funding. The number one piece of work will be a spreadsheet. The first demand from a funder will be outputs - or outcomes measured numerically. And artists continue to talk about how they are paid (or aren't paid) - publicly.

But we must hold our nerve. The default political position described above leaves a vacuum. I like to think (and this may be very old fashioned) that people require other things. Friendship, connection, love, humour - soft and squidgy sort of spiritual things that make it worth getting up in the morning. Things that some link to the concept of Wellbeing. The arts - especially participatory arts - offers space where people can experience this - other places do too, faith groups and sports clubs, the WI and the allotment. But participatory arts spaces have less of an agenda and are more explicit about stating the rules of engagement - the ethos. Skilled facilitators - be they a conductor or youth theatre leader will mediate a space where teamwork is all, they will foster and monitor a atmosphere of connection and creativity. And the dancing will be fantastic (and it will include seated dancing too).

While society sorts out how it wants to be represented politically, I think it is important that the arts offers opportunities for people to meet and work positively together. Non-religious, non-institutional, open and accessible spaces where an alternative set of values can be experienced. I challenge the Arts sector - the Arts Council and the 'institutions' to consider how they can present art not as a product, but as a process, to be experienced - not consumed.



* https://youngviclondon.wordpress.com/2015/05/12/turning-a-little-further-two-boroughs-at-the-young-vic/

David Jubb gave an impassioned, and I think quite disrespectful, speech at the Participation on Trial event last Friday. His full speech can be read here

https://batterseaartscentre.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/participation-on-trial-statement-for-the-defence

His argument in a nutshell was that 'Anyone who engages with the arts is a participant and is participating' - and this is patently true.

His reasoning - 'if you are someone who enjoys experiencing art, creating art, producing art, sharing art, talking about art, selling art, then you are a participant in the arts' - this is flawless logic.

His conclusion - 'The idea of having a category of arts practice that is called “participation” – as opposed to another area of the arts – that is somehow not about “participation” is an absurd and destructive idea.'.... this does not necessarily follow.

While it is far from a perfect term the label 'Participatory Arts' connotes participating in the process of making. It is a term and a movement that believes: making art can be as enjoyable as consuming it; art can be made by anyone; art can be a dialogue not a commodity; and that art making should be something anyone can get involved with. I believe David would agree with these points.

The sloppily named Participatory Arts movement has developed in reaction to a funded system which represents the opposite. While there is tinkering around the edges the vast majority of resources go towards the notion of excellence. Nurturing the most talented to make great 'art'. While we love great art. This sort of Art becomes a thing. Not art that is a process. Art practised by an elite, not art that can be made by anyone.

Thus while those 'experiencing art, creating art, producing art, sharing art, talking about art, or selling art might all be participants' - some participants are more equal than others. Some start the process. Some make the product. Some get paid for it. Others buy the ticket. Some even attend the after show Q&A. And I know, David, that technically they are Participants, but they are not co-creating, or originating - this is not Participatory Arts.

David spent a moment comparing the situation to Football.

'Almost twice as many people go to the theatre in London every year than go to premier (league ?) football matches. So should we be wringing our hands and asking the same kinds of questions about “participation” or “engagement” in football ? No. People play it. People watch it. People discuss it. People are happy moving between these ways of enjoying football. We don’t need to spend lots of time creating weird classifications that divide and confuse everyone who loves football.'

Setting aside the notable differences between the arts and football and focussing on what I think he is driving at - which is I think, that people both play and watch football I'd like him to take it a bit further further and ask whether people have access to going down the park and having an artistic kick around. And is the Arts Council line on grassroots and local art, consistent with the Sports Council ? Do they value and invest in artistic five-a-side pitches ? The reason we like watching football is because of the joy of kicking a ball. We empathise. The equivalent artistic action is writing, acting, singing etc - making art as well as doing it.

But as David told us there is nothing to worry about... 'Robin Simpson, Chief Executive of Voluntary Arts will tell you that around 10 million people regularly participate in what he would describe as amateur arts activity every year – orchestras, choirs, performances and so on'.  And he asked us ...'Are these 10 million people artists? Or are these 10 million people participants?'

Flawless argument except that the vast majority of these amateur artists will be participating in a performance of an extant work. A play or composition created by one of those elite artists. I am not arguing against this - but the inadequately titled Participatory Arts, values something else. Creating your own art. Not re-creating someone else's.

One of the defendants on trial on Friday were 'the institutions' - those such as David's essential and vibrant BAC. I suppose it is natural that rather than getting the BAC sent down his argument would ridicule the linguistic logic of the charge. But I am worried that the institutions in their desperation to defend their status as NPO's and arbiters of taste, want to argue that they are already doing participation.

In a brilliant piece of double speak David argued 'By putting “participation” on trial you are actually doing your best to recreate hierarchical and corrosive structures in the arts at the very moment when they are beginning to break down and fade away. That there is something that is authentically called “the arts” and then there is an attempt to get people to “participate” in “the arts”.
It is 2015'.

I would love to think that he is right - and I am sure he will point me to many reassuring examples. But currently I find the way mainstream art in 2015 is critiqued, curated and funded is inherently based on the assumption that the art is the object not the process. Thus 'Great Art' is called Great in comparison to what has come before. The judgement is made by an elite in a language and process that is opaque. Thus, with some occasional exceptions or shall we call it window dressing, the sector is perceived by many as somewhat exclusive.

The notion of Participatory Arts, does not seek to categorise for the sake of pedantry. It stands for a set of values, a belief in the feeling of making art - and that everyone's art making is equal.

Great footballers understand the joy that a fat git like me gets from kicking a ball. Would it were that great artists empathised with amateurs getting joy from making original art.