In Our Times 2013

A Theatrical Exposé of Poverty and Inequality in the UK

7pm – 9pm, Monday 22^nd July 2013

Crofts Social Club, 38 City Road, Liverpool, L4 5TE

Tickets are free but booking is required

Capitalism in Europe is dying. The outcome of 24 months of unprecedented non-violent direct action. Wide spread civic engagement, political discussion and debate have led to legal and regulatory change in the UK and major policy changes across the European Union.

In Britain masses of people have taken to the streets to protest against the economic death spiral and austerity measures that are strangling the poor to safeguard the interests of the rich. These protests have called for an end to multinational corporations sitting on UK Corporate Tax Select Committees and advising on government policy. They have called for greater social justice, for greater income equality and for realistic policy making that prioritises sustainability over the myth of infinite growth.

In Our Times draws upon utopian and dystopian ideas to expose the reality of living in the UK today through a medley of provocation, performance and participation.  The event includes extracts from Kellie Smith’s new play ‘Dog Eat Dog’ and the world premiere of our new 10 minute long animated opera, ‘Death Invisible’.

Book your free ticket here.

Join the In Our Times Community to review the material that has inspired this performance piece.

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Pre show touch tours available on request for visually impaired audience.

Here’s the flyer..

The report has many positive features, adopting the position informed by the research of Spirit Level pioneers Wilkinson and Pickett, that inequality within societies, rather than poverty itself, is the main cause of social ills and it includes a call for a ‘living wage for Liverpool’ which would be above the unacceptable, and un-liveable-on minimum wage.

I have grave reservations, however, about the likely success of the campaigns and proposals included given that they are based on the neo-liberal myth of unlimited growth and that the report is rooted in a very traditional capitalist model.  There’s no radical punch, no call for new ways of thinking, no seeking for real alternative futures where genuine equality is the foundation stone.  At best it tinkers with the edges of inequality rather than being brave enough to get to the real heart of the problem.

Let us know what you think…

But obviously it’s not that easy, and nor is it quick!  First of all to decide who to connect with?  The possibilities are overwhelming and almost limitless, and partnership for the sake of partnership is pointless, so we had to determine parameters. Given the geographic and cultural background of Collective Encounters we decided to focus, for the time being, on urban arts for social change practice in the Global North.  Then we had to decide how to distinguish between generic participatory arts organisations and theatre companies (of which there are many thousands) and arts/theatre organisations with a specific focus on social and political change.  We did this by defining what we understand by Theatre for Social Change and seeking other organisations that most closely fit this profile.  Like I said at the beginning, it’s a slow and steady process.  In the first year, we’ve visited similar organisations in the Netherlands and Ireland, building relationships and preparing a joint bid for collaborative work through our Third Age Theatre programme.  We’ve begun to build partnerships with several organisations in the north of England with a view to developing a national Strategic Touring Network to enable us to take our work to other communities and bring other performances into north Liverpool; a process that was launched by Red Ladder performing Sex and Docks and Rock n Roll at Crofts Social Club in Everton.  We’ve encountered lots of exciting practice and ideas and learned about many interesting companies and artists, and more organisations internationally have heard about us. We hope in the future it will involve us hosting festivals and conferences, performing internationally, and working in a joined-up way with a multitude of oppositional groups across the world, campaigning for change and a better, fairer future.

For the next year in each of our quarterly newsletters we will profile four inspiring organisations that we’ve come across through this research.  We hope you enjoy finding out about them.  By the end of the year we hope to have a section of our website providing links to the many organisations we’ve encountered.

If you know of an organisation you think we should connect to, please post a link as a comment or email us at info@collective-encounters.org.uk

The groups have created some beautiful songs, poetry and performance work that they will be sharing with the public on Friday March 15th.  You can have a sneak preview of rough cuts of some of the work here, here and here.

Break Free will be free to the public, but do get in touch to book as places are limited.  The event is certain to engage, entertain and stimulate debate with exceptional art and will be a passionate evening that will  challenge prejudice and the stigma surrounding mental health.  We do hope you can come along.

Friday 15th March, St Helens Central Library, The Gamble Building, Victoria Sq, St Helens,
Merseyside WA10 1DY

To book at ticket call01744 677087 or email artsservice@sthelens.gov.uk

I was in Holland meeting with three very different, but very interesting arts organisations in January.  Rotterdamwijkstheater, Stut Theatre and Formaat all work closely with marginalised communities through theatre.  With each of the organisations I found very interesting parallels to our work, and was fortunate to see workshops, performances and to get to spend time both the the artistic staff and participants.  The trip really generated food for thought, both in terms of the practice of theatre for social change – and the very different approaches the organisations take, and in terms of the company operations, approaches to audience development and working with, in or against the system.  We’re delighted to have submitted an application for European funding to enable us to work with Formaat over two years exploring models of theatre for social change with third age participants, and ways in which theatre might enable participants to have a stronger, louder voice in decision making processes.

The third partner in the bid is Ireland’s Age and Opportunity: in particular we’ll be working with their Bealtaine Festival, the only international festival of arts for and with older people; and Get Vocal a very exciting, radical programme they deliver focussed on developing lobbying skills and finding effective ways of older people engaging with democracy and change.

In Dublin in February I attended a symposium and workshop on Immersive Theatre led by the UK’s Punchdrunk Enrichment and Ireland’s Anu Productions.  Again the work was inspiring and exciting and made me think a lot about the traditional approach to theatre for social change of distancing the audience from the action as opposed to this approach of completely immersing the audience in the action.  Lots of ethical questions raised for me though which I hope to pursue later with Louise Rowe, the very interesting artistic director of Anu.  More on that another time!

Another thought to drop in here and discuss more later…..had a great meeting with Patrick Fox who heads up Create – Ireland’s national development agency for collaborative arts in social and community contexts.  He introduced me to a term in common usage here, but not yet (I don’t think) current in the UK: Collaborative Practice.  I’ve been struggling for some time with the term Participatory Practice/Arts/Theatre etc. etc. and the way in which that term has been part of the de-politicisation of what used to be Community Arts (a term in common usage in the Netherlands by the way, but denigrated as indicating poor quality, 70s radicalism in the UK by now).  (Francois Matarrasso has written an insightful article recently about this process of depoliticisation which is well worth a read.)  I also despise the term Applied Theatre, and all the implications of the ‘application’ (more on that in a series of position papers soon to be posted).  Theatre for Social Change properly explains what we do, but then we have to get into professional theatre, participatory theatre etc. etc.  Strange and complex divisions.  But collaborative practice – I like it a lot, it’s meaningful, clear and affords a sliding scale of engagement between diverse groups and individuals.  I’ll ponder it some more.  Would love to hear from you if you have come across the term outside of Ireland?  Maybe I’ve just had my head in the sand?

Art costs money. It costs money to make it, to watch it, to get to it, to take part in it. If you are a disabled young person wanting to take part in the arts it costs more money. If you are deaf you may need a sign language interpreter; if you have a learning disability you may need to come along with a facilitator and if you are a wheelchair user you may need to take a taxi to get to it. If you are a young person from a disadvantaged socio-economic background it costs money you just don’t have. I’m know this is not exactly headline news.

So, in these hard times when arts managers and families are watching the limited resources being whittled away, who pays for access and how do arts organisations retain their commitment to encouraging everyone to take part? Well, mainstream arts organisations are required by law to make some provisions: their venues are wheelchair accessible, signage is brailed, the majority have interpreted and audio described or captioned performances within a season and some, but not all, offer a concessionary rate to young people and those whose families are on benefits. These provisions are well advertised but for young people what happens in terms of participatory activity?

I work for an organisation whose raison d’être is to work with people who would not normally access the arts. We do not charge young people (nor any participants) for workshops or for weekly youth theatre attendance and we work to overcome socio-economic barriers by reimbursing young people for bus fares and budgeting for tickets and entrance fees that allow our participants to take part in local and regional cultural events. We witness daily the benefits participation in the arts, particularly for this young demographic, brings. I would encourage all arts organisations to look to adopting this approach.

Encouraging disabled young people to take part in workshops, outside of educational establishments and within projects not specifically aimed at disabled young people is challenging and crucial. All arts organisations need to find ways to ensure their regular youth provision to accessible to disabled people and that their access needs can be met in a responsive way.

I am therefore calling that a Regional Access Fund for Young People’s Participatory Arts be established: a Regional Access Fund that would ensure young people from all backgrounds and of all abilities can take part in participatory arts activity offered by all arts organisations. The fund would pay for the access costs of disabled young people such as sign language interpreters/audio describers/facilitators/taxi fares and the access costs of young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds such as bus fares/tickets and youth theatre subscription costs.  The fund would be responsive. The application process would be quick and simple and based on the requirements of each young person. Such a fund would enable all arts organisations, both mainstream and those working on the margins, to promote their work with confidence to all young people.

Please discuss this call. Interrogate it, take it apart and unearth any potential problems.  If you have a better idea that would result in a similar outcome, and if so please put it on the table.  I want to start a debate, a debate that will hopefully lead to action.

The course is free and there are no admission requirements. All you have to do is commit to attend for the full 3 days.

Dates: 1^st March, 2^nd March, 3^rd March 2013

Time: 9.30am – 4.30pm

Venue: Liverpool Hope University, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool, L6 1HP

Interested? Either call Abi on 0151 2913887 or email abi@collective-encounters.org.uk

This course is funded by the Big Lottery.