All Together Now? Working Life and Culture in Liverpool.
I have been to too many events in the last year where rather than issues being discussed, a biography or a potted history is presented instead. Thankfully this was not one of them!
This was a conference organised by TUC at Novas centre in Liverpool. A chance for reflection on the capital of culture year and also a chance to ask how unions could support artists, all washed down with a massively red, socialist slant. Hurrah.
Firstly, I was interested in who turned up, aside from two of us from Wolstenholme Projects I only saw culturepool represented out of the grass-roots studios, groups and galleries in the city. The rest seemed to be a mix of old-school trade unionists, a couple from NMGM, outreach and community projects, theatre groups and film makers. Although I may have got that wrong of course..
For me, the first highlight was Frank Cottrell-Boyce, who spoke very eloquently of the importance of showing kids what can be done, giving them 'tools to dream' and bigger ideas for their futures. Not just ticking boxes in this case – many parts of Liverpool are incredibly poor and the future doesn't seem particularly bright when all around you is unemployment and empty buildings. This was followed by many facts and figures from King Phil (Redmond) to prove the success of 08. Although easy to criticize, he does, to be fair, seem to want the best for his beloved Liverpool.
Onto the workshops, firstly: WORKING IN THE ARTS. Extremely pertinent to this blog, me as an artist and all of you as well.
The panel introduced themselves and with an artist, freelance designer, economic geographer and rep from the Music Union, I felt like this may be productive. It was pointed out that amidst the doom and gloom, there is an advantage to the unreliable wages and work of an artist – the autonomy of casual working. I concur! I also would like to believe in Sam Meech's take on the whole thing being down to Karma; take part in some unpaid incredible project and maybe, just maybe, you will get overpaid for doing something awful and easy.
to be continued…
