The Arlene Phillips interview was the low point of the day. Why Arlene Phillips?? Hasn’t she got enough airtime? 30 minutes dedicated to her interview was excessive in balance with the rest of the day.
Perhaps it was fatigue of being talked at and hearing well-rehearsed issues reiterated but the final session back in the Lyric Theatre seemed to miss the “Call to Action – a manifesto” bit. Kirsty Wark and Alan Davey were on stage speaking but I completely missed any useful call to action or manifesto.
The performances by Contact and David Edgar were inspired and a refreshing change but it felt too little and too late in the programme of the day.
After a lost coat fiasco, drinks and canapés at the Imperial War Museum and more speeches which I opted out of in favour of discussing artists running SOTA13 with a handful of other artists there, that was it.
In conclusion
To be an artists’ bursary “winner” put me in a strange hierarchical position to the rest of the paid-up delegates. What was my role at the conference as an artist? For a conference subtitled as “Artists shaping the world” I presumed I was there to have a say and use both my creativity and sector knowledge and experience to, well, do some shaping in some way or another. On the other hand from feeling uncomfortable about the opulence provided, I also felt my presence there wasn’t valued enough alongside largely NPO funded organisations directors and chief executives effectively being paid their salary to be there, as hard-earned and worthy their salaries they may be. A few days after the event and having had time to digest the experience, I’m still not sure what my role was intended to be. From the first Monday afternoon session, ACE representatives verbally assured us that artists’ presence this year weren’t tokenistic, but I wasn’t given an opportunity to affect change there and then. It was good to gain more perspective on what is happening centrally/nationally and clarity on where the problem areas lie, but to go off and affect any change independently from ACE, NPOs and Government isn’t “Artists shaping the world” any more than it was before. So I would like to make a plea that ACE enable artists to have a real voice and run SOTA13. There is the collective will and the necessary skills already there to make this happen with your support, and I strongly believe this will result in greater art for everyone.
Thank you.
Alice Bradshaw
17 February 2012
