Conversation

So I spoke with Lauren yesterday, and she would be happy to join us to have a conversation with you about some of the themes and problems we identified when we last spoke. Would it work to meet on Friday, March 24 at 11:30am (Montreal time) / 4:30pm (Berlin / Brussels time)? I can send a (free) zoom link if this is good for you both.

With your permission, we can record and transcribe this discussion, and then use it to create a framework for your contribution. 

I have a few bullet points from our last talk, and some prompts that I am just noting down below. We can talk around these and I am sure we will also find natural focus points as well that we can sort through when we edit things. No problem if you don’t want to talk about any of this.

-what does artist-run culture mean to you and why did you get involved with it?

-how have you seen this ideal change over the time you have worked in the sector?

-how do you understand these changes? Are they coming from the needs of the sector or they being imposed by the boards of directors, or funding administrative bodies or political directives?

-what have been the effects of these changes on the daily work of the job, and who is staffing these jobs now, and can you talk about professionalization of the field and what that means?

-last time, we talked a bit about the trap of monetization of work in artist-run culture and how this approach deepens the problem rather than offering a solution. Can you elaborate on this a bit more?

-what have been the impacts of the last five years on the sector — do you notice the impact of the reallocation of funding to increase project grants / do you notice that core funding is stagnating? How has this effected the work culture and the attitude of artists towards the staff of artist-run centres? How has this affected the approach of staff towards artists? Especially when staff are also artists… do you think this funding disparity is good for the sector overall?

-given these changes, how important / problematic is it that artist-run culture is artist-run (By this I mean, there is an ambivalence here — artist-run can meet a collective and horizontal system for artists to hire artists and to build community, but it can also mean a very hierarchical model where artists manage “staff”).

-what do you think “The Employee” does within this context? Where are its blindspots or limitations?

So… I hope this leaves enough room for a discussion that has some openness for impromptu reflections. Lauren, feel free to add your own questions or just jump in in the moment. Looking forward to this next step, and thank you for remaining open to continuing this process.

x

Josh

Just to briefly follow up on Josh’s email: I would be honoured to participate in this conversation with the both of you, and it seems to me like a very contentious way of preparing to write about deeply-felt experiences and ongoing contexts. Part of what I find so important about this book is that it will gather voices, experiences, and analysis that stand against the predation and isolation engendered by the broken systems of our sector. In this way it makes perfect sense that the texts in the books should also originate in a process of gathered voices and shared moments of analysis. 

I look forward to meeting and speaking soon.

Sincerely,

Lauren

Amazing!

Thank you michelle! See you soon.

Enthusiastically,

Josh