At the beginning of last month I started talking about my end of course essay. And about teaching and art practice, which I also wrote about a bit in the bloggers interview. How I constructed this essay was beginning to prey on my mind somewhat; the last thing I want to do at the moment is write an academic essay. My brain just doesn’t seem to be in the place for that anymore. But how easy it is to rattle off a couple of blog posts. *PING* light bulb moment! I’m going to write it like an extended blog post. Don’t panic, I shan’t be publishing it, as I have already established a sort of rule that the best length for me for a blog post is about 300 words. (oops, this one’s more)
As soon as this thought hit, I rattled off a reflective, chatty higgledy-piggledy 1800 words! By the time I’ve tidied it up and added some sage quotes from those much wiser than I, I’ll have it cracked. I haven’t yet put this idea to my tutor, who is conveniently on holiday. By the time I do, it’ll be a fait accompli! But it does seem appropriate to write it in this form as a rounding off of my experience.
Now…
Live music.
We need more of it.
Just as artists have started to look at alternative gallery spaces for art, where they don’t have to pay a hanging fee and extortionate amounts of commission, we need similar venues for live music. Venues that don’t charge an entrance fee that the musicians never see. I went to see Anja McCloskey at ORT Cafe in Birmingham last night. It was fab. Halfway through the set, one of the cafe staff went round with a collection tin for a whip round for the band. I put in what I might have paid for a ticket at another venue, other people seemed to be doing similar that I could see. All of this then went straight to the band. I don’t know how much they got in the end between them, as there were 5 in the band. But it went straight from the pockets of the audience to them. This shift in culture in these times has to be a good idea.
So, if you have a pub, a cafe, a bookshop, a clothes shop, a hairdresser’s, a newsagent, or even a garden shed… open it to live music, get your mates in, sell more drinks, cake, t shirts, haircuts and magazines or whatever while they are there, encourage people to give generously, and hand it over to the artists who have earned it.
P.S.
Anja is indeed playing in my shed on July 15th in Stourbridge…
see www.elenathomas.co.uk/events for details.
