Notes on Spill Folk Academy, Day I+II (2/3)
First Day:
XI) Insituationalization of Live Art (What does that mean? What if you don’t follow the procedures? The traditional stages to get recognized and supported? Are we talking about the (heavy) administrative side that comes with making work? Meaning: the bureaucracy around applying for platforms, festivals etc.? Or are we talking about as well the sense of etiquette that goes with the duty of being our own PR? Being at the right time in the useful place to talk to The People? How does one progress in such contrived environment then? How does the institionalization of my scene impact on the quality of the work? Its creator? On creativity in general? Is it what any fresh blood should be aware of when they’re first starting out? Is it part of the package of being a contemporary artist?)
XII) Good art. What about Bad art? (What’s Bad art? Could (contemporary) Bad art a direct consequence of its instutionalization? Is there as much Bad art as good art nowadays? Or even more? Who’s programming Bad art? Who’s responsible for its success? Good art for its audiences Bad art for its professionals = Snobbery? Good art for its professionals Bad art for its audiences = Misunderstanding and/or Ignorance? Good art for its audiences and professionals = Popular, Safe or Lazy?)
XIII) Scractch Culture = exploitation (Why do we need to Scratch work publicly? Have anyone heard of the word “demo” in the music industry? Surely scratching work, isn’t it what being in a rehearsal or studio room is for? Musicians don’t show their demos to their fans, neither their labels, so why should we, artists, go through this ordeal? Isn’t that a sign of institutionalization? Doesn’t it contradict the basic notion of live art, anyway? So what are the benefits to it?)
XIV) Welfare System: What is there for artists specifically? More transparency around receiving benefits & living off it (Models in Belgium & in France, could we use them as a starting point to create our own model? Does JSA recognize us as a professional status? What impact the Universal Credit will have on us? How to change mentalities & reform the system in relation to our profession? How can a model similar to France or Belgium exist in the UK when most of us are used to the idea of having different (art) jobs to make a living or of having a job that pays the bills besides our practice and make the balance between the two work to the best of our capabilities? And when you have a family, do you have the luxury to think you could live off benefits as an artist until your next “pay”? And what makes you live off benefits to run your practice? A choice, circumstances, a hope to have your break so you can sign off them once you get regularly paid? But we’re not aspiring to be Madonna, are we?)
XV) Lack of Genuine Context around Diversity (When does the line get drawn between recognition & sympathy? Or will both always go together? Should being seen as a token always bother me? Can I turn it into an advantage? Or shall I go against it? Will I pay for it then? Or will it earn me (more? True?) respect? Will I subvert the diversity rules with my work? Yes, and how? By using shock – read it as inapproriate – values (according to the promoter’s concerns)? Ah, the ticking boxes culture will never end! Or will it?)
XVI) Stupid opinions about Live Art (What are they? Do we really have such dated opinion about audiences? Are we afraid of our audiences?)
XVII) The Whiteness of Live Art – brought up by @Fiercefestival (Conservatism of our craft? Or not enough colored acts? Can we talk about Equal Opportunities in the arts? How can we talk about it positively without sounding institionalized? What about the concepts of Ethnic Minorities, Migration & being a Foreign artist in a broader sense?)
XVIII) Tower Hamlets: Nudity being forbidden on stage by Law (Reactions?)
XIX) Afternoon Session: What Have we Got? What We Got To Offer?
XX) MANIFESTO
