Getting paid

PART THREE:

So, onto the speakers, first up – Linder Sterling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linder_Sterling

A really interesting talk and lots of great imagery. Her talk was a retrospective look at her career, considering how she has developed. Extremely briefly (and not doing the talk justice, it went something like this: Art school, Manchester, late 60’s, friends in bands, Factory Records, Buzzcocks, Morrissey

Hers seems like a very specific trajectory that could not be replicated in another place or time, or indeed by anyone else at all.

One thing she did say was that it was particularly difficult to get work out there when she was at/left college, including not being able to photocopy her work (deemed pornographic by the shop owner with the one photocopier in the area). I suppose the same problem of getting work seen still exists now but due to the sheer amount and ease of dissemination via the internet and self-publishing.

Linder seemed very grounded and recognised the uniqueness of her situation. She stressed the importance of ‘allowing history its anxiety’, which I really liked. She was talking about the fact that it becomes seamless and problem free when you talk retrospectively, and that to the listener it can appear like there were no gaps; no hardship. She stressed a few times the poverty of the North at the time and the struggle of making ends meet while working/living in her bedroom.I thought of all the times I have felt a bit deflated after an impossibly smooth artists' talk, it's good to know it isn't really like that!

Linder also said that it has been her collaborations with the music and fashion industry that have created the biggest opportunities.

Lastly I’ll just mention Linder’s theory about all the little worlds that co-exist, knowing about each other but actually being insular at the same time: the art world, fashion world, music world, of which she thought art was the most conservative.

PART TWO:

.. Anyway, after a quick flit round the newly-refurbished building we had some spiel from Neil, who is the creative industries coordinator (not sure if that title is spot on) at the Storey Institute. I hope the mix of business and art works here – I don’t know if I was very convinced by him, I heard a lot of ambition and lofty aspirations without him actually saying how anything would happen. But, in two minutes that may be a harsh judgement.

I was in the midst of a kidney infection and really struggled to sit still in my seat for the whole time to be honest. There was one point in the afternoon when I felt like I was going to have to leave/cry/plonk myself on the floor, but somehow I managed to get through to tea break. I also knew when in my discussion group that once I had tried to speak once, I shouldn’t try it again! Some garbled sentences came out – everyone politely nodded but I’m not sure it actually made much sense. I really wanted to tell Sans Facon what I thought about their practice, so it was frustrating, but never mind, it’s great to just listen and think sometimes!

More after work later on the individual speakers and the general usefulness of the event – this may be an epic post!

PART ONE:

This is a report on Fly Eric #2 at Storey Gallery, Lancaster, which I attended with a travel bursary courtesy of LAN (Lancashire Artists Network). http://www.lanarts.com/

Fly Eric is a developmental network of artist focused organisations in the North West of England, led by Art Gene, Castlefield Gallery and Storey Gallery. Its mission is to support visual artists to infiltrate, inhabit and contribute to society.

Fly Eric Symposia series – Changing perceptions of what artists can do
NO. 2: Expanding possibilities for artists’ professional practice and opportunities for artists in the creative industries.

Chair: Mitra Memarzia, Speakers: Linder Sterling, Sans Facon and Olivia Plender

The event last Saturday opened with an introduction to Storey Gallery by the director John Angus, he was one of the artists who set the Storey up and his love for the place was evident. I also appreciated seeing the little things like the new hidden door to let the big artworks in. It seems that small things like the way the door opened on its hinges could spark whole projects for me.

The event was chaired by Mitra Memarzia, an artist and generally multi-skilled individual (also an AIR advisor and on the board of directors for a-n). She seemed pretty formidable and I had to wonder how she had squeezed it all in! She made for an insightful and relaxed chair, wrapping things up before they went stagnant and asking some interesting questions. I enjoyed her presentation on her own work too, in fact, that might have been one of the most relevant parts of the day (in relation to the title of the symposium) as it was evident that she worked within different spheres, with many organisations and that there were many different avenues her work explored. I did mean to try and have a quick chat at some point, but my feeble state coupled with the fact that she was constantly occupied meant that didn’t happen. http://www.memarzia.org/mitra/

Bleurgh. Still feeling the effects of a kidney infection from last week and being very fidgety. Very uncomfortable/ verging on pain and can't sit still long enough to write up notes from the seminar yet. Had three evaluations to do for Tate yesterday which took up my sitting and typing quota..

Not doing too well at resting either as the flat is like a greenhouse – may have to retire to lawn in front of the building and risk being joined by the addicts from the heroin project behind. They're very nice actually, they mainly just fight a lot between themselves.

Tomorrow…

ARTS JOBS SUMMARY – MAY

An experiment in seeing how useful Arts Jobs actually is.. and what is actually being advertised out there.

Design

Paid – 17

Unpaid – 36

Technical (stage/lighting/carpentry etc)

Paid – 38

Unpaid – 42

Music

Paid – 8

Unpaid – 21

Writers/Poets

Paid – 8

Unpaid – 20

Actors/Performance/Dance

Paid – 61

Unpaid – 72

Admin/Managerial/Curating

Paid – 205

Unpaid – 116

Artists

Paid – 36

Unpaid – 87

Overall for practitioners (admin section not counted)

Paid – 168

Unpaid – 278

Obviously a count riddled with flaws, and a product of random Emily categories, but hopefully an interesting load of numbers nonetheless. Internships were included in admin and pretty much constitute all unpaid numbers.

Lots of performance and art related jobs that were paid tended to be workshop leading rather then work for artists.

Design has so many unpaid opps as artists seem to advertise for help with their websites and photography in a barter style exchange on here.

Generally though it seems that artists, musicians and writers are the worst off with less than a third of the jobs featured on the Arts Council list being paid. Also, music and writing have the fewest opportunities, which is hopefully just because people advertise elsewhere?

This list also doesn't tell you which opportunities will actually cost money. Ah a sorry-looking list indeed, but then again, I'm sure most of us are aware how random Art Jobs can be!

Tomorrow – a summary of the Storey Gallery/Fly Eric seminar on Saturday. No figures in that one I promise.