How can we challenge the gatekeepers to produce more diverse work?

(notes from Open Space, 25 March 2023)

Notekeeper: Ailie Crerar-Blythe. Ailie is happy to be contacted at ailie.crerar@nationaltheatrescotland.com

Context: finding work largely coming from a white and/or straight lens with little or no follow through from schemes which are low stakes such as rehearsed readings, works in progress 

Artists are often gathered according to minoritized background in these schemes, with the point being made that these artist can often organise this themselves and that schemes in which this happened are not as helpful to development

 An ideal situation would be for organisations to have more follow through from schemes such as offering a commission based on a program for artists from minoritized backgrounds

How does experience differ across artforms?  There have been changes made in dance in particular though this has largely been a content change but not a change to the form or production methods. Minoritized or diverse stories being used as content

 At what point in an artist's career trajectory are gates open or closed?

 Who are the gatekeepers? Funders, festivals, venues, commissioners which can be both organisations or people who hold that specific role in the context of TV and film, development schemes again TV and artist development schemes, press and media, and ourselves / each other

Experience gained in other places particularly other countries but also other art forms are contexts are not valued or recognised here. Someone can be a very experienced artist or producer and have moved to Scotland and that experience isn't seen

There is a vicious cycle of development which people are constantly kept in development without ever getting an opportunity to move beyond it - this is often a result of lack of funding

Bureaucracy also forms part of this - heavy-handed bureaucracy meaning it is more difficult for artists to self produce work and to take it beyond an early stage level, and there is little engagement from the sector when they do manage to this

 We need not more help but effective help

How can we bypass the gatekeepers and do it ourselves? Is it even possible and what is the result when we do this?

There are issues around leadership and who those people in leadership roles are, and what is their lived experience - how do they understand this work?

The histories and structures of development play into these issues. Again referencing dance as a more organic form with development often being driven by the needs of individual pieces, projects, and artists - completing one stage of development and then working out what the next stage might be. This results in generally less work being required to be done for free. In comparison theatre and literature in particular have more set staging posts and hierarchies which then can lend themselves to situations where more work is required for free. We spoke about in particular the commissioning stages of a theatre play.

 What are the routes to getting work made aside from personal lobbying, which requires a lot of unpaid labour of the part of the freelance artist?  

There is a gap between training and the realities of being an artist. People come out of training institutions ill-equipped for the realities of their career as it is just now. The work room are looking at doing a project which highlights how different people make it work for example including what other jobs or roles they hold which support their artistic practice. 

How can we join up artist development opportunities? Magnetic North recently held an event which provided an overview of the different development schemes that exist in Scotland but are these duplications or how we connect them up? 

 Are we gatekeepers or facilitators?  What role can gatekeepers / facilitators play in supporting artists to identify which development schemes or funding might work best for them to put their energy into rather than everyone having to apply for everything all the time

Can we see each other more as peers rather than sitting on opposite sides of a binary? We can all be gatekeepers in some form and therefore thinking about it in this binary way is perhaps not the most helpful

The press And media have a role to play in that they bring often a white / straight / able-bodied lens to critique of work which can be unhelpful in fostering security for artists who made work outside these lenses. and the press is a major way in a which artists find an audience - what do we do with the press doesn't understand the work

Intention vs impact - the intention of low stakes development schemes can be helpful but their impact can be negligible or even harmful without follow through

Minoritised artists not wanting to seem ungrateful or receive a backlash if pointing out the problems of these schemes. However we spoke about the importance of reframing the artist as the opportunity. Can gatekeepers see the relationship in this light - they're not just offering something for the artist, the artist is offering something for them

How work is made -  there is a tension between how work is made and the content. For example, the contents can be diverse but the team behind it and the structure of that might be the same as it is for any other show. How does this impact?  Can organisations foster an openness to working with different practises and different ways, asking and trusting artists to make the work in different ways feel right for them rather than just the way it's always been done? How do we ensure that this is still a safe process for an artist that is encouraging a different process, particularly encouraging an organisation to engage in a process that is different from its standard? What is the unpaid / emotional labour they might be taking on, especially for organisation isn't truly ready to do that?

 Go where you’re celebrated rather than where you're tolerated

 Fostering a mutual understanding between artists and orgs about work meeting logistics and particular logistics of a building, and that deadlines can be care. Having deadlines means everyone in the process, not just the lead artist but the building staff and venue managers etc, are also supported in that they can do what work they need to do in time, thereby also supporting the work. Communication is key here. 

The oversubscription of funding streams does not help. Sometimes having specific streams is useful but they are often the first ones to be cut, and even where they exist are massively oversubscribed. Lack of security

In the quest for diversity, how diverse are people being? If it is the same artist always being commissioned, that is not that diverse.

Access + barriers with some communities - language, paperwork, time, citizenship/visa status

Issue of priorities - organisations taking away rehearsal space offered to freelance artists in favour of their own productions, because freelancers not prioritised

• Should orgs that offer space have targets for how much is used not by themselves?

• Recognising that freelancers will bring in something beneficial to the org too - new people, new ideas 

Clarity so artists don’t waste time looking or asking for something (e.g. we offer this many weeks’ of free space a year, this is when to ask for it) - with the note that some are trying!

Suggestion of top line summaries to help us understand each others’ worlds and humanise organisations

• E.g. The Work Room had roughly 50 members 15 years ago, but now has over 250 with the same staff capacity, studio space, funding

Timelines and clarity are key - if one thing falls over (like rescinding on rehearsal space), it can have a domino effect through a project