My Citizen Journalism course finished on Tuesday. It has been really informative and enjoyable and although i love the conversations, already i miss the world of the arts!
I'm wrapping up for Christmas and this came in today from Jamie.
I shared the beginning of Jamie's talk with our group on our last session together and they enjoyed it.
15nov22
Tuesday
My friends Jo and Peter Willis go back a long way..
Jo [Bird, in Cornish] does a podcast wherein she interviews people.
She and I did this podcast of 1 hour, the link for which is below in blue.
It is on ‘The Third Way Beyond Communism and Capitalism.’
It draws upon the Scottish visionary Patrick Geddes and Red Indian sources, with a touch of Taoism and Judaism.
Patrick Geddes and the Third Way was brought to my attention by Basil Wrugh many years ago.
The Third Way arose in the context of the city, yet it describes what is special about the close to nature Red Indian, Indigenous, social, cultural, political, spiritual, set-up.
Indigenous societies never split into Left and Right bc they include the best of the Right [person, freedom] with the
best of the Left [community, solidarity], in a higher unity.
When the ‘necessary contraries’ split apart, each becomes its worst case.
Only in harmony with the other opposite does each opposite become its fullest case.
In the Third Way, the opposites harmonise yet each becomes itself, not a watered down mush in the middle.
Indigenous societies had immense personal freedom and immense communal solidarity.
“the best thing we can do is to share the power and control that we have, in a way that empowers people or enables people in place to design what the future looks like… [it’s] localised, strength based, and Indigenous led, building on what works for people.” – Angie Tangaere
“All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at any given time is a function of power, and not necessarily truth.”– Beth Smith
I'm at home missing a Force of Nature Climate Cafe at Dark Pony Coffee and I missed the first Peoples Assembly at Falmouth & Exeter University campus - 81 people!
However have finished my hand ins for Citizen Journalism and made some progress with background needs of next performances and enjoyed a really nice time at Shallal 2 with the second half full of nibbles and mulled drinks and even a visit from Santa - thank you Shane!
So...
Shallal continues it's mission, enabling and promoting Access & Equity in the wonderful meeting ground of creativity...
and we are processing the conversations/podcasts with friends and learning how to best go forwards in such critical times that we can't ignore...
Culture and Creativity are an important voice in Innovation and Communication
Eden Projects latest advert of 'Climate Positive' sounds good so maybe need to talk to them?
i still the need to hear more solutions, but the system is broken?
is it too broken for many solutions to be implemented and to be accepted?
“Something has to flip. We have to shift deep cultural norms within the financial system.”
- Making The System Shift Learning Festival
Just listened to research reports relating to Climate Justice and young people and Audiences and at Culture Declares Emergency's ENERGY FOR CHANGE
"What do audiences want cultural organisations to do around the Earth crisis? ... speakers shared the latest research and examples of practice as we open up discussion on how we can join up actions for sustainability with work for climate and social justice."
Impressed by Exeter and Falmouth university students involved in...
At present in our rehearsals research, we are using some established protest songs? gathering our perspectives, workshopping to incorporate new performers, waiting, trusting the process ( but not myself ) new work is coming in to support our many voices...
I'm struggling with how to find the right pitch and voice, it's getting clearer but slowly and our first show /event could be 4th March so we have to speed up and pull it together, but no too tight, in the new year.
Framing narrative? Open improv performance style, and ?
at present i'm looking at tryptch style pieces/themes that can be moved around,
rearranged for large shows, pop ups, small events
Satelite stories seems to fit the lifebelt/doughnut economics model for looking at such epic stories and ecosystems, all entwined
Started this to look at threads and themes last night and ask questions
and looked at it again this morning and now heading to prepare the day and drive to Newlyn for Shallal Dance Theatre then St Austell for pilot group - really hoping that the fund we wanted to apply to to extend our pilot groups hasn't closed early :(
Getting older and tired of chasing funding, although now we have such a good team in place, so usually my writing efforts aren't needed unless a project that is small and close to my heart which extending the pilot project is
and Arts Lab which we have just applied to second round for.
Always cheer up when in the room of the wonderful creativity and community of Shallal Dance Theatre, so I look forward to that and the sun is just rising. accompanied as always by bird song.
“At this time in our history/global crisis, i would like to explore 3 questions:
What inspired you?
What are you doing now?
What would you do/support/invest in if you were a philanthropist now?
Arinda's notes and poems
One thing I would campaign for meaningfully is the celebration of
scrap and bottle collectors in my Country Uganda. These people are devoted
cleaners of mother earth, ridding her of plastics and metals that are
increasingly eating up my soils and clogging my waters. They are underpaid and
yet the benefit of the work they do is immense. They move around with sacks and
huge bags picking up after careless busy bodies. Without contracts they feed
the supply chain of recycling plants.
The people who Collect bottles and metal scrap are usually street
children. These children have no parental love and care, they are homeless and
this is one way to make a little money to buy some food.
If I was able to, I would campaign for the recognition of their
labour as work that deserves to be paid generously. I am campaigning for them
to be recognized as protectors of mother earth, for them to be awarded honour
and accolades, to be consulted and considered in the development of policies
and laws. They need to be visible in the line of advocacy towards climate
justice.
The second thing I am really passionate about is poetry and
specifically, I am talking about poetry as the language of nature. We should
armour ourselves with a language that speaks to humanity about their habitant
earth; a habitant which sustains them. We have forgotten how dependant we are
on mother earth and poetry can create this connection. Engaging in poetry as an
art of writing causes us to seek out nature often for ambiance. A quiet green
spot can inspire free thought and creativity. Because many of us are not
writing poetry, we miss out on this desire for serenity so we don’t know the cost
of cutting down trees, destroying the hash of the river.We have not hunger for
quiet or the colour green because crafts that get us into such spaces are
forgotten or not equated the necessary
centrality in our education, politics and cultural expression.
Listening to or reading poetry is another way we can reconnect with
nature and be encouraged in our drive for fair use of the Earth’s givings like
minerals, oceans, forests and islands. I use poetry to inspire environmental
justice.
Here is a poem about Women’s. relationship with land, how their
right to mother earth is disenfranchised by patriarchy, colonialism and
capitalism. Women are inheritors of the land yet the laws in most countries
refuse them land ownership and equal rights to access land. The poem is titled Goddess of the
Earth. In this verse I call forth African deities of the Earth Queen Ati of
Djibouti , Atete of Ethiopia, Wagar of Somalia, Mumbi of kenya, Kitaka of
Uganda and Abuk of Sudan.
GODDESS
OF THE EARTH
The equal rights
promised by our constitutions
Are only ‘a sorry’
from a faulted intuition
You’d think that it
is only natural
To remember that
men and women are equal
They all breath
using lungs
They have limbs to
walk
And mouths to talk
And even if they
did not walk or talk;
Because they
breath- that is enough.
We use the law and
policies
Like borrowed
candles
That burn only for
a while
But cannot be used
completely
We call earth
mother
But look what we’ve
done here-
Pollution in the
air and water.
We love our mothers
Yet treat women as
weaklings
Things to be despised and deprived
Queen Ati of
Djibouti
Atete of Ethiopia
Wagar of Somalia
Mumbi of kenya
Kitaka of Uganda
Abuk of Sudan
The deities of land
are women
Yet women are the
most dispossessed of land!
Shall we comply
with a pile of lies
Laid out in words
On sheets of paper
Ratified and passed
by men
Yet the Goddesses
tell us
That women are the
inheritors
of earth
And that is not
selfish
Because women love
their children
And men are women’s
children.
GASIYA
Pesticides have robbed butterflies of their homes and plants don’t flower anymore.
Our soils are awash with non-bio degradable grain
This is not Biology!
This is “sort your garbage!
Because tea pots are being recycled from medical waste and the toxins rattle in the belly like snakes
For each breath taken carcinogens are the token…
- Black fumes
- White fumes
I can’t breath…
Rest in Peace flood victims in Bwaise,
Did I say Kyambogo too?
Rest in Peace fresh water without zinc, mercury or lead.
Rest in Peace Good roads:
robbed of its way,
the silver blade digs a away through our roads.
Subbi?
Xenson,
Is there art in Gasiya?
Can we recreate each piece of plastic into a centre piece
For our tables when we’ll dine on the benefits of Waste management?
Flowers in forests
Cannot be seen at the canopy
Down below
They glow
And only those who crawl
Can see their glory.
Until Land fills
And recycling plants
Are depots of compost
We shall only see a forest of waste
Waiting to consume us.
Can we crawl for the almighty Compost
That awaits to bless our fields and give yield to our crops?
Sharing an exercise from Citizen Journalism course, tracing dance and access from the background tradition that enabled Jo Willis Shallal's founder and creative director.
Salamanda Tandem were always well spoken of, Shallal's first development manager Danu Fox managed to do some training with them, but that is all. However i have included them as Wolfgang was pivotal in their beginning inspiration as far as i know, and they work across art forms.
All the text is direct from websites so in their own words.
Week 9 of Citizen Journalism and excited to be talking to Oliver Baines who was the Chief Executive at Cornwall Community Foundation and now deeply involved in current direct action campaigns.
George is in an exhibition with Mel, with an improvisational Sharing of music, dance, poetry and song this Wednesday 7pm, entrance by donation.
Christmas songs coming in and so much more! Skye and The Wheelers already with us.
AGM postponed and Christmas Party planning and an online one soon to be announced
Good day at Shallal Dance Theatre today/yesterday,
finally forming our responses to new music choices and starting more large paintings and a poem written and ideas landing...
photo from last week support for Climate Action Coalition
answering an email today i found old links to ideas we work with all the time
Yes could do a workshop in a small form in smaller spaces as a lesson in adaptation and working in different spaces. could be drawing and dance, sound /word we could just see where it goes?
Moveable feast was a residential workshop offered at Dartington some years ago, one of the main people put forward the idea as Workshop as art form and i read about it as i hadn't attended it - my then Shallal Dance Theatre working partner Phil Jacobs did - it was multi arts event.
From that idea, as i have been running workshops for over 30 years i started looking at the process, and now it is similar to being in an art studio, the participants and their creativity are your materials and together we create work...it is not an 'us and them' but a 'we' a real in the moment collaboration and is quite scary but also freeing ( and hopefully fun) for everyone.
Colin and i often refer to it and it comes from experience, it might be of interest to other facilitators, skills are involved but are in a different emphasis to many 'teaching/sharing' workshops.
Also useful to consider and reflect on 5 stages of a workshop from The Five Part Session Dr Marcia Leventhal: warm up, release, theme, centring, closure. https://www.marciableventhal.com/
A useful take away from a year, on a two year, postgraduate Dance Therapy course at Roehampton....many years ago
A vivid description and analysis of Workshop’s distinctive features. Using a combination of narrative, explanation, and rumination, Tony Gee investigates the premise that Workshop is a distinctive creative form with its own politic, poetic and aesthetic.
Fantastic new participants to Newquay Pilot group and good to be working again with Sapphire.
Kerry J and Barbara came to visit Shallal 2, especially for Rita and Kerry to work together, and we hope to repeat it soon.
Learnt a lot from chatting with Jamie Moran and looking forward to chatting with Oliver Baines this week.
Podcasting make me slightly obsessive! and is quite time consuming in editing and caption checking etc but also a lot of fun!
It's quite a balance with that and new projects needing to land, but what i didn't add to the email was:
"Trust the Process" another major part of our approach
and ' don't get in the way' ( of it).
'The work works' if it isn't, that is where we need to reflect on our practice and try again, trust the (creative) process.
I often say to artists make friends with/get to know you own way of working there is no right or wrong way. What works for you? ( and is reasonably healthy.) We waste a lot of time trying to fit ourselves into other formats, how we think it 'should' be done, when we need to embrace our own style and way of creating/doing things, reflecting knowing your strengths, weaknesses, areas that need support etc and allow a sense of humour into the mix it helps to gently laugh at ourselves. Take ourselves lightly.
If you can have fun, then you can engage and trust, take risks, experiment, extend your practice.
