How do we creatively activate our citizens?

The speakers discussed how the word ‘activism’ can have angry, confronting connotations, but our three speakers were mindful to talk about the place that care and compassion has when creating activist work and how care should underpin everything, which made it a lovely, caring and uplifting session to enter the new year with.

Reflections from host, Clare Murphy

Without good company where would we be? If I had to choose a company of players to walk the world with it would be this crew that spoke at and attended the AND Masterclass in January: How do we creatively activate our citizens? Huge thanks to Saoirse Teale, Alice White and Beatriz de Sousa Costa.

There was a collective sigh of mutual understanding when Alice White, of UAL (and formally PEER & Citizens UK) said she felt like no matter what she did it was never enough. We took heart from Beatriz’s journey with Living Wage project, as she unpacked the real actual living power of solidarity to create transformation and decrease isolation in participants. Our last-minute star Saoirse of Common/Wealth Theatre (stepping in as Ezra was ill) shared story after story of projects that evolved with the direction of the community strongly in the lead. 

What we learned is that to be a practitioner in this modality of creatively activating our citizens you must be a values-led person, coming from a place of empathy and care. You must meet the community where they are at, and find what drives their passion. Reflection is a necessary tool, again and again this comes up in all these conversations!  You can have a plan but most likely it will be abandoned early for the better ideas that arise from your community. Invite the traditional power holders and put pressure on them by going to their MP clinics, or funders meetings. Bypass the old funding issues of outcome driven not community driven work by seeking radical funding that understands that human and cultural transformation is not a numbers game.  

The room: as always the people who attend these masterclasses stun us with their energy, resources and willingness to share wisdom. We found that the funding world is changing, and ArtCry and The Network for Social Change funders are good places to start. We are still a Capital-centric based nation, so let us think of ways to create networks of facilitator/project based power that is not so heavily weighted towards the Capital. 

More than anything we all feel more grounded, more hopeful, and less alone. We don’t believe in charity we believe in solidarity (Galeano) and we know that we are stronger together. 

“Be brave and authentic in your art and activism, take time and care, be proactive in the change you can make and the impact you can have.” – Saoirse Teale

Top Take-aways

From Saoirse:

Approaching arts & activism through the lens of care, relationship building and non-hierarchical practice. To co-create work which has meaning and is truly radical it’s important to do slow, care-led work to build trust, get to know participants and for them to know you. What barriers do they face? How can we support them both in the space and outside it to be able to really engage and benefit from the opportunity.

Find ways for people to engage that aren’t just arts based - what is important or interesting to people? What do they care about? What do they experience? What makes them angry? What do they want to change? For some of our projects, people have been galvanised by wanting to protect their community against racism & Islamophobia, for others it has been a love for quad bikes or clothes!

Activism is about politics, that can be Politics (with a big P) or politics (with a small p), sometimes it’s responding to huge causes like genocides, the rise of the far right, the cost-of-living crisis…creating work that feels angry and unapologetic that directly campaigns for social change. But other times the work is political because it involves people and their existence is political, for me this has been programming diverse youth festivals where young people who face barriers in the arts get platformed and celebrated.

Who are the co-conspirators that can help spread the ripples of the work or hold power and get help along the way? You need to make sure the right people are in the room as participants firstly, but who else can be part of the movement? This might be campaigners, charities, local heroes, people who work in a particular industry or sector, politicians or councillors, someone with a big following on social media with a different audience to yourself - how can we work together to mobilise and make the most impact?

Use your privilege, if you hold privilege professionally or personally, use it to make change in your organisation, community or with your work. Are people being paid for their time and expertise even if they’re “not an artist”? Make sure everyone’s voice is heard in the room and you’re meeting the needs in the room.

From Bia:

Activism can be made through creative and playful acts, rooted in care and solidarity, to amplify and diversify a social issue.

We need more people-power organisations to sustain our communities and the work we do when local councils fail us.

Diversifying into “radical fundraising” is on the agenda.

Empowering youth groups through activism works best by meeting groups where they are and giving them the tools to express their interests in their own way/ language (Saoirse spoke on giving a voice to marginalised kids, recreating participation, not in theatre, but in the streets, doing what they love doing).

Working in activism within institutional frameworks and quantifying the transformation in people’s lives is still hard to measure. How to evaluate better? Developing a more personalised report with participants’ reflections.

From Alice:

Being brave and speaking truth to power – how can we use our positions and advocate for better conditions for those we work with, and those who follow in the future, whilst maintaining our integrity, sanity and wellbeing? Staying connected with allies, peers and friends, and building solidarity is key.

Hot anger vs. cool anger. Former Southwark and Peckham Citizens Community Organiser Albinia Stanley taught me about this: Hot anger is a rush of rage, such as a public outcry; it has explosive, destructive qualities. If we stay in hot anger too long, it may start to consume us. Cold anger is anger that has been cooled and put to use. It is directed toward something productive, like changing norms, laws, leadership, culture; or healing broken relationships. Sometimes we get so angry about the plethora of injustices in the world it can all feel quite hopeless. And sometimes there might be a decision maker who we fundamentally disagree with on certain issues, but they might be the person holding power which could lead to change on another problem. And morally we feel torn. In these scenarios, although it can be hard, we must allow ourselves time to step back, reflect, share thoughts with others, cool our anger and develop a strategy. How do we break down a complex problem into small wins? Who do we need in the room to achieve this? Can we park our differences? Who is our community of support?

Activism doesn’t always have to be loud, and it is rooted in care. Sometimes it’s a long game, especially when you want to make structural change, and you can’t do it alone.

Get key decision makers round the table. Agree to put aside want you can’t work on and tackle what you can. As Citizens UK say, if you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu.

Often your people might be in the room. I was reflecting on the generosity, warmth and wealth of experience of people in the ‘online room’ after the event. How can we find more moments to connect and exchange, even when we might want to quit the art world altogether?

“Connect with the people participating/joining this online session, share common interests and invite them to meet, if relevant. Make new relationships and bonds through purposeful and meaningful work.” Bia de Sousa Costa

Further Resources:

Off Road (Common/Wealth’s show co-created with young people at risk of offending who loved quad bikes)

Peaceophobia (Common/Wealth’s show and wider campaign responding to rising Islamophobia)

Speakers Corner (Common/Wealth’s young female activist collective)

Youth Theatre Lab (Common/Wealth’s young working-class collective of teenage theatre makers)

Common/Wealth’s blog - How to Take Care

Advocacy Academy - an organisation focused on youth – led groups organising and working on campaigns of their interest

Counterpoints a cultural organisation working through advocacy and storytelling on migration, social change and refugees to uplift the voice of the marginalised people

Girls Friendly Society - based in East London and works towards building confidence in girls and young women by hosting a safe space, without judgment, and asking what they want to talk about/express