Ache
Untrained Effort #28
I am currently sat in Sofia where the temperatures are beginning to climb again. I have not been making any art. I am stuck between feeling like I am on holiday and the nagging sensation I should be working to secure future funding. I am stuck between enjoying the moment and planning for the future; between believing art is necessarily now more than ever and thinking it is absolute BS because we live in a world where genocide can unfold with impunity, and doesn’t that prove that we are all completely doomed?
The brilliant Tunisian performance maker Marwa Manai puts her experience of attending a big international theatre festival whilst aching for Gaza into these beautifully powerful words.
I’ve also included some resources/news that have helped me feel less useless and other brilliant work worth keeping an eye on.
As always, thanks for reading and please do not hesitate to get in touch if anything resonates or you want to share anything else with me.
Palestine and the genocide in the UK arts
ROAR, who I am a member of, shared this Oxfam’s list of “how to help Gaza” – by no means exhaustive it has several suggestions of how to remain engaged in different ways.
I am proud that my union, the Artists’ Union England, has been consistent with their messaging and issued recently a statement in solidarity with their members who are boycotting Israel.
A lot of artists and organisations have suffered as a consequence of being openly pro-Palestinian. An anonymous group has now created a UK index on censorship to document and expose these cases.
Meanwhile, the establishment is finally, slowly catching up: the Royal Ballet and Opera have cancelled their performances of Tosca in Tel Aviv. What gives me joy about this is that nearly 200 staff signed a letter internally: it gives me hope that organising does work. What is particularly pleasing is that this comes after their Director of Opera tried to snatch the Palestinian flag from performer Danni Perry.
Last but not least, friends and colleagues BÉZNĂ Theatre just announced they got ACE support for their new show The first year (of the Gaza genocide in the media) which is encouraging to see and will no doubt be a phenomenal account of the remarkably biased coverage.
Working with Metal
In other news, I have been invited to join Metal in Peterborough, an arts organisation working at the intersection of art and social change. I am taking part in the third iteration of In Other Words, a collection of reflections by artists about their hopes and dreams. Launched during COVID, this first two iterations were beautiful books whereas the third will be… something a bit different. We are in the process of co-creating what that is, and how our perspectives will be further developed with Metal’s support.
Stay tuned for more in the autumn!
The business bootcamp
Some of you might have read my salty account about the futility of signing up to a business course whilst the world is on fire. Well, after much metaphorical kicking and screaming I completed the Mastered bootcamp and even enjoyed myself! I met fantastic creatives all based in Sheffield (all tagged here), collected some new skills and now have a to do list as long as my arm (inclusive of further updating my website, thinking about customer journeys and more sales-y techniques to make you want my projects even more hehe).
A few more recommendations…
Half of theatre world is off to Edinburgh and the friends and collegues over at Exeunt are doing a great job of recommending and reviewing stuff.
As for my producer Claire, she is working on Bury the Hatchet by Out of The Forest Theatre. I trust everything she touches and the show is having great reviews so make sure to catch it before the 25th August if you are going!
Meanwhile, I will be learning Bulgarian traditional embroidery and working on a new show. So, to get my creative juices flowing, I signed up to this writing workshop run by Squint theatre. I look very much forward to it and maybe… see you there??
