I Hate Your Work: An Open Discussion at the Alliance of Resident Communities Conference

by Shawn René Graham, Deputy Director, Programs and Services

In early October I moderated a panel discussion at the Alliance of Artists Communities in Portland, Oregon.  The discussion centered around the unconscious and conscious biases we all bring to judging artists' work. Helen Daltoso (Grants Officer, Regional Arts + Culture Council), Daniel Jaquez (Freelance Stage Director, Theatre-maker and Translator), Eleanor Savage (Senior Program Officer, Jerome Foundation) and James Scruggs (Artist + Facilitator, The Field) shared their experiences in addressing bias whether they are adjudicating work, trying to get work produced or educating others about how bias may permeate other aspects of our work in the arts sector. 

Rather than reflect on our talk and recount it all to you, I wanted to share a partial video of the discussion in hopes that what you hear will encourage you to think about unconscious and conscious bias wherever you are in the arts sector.  While the video covers the first forty minutes during which our panelists responded to and reflected on their own encounters with bias, those in attendance also discussed their experiences and some possible solutions they can employ.  As you watch, think about how bias has affected you or how you may have perpetuated bias in your own work.  The honesty of Eleanor’s own definition of bias, Helen’s transparency about funding artists and persistent community participation and James’ stark reminder of how assumptions are made based on what we think we see is important to hear. What are some of your solutions?

I invite you to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section below. 

 I Hate Your Work in Portland was just the beginning of The Field’s work on the topic of bias and we will continue our exploration vigorously.  Look for us at The Fire This Time Festival in January 2017.  The program will consist of a panel discussion and the next phase, I Hate Your Work in Action.

From left, Daniel Jaquez, Eleanor Savage, 
Shawn René Graham and James Scruggs

This follow-up workshop puts the topics and strategies discussed during the panel into action. Participants will be invited to observe a condensed session of Fieldwork, The Field’s core program that offers artists a unique forum to share works in development and exchange critical, non-directorial, peer-to-peer feedback. Incisive and stimulating critiques are guided by experienced facilitators while you – our guests – are invited to watch and deeply reflect on how this model disrupts biased thinking or assumptions that are made during the course of critiquing artistic work and its potential for showcase or further development. Stay Tuned!

The Field's National Network: National Touring Exchange (pt. 2)

This spring The Field initiated its pilot Network Touring Exchange (NTE) program by sending three of our national Fieldwork facilitators on tour. Read a little about their experiences below.


Artist Chrissy Nelson traveled from Boulder, CO to Salt Lake City, UT, where, in addition to participating in a Fieldwork session, she also connected with Field facilitators Amy Caron and Maggie Willis, local artists, and dance faculty at the University of Utah.

L to R: Amy Caron, Chrissie Nelson, Kerri Hopkins

She learned how Fieldwork could fit into a larger artistic community, for example, how to run Fieldwork as a program under the umbrella of a larger artistic organization, and she was exposed to some of the smaller details of how to run Fieldwork in a simple, grass roots fashion.

Salt Lake City hosting Chrissie Nelson

Chrissy was also reminded by Amy Caron to use Fieldwork as a way to “practice” art generation, to sustain her interest and her creation, rather than feel pressure to show a new work each time.  

“Being present with the artists of another site helped me to consider new organizational AND artistic practices while also validating the work we are already doing in Boulder."

Artist Ilana Silverstein toured with her feminist punk rock dance band, Tia Nina, from Washington, DC to New York City. They participated in The Field’s 30th anniversary Fielday performance at Dixon Place, took a dance class, and explored NYC while planning their next artistic steps.

The cast of Tia Nina
 about to perform

“Taking myself out of my comfort zone in my home community stirred up so much. On a personal level, the NTE reignited my love for the grassroots community building that The Field excels at. I felt so energized by the diversity and warmth of the other artists involved in the Fielday.”

Other Tia Nina Members: Leah Curran Moon and Lisi Stoessel

Artist Amy Caron travelled from Salt Lake City, UT to Milwaukee, WI. During her time in Milwaukee, Amy taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milkwaukee, participated in a Fieldwork session, toured the city, reinvigorated her creative practice and connected closely with Milkwaukee site director, Joelle Worm.

Amy Caron

“I think this NTE opportunity in Milwaukee was successful in re-energizing my artistic practice.  As parent of a toddler, my focus on my creative practiced had diminished significantly in recent years and I was looking for a suitable opportunity to reintroduce myself to my practice and a stepping stone where I could begin actively building a new paradigm for creating work.  I think a great deal of impact from this tour experience came from my host also being an artist/mother – we were able to relate to the challenges we both face and I felt like she was truly a peer artist with similar life goals."

Joelle Worm and Amy Caron

The Field wishes to thank these brave adventurers for participating in the pilot year of of the NTE and for reminding us to reinvigorate our creative practices by: stepping outside our comfort zones; connecting with our peers (even when they are far away) and that Fieldwork is a great place to practice art generation.

If you are interested in learning more about these Fieldwork facilitators read part 1 of the National Touring Exchange blog here. If you are interested in learning more about the Field Network or starting a Network site in your city click here.
National Touring Exchange is funded by the

The Work We Have To Do At 30

We have work to do. 

In 2012 The Field sent me to my first Race Forward Conference in Baltimore and the transformative facilitator, Melinda Weekes-Laidlow told me “Yes, you have white guilt but we have work to do.”

Bit by bit, thanks to Melinda and many more advocates over the years, the work is being done. In my capacity as Executive Director of The Field I have attended anti-racism trainings at the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, did power and privilege trainings with Coro Leadership NY and more.  Individually, I learn about justice and equity in my gospel choir, my church and at events like White Conversations for Racial Healing. Organizationally, at The Field we piloted one-off diversity programs like Economic Revitalization for Performing Artists: Diversity with the Nuyorican Poets Café, BAAD! and The Fire This Time Festival to support artists of color with career building services.  We also committed to diversifying our staff and our program constituency in meaningful and thoughtful ways. Slowly but surely we are doing the work.  

In 2016, on the cusp of our 30th birthday, in these deeply violent days in our country, The Field launches Field Leadership Fund, our most ambitious and visible commitment to equity in the arts to date.

A 16-month paid leadership training program, FLF aims to transform the lives and futures of a diverse cohort of 12 under-resourced artists and arts managers*.  Our goal is that these artists and arts managers will leave FLF better connected, better networked and more resourced so that they can advance equity in the arts.  

As FLF Program Manager Rajeeyah Finnie-Myers writes in her post ‘Who makes it as a leader in the arts sector?’ is a really important issue to address and, still, it is only one visible piece of the work we have to do.  Recently, The Field’s staff and Board adopted seven Strategic Priorities to guide our work over the next five years.  A “Commitment to Social Justice” is one priority.  By this we mean that we intend to transition The Field from an organization with an emerging practice in social justice to an organization with embedded and intentional practices and processes in diversity, equity and inclusion.

What does that mean? Over the next five years we will look at everything: Staff, Board, hiring, compensation, programs, marketing, technology, fees, adjudication, everything.  And we will institutionalize and operationalize our commitment to equity and to justice in the arts and culture sector.  Why is this important to us? So that artists and arts and culture workers can have fair, unbiased and impartial access to creative opportunities and resources like gigs, grants, donors, shows and jobs.

This work started already with FLF.  We grappled hard with how not to judge the FLF applications by traditional grantwriting standards that might favor privilege.  We grappled with how to ask about identity: as a check box or an open text box or as a narrative response.  We grappled with pay rate and panelists and process.  And we learned a ton.   We made some mistakes.  We took some risks.  And now we go forward.  

This image comes from a Social Identity exercise we did at our FLF retreat inspired by this type of exercise http://www.odec.umd.edu/we/about/Multiversity/handouts/SocialIdentityWheel.pdf. 

To do all of this, we will aim to learn from our more expert peers.  Like BAAD!, the Classical Theater of Harlem, El Puente, Healing Arts Initiative,  Ifetayo, and 651 Arts. These organizations already do this work and do it really well.  But often they receive less funding, less press, and are deemed less credible than their mostly white-led peer organizations.

    

We have some work to do.

And this work is grounded in The Field’s core.

Thirty years ago in 1986 The Field was founded by a small group of performing artists in a dusty Soho loft to share their artwork with each other and figure out – together – how to thrive.  They got together in this way because they felt isolated.  They got together in this way because they were tired of waiting for the tastemakers and gatekeepers to give them gigs, grants and opportunities.  They felt like there were barriers holding them back and they wanted to push against the system.

They started an open and accessible non-curated performance series – called Fieldays - to give artists time and space to show work.   And they started non-curated critical feedback workshops – called Fieldwork - so that artists could give each other rigorous, non-directorial feedback peer to peer.
  

This is The Field’s historical core: non-curation.  Non-curation as a tool to address the opportunity gap in the arts.  Non-curation as a response to the biases and prejudices of the tastemakers, gatekeepers and stakeholders.  Non-curation to keep the artist at the center of the process.  Back then, this was a radical notion.

Please note: in the early days, Field artists were primarily movement-based and primarily white.   This was not intentional per se.  But it reflected the founding artists’ obvious, easiest and most accessible community.  And it reflected their privilege – the privilege to be able to take matters into their own hands and create an organization that supports their visions.

Thirty years later here we are.  Still a small service organization that prides itself on keeping the artist at the center, on building community, on providing real resources and support, and on giving opportunities to artists who might otherwise not get them. But thirty years later the arts sector hasn’t changed much…For every barrier we’ve helped an artist surmount, there are still more challenges. Many of the challenges point to deeply rooted notions, complex questions and devastating American and world history related to race, gender, class, sexual orientation, economic privilege, cultural background, and other social identifiers. These are the biggest issues. How can we face them? 

Head on.  With programs like Field Leadership Fund.  With our efforts to institutionalize and operationalize equity practices and processes.  By learning from and partnering with allies and peers who know more than we do. 

Happy 30th birthday to The Field.  And to the field of activists, advocates, revolutionaries and mentors who push us toward our highest level of work.   Push us.  Teach us.   We have work to do. 

-- By Jennifer Wright Cook, Executive Director of The Field with rigorous feedback and stellar editing by Shawn René Graham, Artist Services Manager and Diana Crum, Development Consultant!

*By “under-resourced” we mean lacking in resources.  For us, resources in the arts sector are the supplies and opportunities that help art get made, seen, funded, etc.  They include residencies, performances, grants, individual donors, residencies, events, etc.  Resources, for us, also includes having access to the stakeholders and leaders who have  the power to divvy up said resources- including funders, critics, academic leaders, presenters, residency directors, etc.