Excellence. Merit. Award winning. The arts industry is steeped in hierarchical measures of success. The current cycles of highly competitive funding, where peers are assessed against each other for a limited opportunities feeds cycles of boom and bust, and a culture of overwork, burn out and poor mental health.
How are these paradigms of hierarchy and scarcity underpinned by and reinforcing white supremacy, ableism and patriarchy, and what can we do it about it?
Small. Slow. Humble was an invitation to consider radical alternatives to the current models of creative success. This interactive forum blended community conversation, reading group and ritual to create space for reflection, discussion and visioning about how we, as artists, might nurture small, local and inclusive practices within our individual and collective practices, in the places where we live, work and love.
This conversation will be interactive. Links to reading/listening texts were used to facilitate connection, reflection and conversation are still available on the Regional Arts Website.
A poem made from participant feedback is available here
