Devoted and disgruntled Open space reports
How do we create inclusive access in the arts for mothers/parents/carers in Devon and the South West?
18 February 2020 | 10am-1.30pm | Exeter Phoenix
Facilitated by Matilda Leyser (MWM/Improbable) | Produced by Lizzy Humber (MWM) for Mothers Who Make Devon | Images: Viola Depcik
Sessions called:
1. How do we as parents/carers/artists/makers/performers make work that is positive (effective) during a climate crisis? By Lehla Eldridge, Jump Fall Fly Circus and Performing Arts
2. Childcare within a studio/arts setting in Exeter or East Devon. (How do we make this happen?) By Alice Simpson, Independent Artist
3. What could a carer-accessible/ family-friendly creative residential look like? By Cassie Raine, PIPA
4. Can you create with children in the room? Is the buggy in the hall the death of creativity? By Lehla Eldridge, Jump Fall Fly Circus and Performing Arts
5. What is the value of unpaid work? By Jenny Cahill, Independent Artist
6. Freeing up creative brain when it’s full of schedule. By Jessica Geach, Ruby Cubes
7. What do you need / want to continue your artistic practice? By Lizzy Humber
8. What do we need to be able to progress in our careers / creative practices? By Anna Ehnold-Danailov, PIPA
9. What simple things can ANY venue do to make mothers / fathers / carers feel more welcome and supported in their spaces as makers? Dan Baker, Plymouth Barbican Theatre
10. How can we cultivate ‘inclusivity’ in considering parents/carers in the arts which includes ethnic people? By Charice Bhardwaj, Spork!
11. Can we proudly put mother / father / carer on our CVs? By Lizzy Humber, MWM
12. “Squeezed out!” Working in Arts Organisations and feeling the strain when you become a parent. SophieMcCormack
13. Your library as a creative and engaging space for parents, carers, children and families. By Jess Huffman, Libraries Unlimited
Other sessions called (no reports recorded):
14. Child-care for part time study?
15. How can we create work life balance that genuinely meeting our needs as makers- parents?
16. How do we provide inclusive actor training and artistic opportunities for parents/carers and people with disabilities?
17. Tell us about your experience - Abby Davies BBC Radio Devon
5. The question I have is around considerations of programmers specifically connected to timings of private views, events, meetings. These often don’t factor in school runs, early evenings (key routine time for parents). The juggling of time / childcare and cost has and is a constant issue as a parent who is actively involved in childcare and school runs. I often feel these issues rarely pierce the considerations of programmers. International countries have some excellent examples, notably France, Belgium andFinland. - Dom Jinks, Director Exeter Culture and Parent.
Reports
1. How do we as parents/ carers/ artists/ makers/ performers make work that is positive (effective) during a climate crisis?
REPORT BY: Lehla Eldridge (Mother, Author, Performer, Illustrator) | ATTENDEES: Jenny C, Sara, Sophie, Lavinia, Paula
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Tell and share stories. Help people see what is possible.
Dialoguing, listening, making, to help people process what is going on.
Run more workshops about this
Love, kindness and listening to each other is really important.
Going to the real grief of the situation and then moving through that makes things more possible. Not to get stuck like a rabbit in headlights. Get into action.
Letting go and understanding privilege.
Could it be more normal to talk about the climate crisis? IE ‘Hi, how are you? Fine thanks, actually I am suffering from climate grief today.’ Could these conversations become normal, so that we don’t hide what we are feeling. We talked about how often we may feel those feelings but actually we don’t say them as we don’t want to bring others down’ SO expressing ourselves can be the new normal.
Meet people where they are at with it, in every way. Not being judgemental.
Technology is our friend.
Where and who are the new innovators?
Changing the narrative, we have to do things differently. Optimism, this is a chance for rebirth. A massive opportunity.
2. Childcare within a studio/arts setting in Exeter or East Devon. How do we make this happen?
REPORT BY: Alice Simpson (Visual Artist and Mother)
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Working creatively can be very isolating and having access to other creatives for discussion and sharing of our work and ideas is a good way to produce better quality ideas, try new things and create new collaborations. A space where parents can work and take their children with them encourages and gives voice to those who might feel left behind or left out once they have had children. Including more people in the creative discussion is always a positive.
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
We need a space that works for all creatives.
Places to plug in laptops. Space to read, walls to stick things on and space to dance or move. We need to find out who is interested in coming and what they might require.
Spaces for grown-ups as well as children.
This could involve a crèche facility with paid professional childcare or can we look at other ways of providing childcare?
We think we will need a kitchen, toilet and two other rooms for the child and adult centred spaces.
We discussed a model of childcare swaps. Attendees would divide their time between the child and the grown up space equally. For example an hour in the adult centred space and an hour in the child centred space. Thus negating the need for paid professional childcare, which was considered important in the beginning of the project.
We could arrange a rota of children’s activities, getting involved parents to take turns in providing something.
What are the costs involved?
The space. Insurance. Administration of space. Toy library.
Would we run useful/creative sessions for adults there too?
How many people do we need to make it work?
It was suggested that we just need two and it can be done in people’s homes.
If we want to rent a space in Exeter it was suggested that we approach Make Tank as there is a new space, which could work for this.
Ideally we would collaborate with a space a get something for free!
Spaces that are already doing this: Motherhouse, Lewisham and Stroud- procreate project.
ACTIONS:
Find out who would be interested.
How many parents and children.
What kind of space they need to work.
How much will a space cost/ insurance.
How much per family or adult or child.
What day of the week is best
How often do we do it- monthly was discussed.
3. What could a carer-accessible/ family-friendly creative residential look like?
REPORT BY: Cassie Raine (PIPA Campaign, Mother) and Matilda Leyser (MWM, Mother) | ATTENDEES: Cassie, Matilda, Sophie L, Mary
CONSIDERATIONS AND IDEAS:
Find a Venue - e.g. Crediton Community Bookshop; Coombe Farm; an Arvon Centre.
Identify the needs of the participants - these are likely to be very diverse.
Explore residential and non-residential options
If you have enough adults present with a shared focus of interest, the group will work even when you have children present (as per this Open Space - we had 43 adults and 40 children in the room!). Planned timetable or ad hoc? How structured to make it? Balancing having some structured time and some free.
Learn from Procreate’s The Motherhouse - what worked? What didn’t? Not enough clear- holding.
Have two spaces - one mainly for adults, one mainly for children. Enable fluid access between the child-centred space and the adult-centred one. Simply having a creche is not the answer for everyone.
Support the ability to bring another parent or carer with the participant - having the option to do this, or not. Families could share one room.
Explore different ways to increase access by considering bursaries for families that need.
Provide different activities for different groups - some writing or story-making workshops for children old enough to do this, whilst the adult workshop is happening. One tutor takes the children one morning, the other takes the adults, and then the next day they swap.
Programme some events that would be for everyone, of all ages, together - e.g. Hedgespoken story-telling.
Have an application procedure that is not about asking people for their credentials but rather gathering information about needs - i.e. what would make your attendance possible?
The importance of a welcoming event and of clearly holding the space for everyone - of naming shared values and expectations. The week will involve creating a village, making it a safe and exciting proposition for the wholefamily.
OTHER NOTES:
The primary need is to create a space for those whose preference is to keep their children in close proximity as opposed to those who need focus and time apart from their children in order to write (as they are already catered to.) This week would be for those who would like their children to be on-site throughout the retreat.
MWM is committed to questioning the framing of children as 'a problem,’ a hindrance to creative work, to be got out the way, and looking at how our caring responsibilities might actually enrich our work.
Cassie spoke about a Buddhist retreat that was a special experience for the whole family. Sophie spoke about a Permaculture retreat in which the children had been present throughout and how they had had a great week, playing between themselves whilst the adults worked.
4. Can you create with children in the room? Is the buggy in the hall the death of creativity?
REPORT BY: Lehla Eldridge (Author, Performer, Illustrator, Mother)
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
“The buggy in the hall is the death of creativity”* quoted by my dad as I had 3 children under the age of 3. I, being a performer, artist, writer and now a mother. I was so angry he quoted that quote as my artistic well had dried up. I was breastfeeding, not sleeping and for me art was a far away island that I could not reach. For me death was the buggy in the hall. Then I realised that creativity was my life line, it made my heart beat, tapping into my inner artist was like breathing again. I had to breath. So I made time, I carved out some time each day and wrote The Lovely Book for Wonderful Women, as a love letter to myself and to all exhausted wonderful women. It became clear to me that the 3 children I had were my creativity, I had in part created them. So those years it was not that there had been a death of my inner artist, rather a transformation and the 3 that I had created have helped me become a better creative. The road was just not what I had imagined. Through them I have written books, become a creative because of them. Unschooling mother, started a circus / theatre company and learnt to stilt walk at the age of 49. So I am thankful got the buggies in the hallways and all that they taught me.
* Original Quote: “There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.” Cyril Connolly, Enemies of Promise (1938)
ACTIONS:
The Lovely Workshops for Wonderful Women, by Lehla: A chance to rekindle and nurture the inner artist. This could be run with just mothers in the room for sacred alone time, or with children alongside.
5. What is the value of unpaid work?
REPORT BY: Jenny Cahill (mother, jeweller, dancer, zero waste advocate, MWM Exeter facilitator) | ATTENDEES: Sara, June, Lavinia, Anna, Ruth
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Certain roles are undervalued whether they are paid of not. It’s about respect – this has value.
Unpaid work can have both positive and negative effects on your mental health and self esteem. There can be conflict between the financial reward / self esteem / emotional rewards.
If you are able to choose your unpaid roles then they can bring you enormous value in terms of emotional rewards for yourself and those around you (including your children). But can we afford the choice to be full timeparents/carers?
We need to make unpaid work affordable and give it the respect it deserves.
Government should pay full time parent/carers a wage as they would a professional carer.
NEXT STEPS:
We can all make a personal effort to rephrease the terms ‘working mum’ and ‘stay at home mum’, by saying ‘I do …. And I also get paid to ….” Plus a full political revolution
6. Freeing up Creative brain when it’s full of schedule.
REPORT BY: Jessica Geach (artist/mother) | ATTENDEES: Jess, Tanya, Paul, Lizzy
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Example of daily practice from one father who makes: ‘Morning Papers’ – everyday write 3 x A4 of stream of consciousness (from The Art of Change book).
Creativity and ideas come when they come, you can’t schedule creativity. But it’s hard to find the time for yourself. Important to think about what you need / want to do vs have to do vs things that take your energy that aren’t important or urgent (see diagram). How many of these things are actually not important, but appear important due to panic/anxiety.
Working at home / in the arts not seen as ‘real’ work.
Procrastination – important/ not important?
ACTIONS:
Make time for your creative practice, schedule it in – it is important. It might be 5 minutes a day, once a week, once a month – but fiercely project that time like it was your child. Others value your time if you value your time.
Value tiny actions – make 5 minutes every day – start somewhere and be realistic about what you can do in 5 minutes everyday Ie: Journal, A weather diary, A haiku, A sketch.
Adapt the way you work, rather than feel frustration at what you can’t do. Ie: I used to make big paintings, but now I don’t have a studio, but I can do a small painting a day at the dining table.
A ‘room’ of ones own – A loft, a desk, a shed, a bookshelf, an ideas board – something that is yours alone. Don’t let your creative identity be consumes or usurped by others needs/spaces – you are important.
Explore methods that open up creative flow – i.e.: The Arts Way, Morning Papers
Don’t focus on the not urgent and not important things – naming what these are for you is a useful exercise.
Free up your family’s schedule if it becoming overwhelming. If you are always going somewhere, always planning, you will need to schedule space to think and space to rest.
Play and creativity for creativities sake. Start with something you enjoy for you, remove any judgment or audience – sewing, sketching, writing, singing, gardening, painting – ideas will emerge organically.
7 & 8. What do you need / want to continue your artistic practice? What do we need to be able to progress n our careers / creative practices?
REPORT BY: Lizzy Humber (MWM) and Anna Ehnold-Danailov (PIPA)
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Should I allow myself this time while the baby is small?
Flexible childcare – most nurseries are 7am - 6pm M-F but artists often have more flexible schedules, what about evenings and weekends? When you have short term project, times when you work more intensively or times you are not working, have a last minute audition .
Being able to have my baby/child with me in creative / professional spaces. As long as everyone’s needs are met. It can be distracting for you/for others, you want to be ‘at your best’
Office / creative space with children with me, or childcare provision offered.
Work / life balance
Paid work / funding
To be able to work from home some/ all the time
Space in venues.
Spaces have more access to resources.
Agents for change: A kitemark / sign that venues are family/parent friendly, and that staff are trained. Band 1 NPOs responsibility to lead.
Opportunities / events to make it explicit that you are welcome with your children.
Open calls for collaborations where children are welcome.
Other people who understand the pressures.
Other people and collaborative approach that help, inspire and focus you.
How to be honest about your needs?
Open communication
9. What simple things can ANY venue do to make mothers / fathers / carers feel more welcome in their spaces? What can we do to support and encourage parents/carers as artists?
REPORT BY: Dan Baker (Producer / Plymouth Barbican)
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Just because you have values as a venue, doesn’t mean the barriers don’t exist for audiences / participants / artists. Be open and ask “what are the barriers?”
Financial barriers – even if you can subsidise some tickets the general price can still be a barrier. Filler seat offers? Extra options on tickets ‘donate a seat’/’pay it forward’?
Libraries are AMAZING! Work as community hubs and are FREE!
Identify the right work for programming.
How do you avoid box ticking? Partnership working?
Challenges to resource and capacity – what CAN you do? Don’t be afraid of the small things.
There is an audience of culture hungry parents who cannot attend theatre in an evening (6- 8pm starts – conflicts with bedtimes), cost of babysitter added to cost of ticket price in order to attend. Consider relaxed performances where babies/children are welcome alongside parents. Consider free crèche. Consider live streaming to those unable to leave the house at night.
There are artists who are parents/carers keep to develop / renew / reignite their arts practice, skills, networks, ideas, confidences. They want to feel welcome at local arts spaces as an artist. How? Some opportunities that are inclusive for parents – i.e.: timings fit with the school day workshops between 10-2pm, children welcome to attend with you, childcare offered. Weekend courses programmed in tandem with an activity the children can do with another parent or carer in the building, or on their own if age appropriate. Consider online / recorded courses. Increase provisions for performers, artists etc. for parents and carers – don’t just do one offs – make regular part of your programme.
How to be a Parent-friendly venue: “If my child feels welcome, I feel welcome.”
All staff welcome parents and children in the building – it starts at the door, buggy accessible? Are there places to sit that are suitable in the café? Some toys, soft chairs, places to breastfeed? Is there a kids menu, healthy snacks? Having something like Ella’s pouches and kids drinks is a signal – you are welcome and included.
Programme work for children. Programme work for adults that have relaxed performances, day time options.
Buggy/pram space (plus making it clear!)
Be proactive in engaging the people you want to meet.
Survey parents as audience and artists – what do you need to be included?
Try alternatives! Other times to reach new audiences – can you do lunch time shows? Can children be present in an adult centred show? Can a crèche be offered? Can children be present in an adult centred workshop?
Consult with PIPA – Parents and Carers in The Performing Arts.
Sign post “child friendly” in programming and print.
Venues sharing a list of events that are parent friendly.
10. Ensuring that conversations about inclusivity of parents/carers in the Arts includes people of colour.
REPORT BY: Charice Bhardwaj (Non-parent, theatre maker, artist)
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
Actively inviting people of colour into conversations, rather than wishing we would just come. If we aren’t coming, orgs./individuals should be asking themselves why? E.g. Do we have a predominantly white or all white team of staff ? Why have I never noticed that before? When was the last time a person of colour set foot on this stage/exhibition wall/craft stall? If I am recalling 1 or 2 people that have in the last 3 years, is it really fair to tell myself that this is ‘enough’ and that we are not complicit in excluding POC?
Ethnic parents/carers are indefinitely more isolated in their parenthood/caring responsibilities than their white counterparts.
Connecting with and inviting groups which are already here and active: e.g. Hikmat Devon (A c-operative working with black and minority ethnic members of the community living in Devon), African and Caribbean Society Exeter, Beyond Face (Plymouth)
As a predominantly white arts org./institution, it is important to acknowledge that your own values + practices are not superior or absolute - especially because
conversations about feminism are usually dominated by white women. E.g. Not everyone wants to breastfeed in public - some Muslim women, for example, would not feel comfortable doing this. Imposing values on those outside of your lived experience is antagonistic to inclusivity.
Why not a daytime child-friendly library event celebrating Iranian culture with film, music, poetry? Facilitating spaces for people of colour to gather, share art, socialise cultivates inclusivity (in this example, an Iranian person/group would need to be at the centre of the ideas)
Thinking of art and ‘creativity’ in ways that is not just exclusive to white middle-class concepts e.g. Punjabi seamstresses, Afghani jewellery makers… Can these people run workshops for groups like MWM?
Doing versions of posters/memos in other languages like Polish, Arabic etc.
If you can’t speak Arabic for example, why not hire someone who does to run a parallel meet-up for Arabic-speaking parents/carers?
11 & 12. “Squeezed out!” Working in Arts Organisations and feeling the strain when you become a parent. Can we proudly put mother / father / carer on our CVs?
REPORT BY: Sophie McCormack (Heritage Manager and mother of two) and Lizzy Humber (MWM) | ATTENDEES: Sophie M, Lizzy, Paula, Alice W
SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION:
As parents we have acquired new skills, experiences and characteristics that benefitted us in our work. What if parenting was considered a business asset? The skills we have learnt included: patience, stamina, resilience, time management, multi tasking / plate spinning, operating on little sleep, flexibility, working more efficiently in smaller/sporadic windows, new knowledge, compassion, being creative with budgets, resourcefulness, greater insight/ connection to local community and services, new networks, stronger arms, negotiating skills, a greater ability to play, being super human. We discussed putting these as skills on a CV.
We discussed employers often having good intentions but the reality felt as parents we are more often excluded / overlooked because of false ideas, for example perceptions of (primarily) motherhood in relation to work: “You won’t be flexible, you won’t work hard because your children are your focus now, you won’t work long hours / weekends, be available all the time, you are less reliable – what if your child is sick? What if you have more maternity leaves – it costs us time and resource, we can save that disruption by hiring a man”. On the contrary the group felt we were more reliable and committed to a role and use to being flexible. It was agreed that employers that place trust in employees, offer support and understanding receive more loyalty and productivity – if you are welcome as your whole self, rather than having to present one role and hide the others – everyone loses out.
Many felt motherhood was a barrier to career progression, receiving training, receiving opportunities or even being hired - through an unspoken prejudice or exclusion at the point of design of a job / programme / course / event.
Do fathers experience this in the same way? An example was offered about a husband who had struggled to work part time or have flexibility at an all male company - no—one had never asked before and the employer wasn’t sure, they didn’t want it to be seen as unfair on the other staff. The man wanted to share childcare with partner. We agreed it was not luxurious to want to co-parent!
Feeling the pressure to return after having a child in case you loose the project / job / the team move on without you. One attendee spoke of not being given the interesting or more important jobs since she returned part time, she felt she was considered less valuable or reliable since becoming a parent, she mourned the connection she had to her work pre-parenthood and felt less loyalty to the firm as a result of feeling excluded.
One attendee did not have their contract extended when they announced they were pregnant, and another was told the company her they were disappointed she had become pregnant during the contract. One attendee said her role did not exist after her maternity as she was not there to fundraise for her job.
The expectation in the arts to go above and beyond, to do more than you are paid to do, to always be available – as parents we felt it important to have clear boundaries for our health and wellbeing, and the work/life balance. This should be across the board – not just for parents. We can all love our jobs but finish on time.
Lizzy shared the wording of part of her contract when she began working on Mothers Who Make:
“All work must be carried out in accordance with Mothers Who Make’s principles. It is worth underscoring what this means since it runs against the grain of most working practices: children are welcome throughout, at meetings, events, during phone calls and Skypes. No apology for their presence is required. Their needs will be honoured and integrated into all duties. None of the work needed to carry out this project should compromise your position as a mother – your caring responsibilities are considered to be of equal importance to your creative and producing responsibilities.”
ACTIONS:
The more we talk about it, the more we normalise it.
Lead the way or advocate for co-workers / collaborators to be better supported in their parenting duties.
If you are in a position of recruitment consider – is this role accessible if I was a parent? Much like you would/should consider gender, sexuality, race, religion, class and disability when creating a role that is accessible and inclusive. What language can you use to ensure this is inclusive? Flexible hours, supporting homeworking, consider a job share.
If you see a job you want but it feels inaccessible alongside your parenting role, ask the employer whether they would consider a job share, if you are the right person for the job will they explore ways to support your role as a parent. (Most felt this would be if offered the job)
If you feel excluded – ask to be included.
Employers – have open dialogue with employees about the caring roles they hold. Asking employees who are parents – what do you need to do all your roles well and thrive?
13. Your library as a creative and engaging space for parents, carers, children and families.
REPORT BY: Jess Huffman
The feeling was that Libraries already do this very well and actually arts venues could learn something from them. As public spaces, they already do a great job of being open and accessible to a diverse audience, providing all the basic facilities for families and carers free of the connotations and barriers that so often come with visiting an 'arts venue.'
Barriers are to getting families and audiences into arts venues and events:
Costs
That art isn't for them
That venues aren't 'child friendly' / patient / tolerant / equipped
Lots of rules that make it difficult to bring children into them
Events scheduled for evenings
Perceptions that the arts are for the middle class and privileged
Events don't represent the audiences they are reaching out to - in the attendees, advertising, topics
They don't generally run a programme for families therefore it's not a venue they are used to attending
Lack of interpretation for non-English speakers, provisions for those with disabilities, space/freedom to move around
The event or venue is alien or unfamiliar, not local to them or a space they are used to visiting
A need for:
Building relationships with diverse groups over time and in different ways
Venues to ensure like Libraries they work as neutral spaces/territories - void of politics, class, race and age
A recognised kitemark for spaces to promote themselves as 'family friendly'
Point of contact or support for those with questions and concerns about attending events/venues
Cultivating a culture of inclusivity and flexibility
Employing simple methods for making parents and carers feel welcome and supported while visiting such as signposting, inclusivity guidelines
Venues and organisations to reach out to audiences by asking them what they want / need / enjoy
Examples of creative organisations that use Library spaces to reach diverse audiences and families:
Barbican - Plymouth
Mothers Who Make - across the UK
Drag Queen Story Time
Plymouth Library programmes performance
Above Bound - 3 - 5 years festivals in libraries - Plymouth
Travelling Light - Children's Theatre group
Respect festival
Bounce and Rhyme in Libraries
Dance in Devon – All Aboard! project – parents/carers and children dancing together in libraries
Make Tank, Paris St, Exeter
Beyond Face - Raising the profile and visibility of people of colour in the arts
www.PiPACampaign.com - enables and empowers parents, carers and employers to achieve sustainable change in attitudes and practices in order to attract, support and retain a more diverse and flexible workforce. By working in partnership we raise awareness, find creative solutions and promote best practice in the UK Performing Arts.
