The Substation Town Hall - Revision history

WikiSysop at 05:51, 2 March 2016

2016-03-02T05:51:45Z

WikiSysop at 05:49, 2 March 2016

2016-03-02T05:49:53Z

WikiSysop at 05:27, 2 March 2016

2016-03-02T05:27:08Z

WikiSysop at 15:24, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T15:24:17Z

WikiSysop at 15:21, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T15:21:31Z

WikiSysop at 15:16, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T15:16:05Z

WikiSysop at 15:15, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T15:15:27Z

WikiSysop at 14:16, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T14:16:23Z

WikiSysop at 14:10, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T14:10:37Z

WikiSysop at 14:10, 29 February 2016

2016-02-29T14:10:05Z

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 * 3 streams
 * "nostalgia" (erm seriously? 25 years of nostalgia last year not enough meh)
 == Notes made before the first town hall ==
@@ Line 66: / Line 68: @@
 * how does the space intend to allow for more timely discussions to arise in response to events or changes?
 |}

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 * bench
 * 3 streams
-* nostalgia (seriously)
+* "nostalgia" (erm seriously? 25 years of nostalgia last year not enough meh)
 == Notes made before the first town hall ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:27, 2 March 2016
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+
		+	== Week 1 Town Hall: 1 March 2016, 7.30pm, Substation Gallery ==
		+
		+	TLDR SUMMARY:
		+
		+	* carpark
		+	* bench
		+	* 3 streams
		+	* nostalgia (seriously)
		+
		+	== Notes made before the first town hall ==
		+
		+	Compiled 29 Feb 2016.
	'''IMPORTANT NOTE: the content in this page is <u>not mine only</u> but has been edited/compiled from various recent discussions with a number of other artists/art workers and also from other shared google docs. Some of the ideas have been reworded in my words. It was difficult to grasp the enormity of it all the issues so i thought it would be beneficial to divide it into questions on different levels. I have reorganised and typed it out in the hopes of just providing some useful starting points for thinking about The Substation.'''		'''IMPORTANT NOTE: the content in this page is <u>not mine only</u> but has been edited/compiled from various recent discussions with a number of other artists/art workers and also from other shared google docs. Some of the ideas have been reworded in my words. It was difficult to grasp the enormity of it all the issues so i thought it would be beneficial to divide it into questions on different levels. I have reorganised and typed it out in the hopes of just providing some useful starting points for thinking about The Substation.'''

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 * With a so-called lean team at hand, where do they draw the distinction between artists as practitioners and artists as part time staff?
 * Fair pay for staff: The staff of The Substation are key to its running, it is their passion for their jobs and professionalism which makes it what it is, yet they will end up working extremely long hours with very little remuneration. This potentially makes it very hard for the team to do its best when met with personal pressures as well as work pressures. The staff (starting from the Artistic Director, General manager, programmers, techs, operations, finance, everyone else) need to be receiving a pay at market rate.
-** Question: What is the kind of of time and energy investment is the current AD going to be able to put in? (Does he currently juggle other hats? What are they? Is he planning on putting some other commitments aside to focus on The Substation? Will he make a statement on this, as there isn't much public information on this currently?)
+** Question: What is the kind of of time and energy investment is the current AD going to be able to put in? (What are the other hats that he juggles? Is he planning on putting some other commitments aside to focus on The Substation? Will he disclose more on his other commitments and make a statement on this?)
 * At the interest of creating programmes with artists, how are artists compensated fairly? And how do we address issues of rights of the programme?
 '''Open season and sub season''' (Current AD has proposed a clear division within the year with an Open and Sub season as distinctly seperate)

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:21, 29 February 2016
Line 48:		Line 48:
	* The Substation's direction now seems to be one that encourages artists to deal with "difficult questions" and think critically about society at large, and to reassess perhaps the stakes artists have in society. Difficult questions, surely, will include issues the state will not be willing to confront including operation coldstore, operation spectrum, josef ng, lack of democracy, 377a, labour rights, human rights, queer communities, capital punishment just to name a few. Will substation be ready to support artists who wish to deal with these concerns?		* The Substation's direction now seems to be one that encourages artists to deal with "difficult questions" and think critically about society at large, and to reassess perhaps the stakes artists have in society. Difficult questions, surely, will include issues the state will not be willing to confront including operation coldstore, operation spectrum, josef ng, lack of democracy, 377a, labour rights, human rights, queer communities, capital punishment just to name a few. Will substation be ready to support artists who wish to deal with these concerns?

		+	'''Broad questions - how broad?'''
		+	* the focus on tackling one big question a year - limitations of conventional thematic approaches - how to be timely or keep that sense of continuities accruing to events over time?
		+	* why not let the currency of ideas materialise in process of working alongside the artists? by doing big questions sometimes it ignores the sometimes small detailed actualities of being in our lived reality.
		+	* how does the space intend to allow for more timely discussions to arise in response to events or changes?
	\|}		\|}

@@ Line 36: / Line 36: @@
 * Why release a document under the name of Substation which represents the current AD's unmediated voice of management? [http://www.scribd.com/doc/300578396/BACKGROUND-EARLIER-PROPOSAL-MAY-12-2015-By-Alan-Oei BACKGROUND / EARLIER PROPOSAL MAY 12 2015 - By Alan Oei] This is not a text that all artists know how to read. It is not in the language for the masses, but looks like a document for upper management. Why release it wholesale?
-'''Artist Residency - zones of contact?'''
+'''Artist Residency - how to define zones of contact?'''
 * idea for a residency programme potentiates the regional/international reach of the substation. What are the conceivable circulations and cycles of practice that the substation envisions in the next three years? What zones of contacts are privileged (SEA? Asia Pacific? Pick and mix?) What are the kinds of considerations that go into artist selection?
@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 * Do we really need such a cabinet of curiosities? Are there really any real curiosities, or will they have to be invented? There are concerns that "quirky" plans like cabinets of curiosities in an art space perpetuates a false pretense of looking at so-called "unique" objects. Trying to make an artefact sound "quirky" or "weird" just emphasises its so-called "individualism" and self-importance, rendering it unable to provide any acute reflections on society itself. All the audience will get out of it is: "Oh! art is weird!"...
-'''Difficult questions:'''
+'''Difficult questions - how to define how difficult?'''
-The Substation's direction now seems to be one that encourages artists to deal with "difficult questions" and think critically about society at large, and to reassess perhaps the stakes artists have in society. Difficult questions, surely, will include issues the state will not be willing to confront including operation coldstore, operation spectrum, josef ng, lack of democracy, 377a, labour rights, human rights, queer communities, capital punishment just to name a few. Will substation be ready to support artists who wish to deal with these concerns?
+* The Substation's direction now seems to be one that encourages artists to deal with "difficult questions" and think critically about society at large, and to reassess perhaps the stakes artists have in society. Difficult questions, surely, will include issues the state will not be willing to confront including operation coldstore, operation spectrum, josef ng, lack of democracy, 377a, labour rights, human rights, queer communities, capital punishment just to name a few. Will substation be ready to support artists who wish to deal with these concerns?
 |}

@@ Line 35: / Line 35: @@
 '''The Public Voice'''
 * Why release a document under the name of Substation which represents the current AD's unmediated voice of management? [http://www.scribd.com/doc/300578396/BACKGROUND-EARLIER-PROPOSAL-MAY-12-2015-By-Alan-Oei BACKGROUND / EARLIER PROPOSAL MAY 12 2015 - By Alan Oei] This is not a text that all artists know how to read. It is not in the language for the masses, but looks like a document for upper management. Why release it wholesale?
 '''Inclusivity of communities'''

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |- style="vertical-align:top;"
 |'''The Board's role needs to be clarified to the public'''
-* Is it due for an overhaul? The current board has been in place for a long time. It left The Substation without an Artistic Director for 9 months. Rarely has one seen an arts organisation left without direction for so long, to the point where artists become very concerned about its fate. Does the board really still care about The Substation? Can it prove it?
+* Is it due for an overhaul? The current board has been in place for a long time. It left The Substation without an Artistic Director for 9 months in 2015. Rarely has one seen an arts organisation left without direction for so long, to the point where everyone including the artists become very concerned about its fate or whether it would close down. Does the board really still care about The Substation? How can it prove it?
 * Can there be more public transparency in how the board operates? It is currently like a black box - many artists who have worked with The Substation sometimes don't even know who it is on its board. Even some of us who thought we knew, actually didn't realise that members of the board had stepped down or had reduced their involvement with it.
 * Accountability and connection with the artists of today - are the board in touch with the needs of artists today? Do they see what is happening on the ground in the arts today, in order to allow them to make the best executive decisions and advice for The Substation?
@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 '''Labour and Fair remuneration for artists and artworkers:'''
 * With a so-called lean team at hand, where do they draw the distinction between artists as practitioners and artists as part time staff?
-* Fair pay for staff: The staff of The Substation are key to its running, it is their passion for their jobs and professionalism which makes it what it is, yet they will end up working extremely long hours with very little remuneration. This potentially makes it very hard for the team to do its best when met with personal pressures as well as work pressures. The staff (starting from the Artistist Director, General manager, programmers, techs, operations, finance, everyone else) need to be receiving a pay at market rate.
+* Fair pay for staff: The staff of The Substation are key to its running, it is their passion for their jobs and professionalism which makes it what it is, yet they will end up working extremely long hours with very little remuneration. This potentially makes it very hard for the team to do its best when met with personal pressures as well as work pressures. The staff (starting from the Artistic Director, General manager, programmers, techs, operations, finance, everyone else) need to be receiving a pay at market rate.
 * At the interest of creating programmes with artists, how are artists compensated fairly? And how do we address issues of rights of the programme?
 '''Open season and sub season''' (Current AD has proposed a clear division within the year with an Open and Sub season as distinctly seperate)
 * Will there be continuation of Partial Support or Venue Support?: In the past, many artists who did not get full support for their projects were sometimes helped by partial substation venue support, which helped make a lot of projects possible. Under the open season, will there still be partially supported events like in the past?
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 '''The Public Voice'''
-* Why release a document under the name of Substation which represents the current AD's unmediated voice of management? [http://www.scribd.com/doc/300578396/BACKGROUND-EARLIER-PROPOSAL-MAY-12-2015-By-Alan-Oei BACKGROUND / EARLIER PROPOSAL MAY 12 2015 - By Alan Oei]
+* Why release a document under the name of Substation which represents the current AD's unmediated voice of management? [http://www.scribd.com/doc/300578396/BACKGROUND-EARLIER-PROPOSAL-MAY-12-2015-By-Alan-Oei BACKGROUND / EARLIER PROPOSAL MAY 12 2015 - By Alan Oei] This is not a text that all artists know how to read. It is not in the language for the masses, but looks like a document for upper management. Why release it wholesale?
 '''Inclusivity of communities'''

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |-
 |'''Executive'''
 |'''Operations'''
 |'''Curatorial'''
 |- style="vertical-align:top;"
 |'''The Board's role needs to be clarified to the public'''