r33 – together in labour
Research agenda: In precarious times, what stratergies can small-scale arts and cultural organisations adopt to sustain themselves and support one another?
Work in small arts organisations is often cast in the language of reproduction: organisers’ projects are “brainchildren” that need to be “grown,” “nurtured” and “kept alive” via labour that demands sustained personal commitment. Presenting arts organisations as passion projects and arts workers as instinctive, unstoppable givers of social gifts, this kind of language obscures the punishing economic and labour conditions most small arts organisations face.
This residency offers an opportunity to unpack the situation and discuss sustainable solutions. It is proposed by PRAKSIS (Oslo), the Museum of Impossible Forms (Helsinki), and Tenthaus (Oslo): small independent arts organisations sustained by passion, solidarity and a commitment to cultural change. Like many of our peers we inhabit an increasingly unstable socio-economic environment and face insecure funding structures, rising costs, shrinking political support and increasing pressure to produce more with less.
Coincidentally, as they continue to steer their organisations through tricky currents, residency conveners Nicholas and Giovanna are both navigating new parenthood. Balancing these processes requires the creation and implementation of effective, inventive new strategies. So, this residency invites others facing similar challenges to go to work on the following research questions: how do we support our communities, collaborators and (very importantly) ourselves when resources are tight and expectations high? How do we adjust our operations so that they become sustainable without losing relevance, purpose and impact?
This residency invites fellow organisers, artists, curators, educators and activists who are similarly tackling the tensions of small-scale cultural work to share experiences, map obstacles, and imagine strategies for survival, continuity, and more workable conditions.