The Barber Institute of Fine Arts’ Post

One of the best parts of working in an archive is getting to share your collections. And what's even better is when the people with whom you've shared your collections want to share their experience of your collections! #archiveslife #specialcollections

I love this paper by Joost Vervoort et al that identifies 9 dimensions of transformation, and start those with embodying. I feel this is such a missing link in many institutions, where transformation often seems like a theoretical, rather than a practical, personal and emotional challenge. I know I have a lot of people in my network here that are working on transformation in some way or other. Which of these 9 dimensions do you work on (most)? I work most on imagining (meanings), inspiring (connections) and co-creating-subverting (power), and would love to do more in terms of embodying (also meanings). How about you?

My QUT (Queensland University of Technology) colleague Dr Kathryn Kelly & I recently published an article in Performance Paradigm looking at the history of arts org funding across the lifespan of the Theatre Board of the Australia Council/Australian Council/Creative Australia. Using a LOT of data, we attempted to tell a story not of the "winners" but those that lost out as governments and their agendas came and went. I love empirical data - for the stories it can tell, and the weaknesses it reveals. For this first look at the data, we focused on the stories of First Nations theatre companies, multi-cultural theatre companies and regional youth theatre companies. The image below (see comments) shows the Theatre Board funding to Youth Theatre Organisations from 1975-2023, with the blue bars representing total number funded and the orange line showing the average amount given to each company per year (adj. for inflation). This shows how the number of companies funded has dramatically reduced over the history of AusCo. Inflation has hollowed out any hope of reach and impact as resources were concentrated into smaller and smaller numbers of organisations. See more in our article. You can read this for free online here - https://lnkd.in/gmSa5bVj (Note: the gap is data is due to missing annual reports from Creative Australia records at the time of publishing. These reports have since been located, and we'll be publishing new findings soon!)

Sharing this amazing research, sharp and generous analysis, and useful fraemwork: 9 Dimensions for evaluating how art and creative practice stimulate societal transformations. Thanks Ruth Catlow for forwarding.

Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Timothy Francis this Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 1pm ET. “Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn" explores bureaucracy through the works of three artists working in different media: prose, visual art, and bureaucracy itself as a medium. Rooted in an understanding of what constitutes bureaucracy and administration and previous works on the subject, it seeks to explore what might constitute bureaucratic art and what the aims of such an art might be. Building upon existing literature and prior artistic explorations of bureaucracy and their analyses, this thesis aims to understand bureaucratic art and unravel its significance and potential impacts. The works are considered individually and collectively, offering multifaceted insights from different perspectives. By navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic structures and creative interpretation, this thesis endeavors to shed light on the intersections between bureaucracy and artistry, ultimately paving the way for a deeper appreciation and comprehension of administrative or bureaucratic art. https://ow.ly/j3C050RaU9m

It’s hard to come across good news these days. Or calm and collected debate. Which is why I was glad to find this nice little news nugget to form the basis of our Today Do This newsletter last week… London’s Tate Britain unveiled a new work by Keith Piper that seeks to contextualise a 1927 Rex Whistler mural containing racist images. At first glance, the mural shows a typically serene landscape, but sections of it are undeniably offensive. Keith Piper, part of the British Black Arts movement in the 1980s, created a film now installed next to the mural which imagines an academic challenging Whistler. Is that the best way to deal with offensive art? It’s a thorny question, and I like the way both the museum and artist responded to it. The museum’s director, Alex Farquharson, said: “The mural is part of our institutional and cultural history and we must take responsibility for it, but this new approach will also enable us to reflect the values and commitments we hold today and to bring new voices and ideas to the fore.” Piper said: “I know there is an argument among young people now that these images retraumatise, but I think we either look or forget. We are very good at forgetting nowadays and things that are out of sight go out of mind. To keep a clear sense of history we need to see these things.” Taking responsibility, amplifying different voices, learning from mistakes to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself… those all sound like things the world could use more of. What do you think? In the comments, I’ll link to a debate by young people about a similar situation at the Vermont Law and Graduate School. Their views run the gamut, and it’s well worth a read. https://lnkd.in/egGwUYPs

Signum University Graduate School presents Thesis Theater with Timothy Francis this Thursday, April 11, 2024 at 1pm ET. “Administrative Art as Genre in Kafka, Tooker, and Ravn" explores bureaucracy through the works of three artists working in different media: prose, visual art, and bureaucracy itself as a medium. Rooted in an understanding of what constitutes bureaucracy and administration and previous works on the subject, it seeks to explore what might constitute bureaucratic art and what the aims of such an art might be. Building upon existing literature and prior artistic explorations of bureaucracy and their analyses, this thesis aims to understand bureaucratic art and unravel its significance and potential impacts. The works are considered individually and collectively, offering multifaceted insights from different perspectives. By navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic structures and creative interpretation, this thesis endeavors to shed light on the intersections between bureaucracy and artistry, ultimately paving the way for a deeper appreciation and comprehension of administrative or bureaucratic art. https://ow.ly/ZvML50RaU9n

Docents - you rock. I’m always so full of admiration for docents - volunteers who act as guides in a museum or art gallery. Why? Because they ✅  Do it for love, not money  ✅  Undertake extensive training to learn the facts, the stories, the backgrounds to the works of art ✅  Are on their feet all day  ✅  Use their voices all day Having trained docents to enhance their vocal impact for speaking in large echoing spaces, I always stress the importance of vocal warm ups before taking a group through the museum or art gallery. And the same applies to anyone preparing to speak in an acoustically challenging environment. Always warm up the voice: 👄 Lip trills  👄 Breathing exercises  👄 Articulation warm ups Just taking 5 mins to prepare will help to avoid any voice strain. Great to spend time with the docents at the always outstanding Victoria and Albert museum, London. I hope you found some of my tips useful. 🏆⭐️ Helping Good Speakers Become Great Speakers.

"Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right." --Dr. Jane Goodall (widely credited, specific source unknown) Dr. Goodall understands that there can be no progress without dialogue, and listening is an essential element of dialogue. At UCA, we consider constantly how we are engaging in the advocacy process. Are we listening? Are we giving space for everyone to be heard? Are we listening openly and honestly to those we disagree with, with the intent to understand? It is sometimes challenging to juggle this ideal with the emotions we may feel in the moment about any particular situation. We are so grateful to all of you for engaging so thoughtfully with the legislature and with each other these last two months. It's hard work (albeit important work) sometimes, but seeing positive change encourages us that we're on the right path (check out the Session Report at the link in bio to see some of those positive changes!). As an aside: one of our staff enjoyed taking his family to the exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah, Becoming Jane, which is currently running at the museum through May 27. We encourage you to visit and learn more about the influential and determined Dr. Jane Goodall, her scientific endeavors, and also her strong advocacy for the things she believes in. Here's the link for the exhibit: https://lnkd.in/gfycUz-5 #UtahCulture #UtahAdvocacy #UtahMuseums #UtahHumanities #utleg #utpol Photo of Dr. Goodall by Nick Stepowyj, provided via Flickr at the link listed below, and licensed under Creative Commons 2.0. Image was modified to better fit in the designed graphic with the included quote. Image Title: Jane Goodall Image Description: Jane Goodall attending the 18th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival at the Maidstone Hotel in East Hampton, New York. Image Date: October 10, 2010 https://lnkd.in/gcZGMZ-V

How Critical Digital Pedagogy enhanced Five Conversations In reflecting on critical digital pedagogy I have considered an instance from my own practice. Though I am not directly referencing my teaching experience I believe my art and teaching practice both nurture the same themes of inclusiveness, communication and sharing ideas and experiences. In 2019 I received an Arts Council grant to complete a project called ‘Five Conversations’. Initially I proposed to create visual portrait styled maps of five inspirational Northern Irish Women. These maps would document the places and experiences that had helped them to get to 2020. These where to be exhibited in a gallery. Then Covid happened. This project had to change, obviously it had to, everything had to change. The biggest change was that instead of working with 5 inspirational women I worked with 6. I collaborated with a Esther Mogada @creatingaspace, a Northern Irish film maker, to put together a digital film about the project and these women. Making this digital opened it up to a much wider audience. I was able to promote it as an online exhibition. I was lucky enough to be able to hold an exhibition where the illustrated maps where displayed but I also blended the video into the show. It ended up being the most powerful piece in the exhibit. I believe this was because it incorporated the definition of critical digital pedagogy outlined by Stommel (2014). It was a collaboration with community at the centre. It opened the project up to diverse international voices/viewers. It was not defined by a single voice and had its roots outside the traditional ideas associated with art and gallery exhibitions. The full video can be viewed here: https://lnkd.in/e-Fi_WAP #teaching #pgcert #theory #teachingpractice #blendedlearning #digitalpedegogy #northernireland #artisticpractice #inclusivity