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stella41b -> Ah but who will eventually cough up..? (4/16/2009 5:27:38 PM)
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Well I've done it, which is basically achieve what I set out to do at the start of the year. Last night in the company of the esteemed Ravenmuse and metalmiss I presented a revamped and much more dynamic version of my fringe play 'Switch' a little less than two weeks after opening 'Death', another fringe play at another venue in West London, and the start of June sees not just the opening performance of 'Switch' at the London Alternative Market (LAM) but also the opening of a new fringe comedy 'The Civil Wedding' at another venue in Islington.
I'm also going through the official process of starting theatre workshops with productions in five large hostels for the homeless working in partnership with two of the major homeless charities, St Mungo's and Thamesreach (formerly Thamesreach Bondway) working on two large scale comedies 'Cabbages' and 'The Foreign Patient' which are being prepared additionally for large fringe festivals in Toronto, Canada and Orlando in Florida.
This year alone I am in a position to open no less than six major fringe productions. I'm also working with members of the BBC Symphony Choir to set up a choir of homeless people for a possible reality TV show.
For six months I have been working on a Work Directions welfare to work scheme and meeting with business advisors with a view to funding some of the projects. I am still drawing means tested minimum amount welfare benefits and have yet to receive any of the promised grants as when it comes to funding I prefer to have something solid and tangible - ideas are not enough, and so I have worked to arrange venues, cast members, dates of possible performances, and even multimedia images - photo, sound clips and video clips of all the projects.
However six months down the line everybody is still looking to the government to do something, and that 'something' is nothing more than an Arts Council grant which is still seen as the primary source of funding. I feel like Julius Caesar with my casts of professional actors and homeless people everywhere, 'veni vidi vici' and however which way you look at it I am laying siege to London.. and London, especially corporate London, is just not ready.
There is an overwhelming sense of apathy, a tendency to sit back and do nothing. Donations are welcomed of course, but I for one know that whatever donations are made from one section of the business community it will be greeted with a sneer from another. Our first reaction as a society is to say 'thank you' and our second reaction is 'what are they after?'
Indeed, in some cases the latter comes even before the former - this is a country rife with envy and cynicism, a country where the rich try whatever they can to buy honours (which sadly, sometimes, works out) and instead of celebrating and enjoying success - as would be the case in the United States - there are many who just want to knock you down and try whatever they can to tear you apart.
The problem is with our culture, which is not the culture of the United States, there is no philanthrophy, no attempt at the development of ideas or the processing of initiatives, and it is within this culture that generosity is seen as the exception rather than the rule. In the United States it is so different. Every business person who makes it is expected as a matter of duty to put something back. Virtually every town can point to an arts centre, hospital, or library that bears the name of a single individual and their foundation.
And what do we have here in the UK? The government are suggesting tax breaks, but even with political support, which I do have, particularly among New Labour's bank benches and politicians such as Ken Livingstone, the national willingness for people to dip into their pockets is sadly left to the people. This is where the Government should be taking a firm stand, to be far more enthusiastic about giving to the arts and making it very clear that cultural events are not the preserve of an elite few.
This whole process has brought me face to face with corporate greed in the City, and the process is further hampered by the recession and the onslaught against the banks. There is talk of a new softer system emerging, 'moral capitalism', but from my experience here in London, it is being left to the charitable whims and desires of the BDSM community and the homeless themselves.
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