SOME NOTES ON “INCLUSION”PAT KANE, THE PLAY ETHIC

FOR CREATIVE SCOTLAND, 1/2/16

John Lennon: b. 1940Bob Dylan: b. 1941Lou Reed: b. 1942David Bowie: b. 1947

PRUDENTIAL: 1948 – THE LUCKIEST AGE TO BE BORN: 3 DECADES OF WELFARE STATE – FOLLOWED BY 3 DECADES OF RISING ASSET PRICES

Joni Mitchell: b. 1941Aretha Franklin: b. 1941Laurie Anderson: b. 1947Chrissie Hynde: b. 1951

“The Political Economy of David Bowie’, Will Davies

Thomas Piketty: “The past devours the future” (previous inequalities dictate present ones; returns to capital exceeds rising wages)

Davies: “Those born in the 1940s and ’50s owed nothing to the past, because the past had been blitzed, flattened, written off, cancelled. That trough in Piketty’s graph above was a unique opportunity for playfulness, uninhibited by fear of what one’s creditors or benefactors might think”.

Now…Where artists live with parents, or work three jobs, to stay viable...Where the data we generate enforced our credit ratings...Where the shadow of debt, hangs over any bold life experiments...Is what we mourn about Bowie’s loss the sheer freedom from the overhang of the past?

Equality Act (2010) – Protected characteristics Age * Disability * Gender reassignment * Race/ethnicity * Religion or belief * Sex/gender * Sexual orientation * Pregnancy and maternity * Marriage and civil partnership

Bowie & Co – benefitted from being “luckiest” generation, free to genuinely transform, shape-shift, innovate, BE EXACTLY WHO THEY WANT TO BE, under conditions of greater socio-economic equality. (Ellie Harrison just presumed she could do this…?)

But for CS to ”include” economic “inclusion” in EDI is a HUGE challenge – for which a creative agency, on its own, is poorly equipped...

...HOW DOES/SHOULD INCLUSION IN ARTS AND CULTURE RELATE TO GENIUS, WORLD-CHANGING TALENT? IRRELEVANT/RELEVANT?

WHAT ARE THE ENABLING CONDITIONS, IN AN AGE WHERE SOME OF THE ETHICAL BATTLES THESE ARTISTS FOUGHT HAVE BEEN WON? (SOME NOT!)

THE ‘10,000 HOURS’ RULE (Gladwell)

THE ‘SOCIAL TURN’ IN CONTEMPORARY ARTS

Experts at practising – they push themselves to the exact limit of their skillset and thus expand their abilities day after dayWhat conditions support a mass culture of practising?

Artists/creators feel their role is to have an impact on communities, their skills serving ascertained needs (eg, Assemble, Turner Prize winners). Gives purpose to artists – but does it make MORE artists?

“ALL PROBLEMS OF NOTATION WILL BE SOLVED BY THE MASSES”, SIMON YUILL, 2008

“A practice that is collaborative coheres the production of many under a single goal, thereby directing the disposition of their labour.”

”A practice that is distributive enables the disposition of labour by others under their own direction.” [musical notation, computer code…black jazz collectives, FLOSS]

Artistic inclusion must be about both collaborative practice AND distributive practice – directing the creative labour, AND enabling creative labour of others?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ”MAINSTREAM” EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INTO THE ARTS AND CULTURE...WHEN ARTS AND CULTURE WILL BECOME THE MAINSTREAM ACTIVITY OF A SOCIETY?

Job categories most at risk

• office and administrative support;

• sales and services; • transport; • construction and extraction; • manufacturing

Job categories least at risk

• skilled management * financial services

• computing, engineering, science• education * legal services• community services * ARTS AND

MEDIA• healthcare.

Three types of task that come naturally to us, but are hard for robots• Originality• Social intelligence• Interacting with complex objects in

unstructured environments

Osborne and Frey: 35-47% of Anglo-American jobs to be lost to automation over next 10-30 years

TO ME, THIS HAS VERY OBVIOUS IMPLICATIONS…

”ARTS AND MEDIA” (ALONG WITH “EDUCATION”, ”COMMUNITY SERVICES”, “SKILLED MANAGEMENT”, “HEALTHCARE”) ARE GOING TO BE STITCHING TOGETHER A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT, IMPLYING NEW SOCIAL NORMS…

CREATIVE SECTOR WILL HAVE ITS HANDS FULL VALUING “EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION” - WHEN IT LOOKS LIKE SO MANY WILL FEEL LIKE THEY’RE BEING “LEFT BEHIND”...THREATENING INTOLERANCE, IMPATIENCE, ANGRY EXCLUSION...

UNLESS DEFINITIONS OF THE MAINSTREAM RADICALLY TRANSFORM AND CHANGE...

DEFINITIONS OF THE MAINSTREAM RADICALLY TRANSFORMING AND CHANGING...?

SO, AMIDST ORGANISATIONAL PRESCIRPTIONS FOR EDI, DON’T FORGET TO:-• SUPPORT YOUR MAVERICK, CATEGORY-

DEFYING, DIFFERENCE-BLENDING VISIONARIES

• ENGAGE WITH SOCIO-ECONOMIC FUTURE - CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS CAN & MUST ENVISION IT, TOO!

THANK YOU!SOME NOTES ON

“INCLUSION”PAT KANE, THE PLAY ETHIC

FOR CREATIVE SCOTLAND, 1/2/16