FREELANCERS MAKE THEATRE WORK MEETING: FRIDAY 20th AUGUST
Chair: Peter McKintosh
Minutes: Josie Underwood
Attending: Freddie Crossley, Jake Orr, Athena Stevens, Paule Constable, Vicki Mortimer, Paul Carey Jones, Josie Underwood, Emma Jayne Park, Susan Kempster, Beth Steel
Apologies: Shankho Chaudhuri, Leigh Toney, Tom Piper, Leo Wan, Mimi Doulton, Alistair Cope
Updates & reports:
March for the Arts meeting
- March for the Arts meeting Tuesday 24th 9.30-10.30am
- PC – NPO funding applications rounds are very soon, this should be brought to the conversation with March for the Arts
- VM – September NPO deadline is for renewals, January is for new NPO’s
ACTION POINTS
- Share link for MftA meeting (Josie) thumbs up if you can come (Everyone)
BAC update
- Moment of tension for timelines surrounding the BAC call out led to us saying that we would like to advice, but not put our name to the call out. FMTW is not a rubber stamp on this process!
- Next step is for us to give detailed feedback on the call out, and for us to categorise the different types of feedback we can offer for future use (ie linguistics, artistic vision, the way partnerships work, safeguarding)
- BAC originally asked for us to beon the assessor panel, but we are going to observe as opposed to being involved in decisions, as this fits better with our role as critical friend.
- SK – asked if it is a conflict of interest for FMTW volunteers to now apply to the BAC call out. EJ – This is considered in the first instance. No, it is not a conflict of interest as FMTW have no insight on the application process.
Away Day (More info on its way!)
Summary and learning
- PC shared a powerpoint that summarised the thoughts/feelings/general outcome from the away day, and made offers of how we can move forward.
- PCJ – Like the idea of formalising what already exists. Away day felt that clarifying the processes that we already have.
- BS – “living with positive tension” / “good enough is perfect” – there was a sense of wanting a project and action, and that we need to operate a little bit more guerilla (which also feels more realistic). Flaws are completely ok, as long as you are getting things done. We should embrace this with vigilance and care.
- VM – the questions such as “are the right people in the room?” as opposed to “is this the perfect decision?” are the way to move forward
- EJ – We should be encouraged by a move away from “Perfectionism,” and should include this in our anti-racist work as perfection is a tool of white supremacy!
Decision making
- EJ then presented an offer for a decision making process which involves big questions for the group being taken to polls that are shared weekly. There was a conversation around the inclusion of a ‘disagree’ option in addition to the originally proposed options. An outline of EJ’s original offer can be found here.
- It was decided that we will try this process going forward (in the spirit of not having to be perfect, but having to get things done!)
- There were some issues in the trial of zoom polls (editing answers, included everyone in the call etc) that EJ is going to have a look into resolving for future use.
Offers (more info in Paule’s presentation)
- Polls are provided with contacts for more info on the poll, so that anyone not present knows who to contact for more info/any questions.
- EJ – all members of the group are responsible for taking notes. Energy can then be put into the work, as opposed to trying to keep up with what is going on!
- VM – accessing info is hard if I have to learn new formats (ie spreadsheet)
- PM – the simpler the better in terms of accessing information
- Josie offer – Meeting notes can be documented in any way and Josie can then format them so that they are accessible for the whole group.
- VM – Notes shared in advance can be attached to the agenda
- Volunteers are invited to contribute to Active/Reactive group, polls or working groups (Additional process group?)
- Revisit conversation about onboarding new members in next weeks meeting
- Avoid replicating work – a project group. If we get our networking right then this can help with capacity and onboarding
- Josie offer – Different levels of involvement suggestions so that volunteers can engage differently based on their capacity/health/access requirements, but so that we can also maintain momentum and know who the active members of the group are.
ACTION POINTS
- Share Richards feedback (Josie / Paule)
- Share Paule’s presentation of offers (Josie / Paule)
- Iron out technical issues with decision polls. (EJ)
- Revisit conversation about onboarding new members in next weeks meeting
- Josie to create ‘different levels of involvement’ suggestions (Josie)
Taxing freelancers
- Emails into the inbox regarding the freelancer tax reform that is under discussion.
- Josie to post on the group if anyone would like to be involved in this conversation moving forward, and responding to the emails asking who is currently in the conversation (ie IPSE?)
ACTION POINTS
- Josie to share offer of further conversation around taxing freelancers
- Action points (11.20-11.22)
- Share link for MftA meeting (Josie) – Thumbs up if you can come (Everyone)
- Share Richards feedback (Josie / Paule)
- Share Paule’s presentation of offers (Josie / Paule)
- Iron out technical issues with decision polls. (EJ)
- Revisit conversation about onboarding new members in next weeks meeting
- Share offer of further conversation around taxing freelancers (Josie)
- Josie to create ‘different levels of involvement’ suggestions (Josie)
Upcoming Friday Meetings:
27th Aug: Chair – Peter Mck Minutes Josie Underwood
3rd Sep: Chair – Peter Mck Minutes Josie Underwood
10th Sep: Chair – Ben Arkell Minutes TBC
17th Sep: Chair – Ben Arkell Minutes Josie Underwood
25th Sep: Chair – Peter Mck Minutes Josie Underwood