FREELANCERS MAKE THEATRE WORK MEETING: FRIDAY 21st MAY
Chair: Peter McKintosh
Minutes: Jess Murrain
Present: Paul Carey Jones, Shankho Chaudhuri, Jake Orr, Athena Stevens, Alistair Cope, Vicki Mortimer, Ben Arkell, Peter McKintosh, Kelsie Acton, Emma Jayne Park, Ben Arkell, Steven Hogget, John McCann, Jess Murrain, Leo Wan, Shankho Chaudhuri
Updates and reports
Theatre Can Change Campaign (JM) updated where we are at, current working group actions- including distilling experiences and organising them into categories
Working group currently includes: Leigh, Jess, Kelsie, Al, Josie (EJ feeding in processes and ideas to move this forward also). But group open to all and everyone invited to next collective working group meeting on this.
SH: Question: Are we suggesting solves and/or flagging solutions, rather than we serves ‘slaps’ it’s also opening up ideas to suggest best practise, legalities of working our it’s not necessarily our responsibility but we do have a sense of a better system/ framework to support. So presenting solves in a wider context and structure.
PM: Are there any sensitive things being brought up around COVID? Who and which freelancers are organisations speaking to when making big decisions? Wh
AC: Very productive meeting had; one thing we decided was to take time on this. Submissions are nuanced; some are quotes, some are experiences, some suggests resolutions/solves. We discussed having a linear data presentation. 1) Quote 2)provocation/question 3) This is where you can go
Many layers of work that we having to do, but the end product will be more beneficial than just shouting into the ether. We want to be producing solutions. Making columns (to EJ’s suggestion) and categorising data and stamen received. Then we can provide solutions or provocations.
JMcC: Solves- are there thing that need a fix now or are they historic? Is there a place for involving colleagues in Unions? In highlighting places for people to go, that the UNIONs might be glad of membership.
KA in reply to JMcC’s question: It’s a mix – some historic/ongoing stuff around abuses of power. Lots of jobs being underpaid or classified as more junior than they should be to pay less. That feels more current. So some very current, some big ongoing problems.
EJ: Intention- that these posts don’t feel like ‘slaps.’ Doesn’t feel like shouting. These are really broad things that effect different people; asking questions via those platforms so that we can begin to compile a range of different solves that work. Everyone is being pointed to ‘best practise’ and that doesn’t work for everyone. One of the dangers might be that ‘best practise’ is not one size fits all and looks different for different people. We have to be careful not to fall into the trap of suggestion only one way of doing things. Conversation platforms on social media opportunity for crowd sourcing solutions as well as complaints. ‘We think theatre can find the nuance of different people…’
AC: A lot of it is systemic and a lot of the immediate problems have been going on for a while anyway. I think as we start to re-open we might find we get more of those things through (example’s if very specific examples from people who need help/advice and they don’t know where they go) We might have to step in at some point, we are going to have to be prepared going forward (in reg to a specific example from someone who reached out working in costume who is being fleeced with her contract)
JMcC: I feel we need to have a list of good people we know who we can refer people to. Some of our names may be on that list. The good people are out there.
AS: Longer term solutions, and signposting, spoken to people who design the training from Citizens Advice Bureau, and they are willing to come up with the training for the theatre community as to how to create a good signposting service, if they are willing to do that, that is something to keep on a radar for longer term solutions. And links back to what FMTW turns into
VM: We need to accept that some individuals amongst us that can really help, then professionals associations that can help, the unions, and groups but it’s how you get to them all if you don’t know where to start. CAB idea sounds v interesting. We want to reach some of the producers, organisations and institutions with some of this. Is it time to think about using our executive director mailing list. Producing a super simple nugget email to these people. And compiling these posts ‘easy open’ access via this direct mailing list? How do we directly reach organisations and get them to read even a brief thing each week?
Action Point:
- Working group to continue distilling and organising statements/quotes
- Group open to all and time and date for next working group meeting TBC
- Confirm a date and time to meet again
- Continuing mind-mapping how best to reach producers, AD’s , organisations with this campaign
FMTW Newsletter
YEAR of FMTW: Where are we? And end of year/beginning of next year themed newsletter?
VM: Year of FMTW – still significant to us but noting that the group has evolved in many different ways. How significant is the birthday in the context of bigger picture? Is it a newsletter that’s about the ongoing projects and where we are thinking of moving from now? Collective thinking?
Action Point:
- Poll to be sent to everyone in group to collect ideas for collective based newsletter.
- Josie posted a poll:
- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/133Um0rSpTZCRpGkSH0SGHetkpMMYNaKjIoE5lh-wm7g/edit
- Individuals can contribute collectively
How manage working weekly group updates
AC: Access meeting had and this was discussed as a point- how to catch up if you’re away for a week or two. Discussed: each working group writes bullet pointed updates that go out with the agenda as to where the group is at, actionable points. You can get up to speed on working groups, campaigns and projects. Each week this structure will also include call outs for availability to action tasks. This will be an internal thing but could also be community facing ie .on the website ‘this is what we are currently working on in terms of lobbying…. Access..etc’ as well as us as a group keeping updated if you’ve been out of the loop for a bit.
PM: Josie’s involvement on these updates from administrative perspective?
VM:
Working group notes – suggested structure:
What were the question/s for the meeting?
Progress within the meetingAction ongoingWhat is needed from the wider group/Friday meeting? (what is the ask? It might be that you need volunteers)
EJ: How do we move from someone feeling like they have to chase everyone up to a sense of how do we see this as an act of collective care/generosity to each other? It’s exhausting to chase and ask it’s exhausting both ends. In terms of that volunteer relationship- if that form exists somewhere, let’s take it up (ie. all discussing in the time we have in a meeting), it becomes generous as opposed to beaurocratic.
Action Point:
- ACCESS group to trial this working group update structure
Fundraising updates (JO)
- Practically speaking: Enough cash in the bank to last until this year (not financial year but calendar year)
- Focus could be how we can raise funds to support our core activity- ie order to fund website, zoom account (overheads), Josie’s role, ie our base costs covered
- In terms of the way in which we are going about that: we aren’t going to ACE to fund core activity but we will keep that to our strategic work or project based work- ie BFR or Future Labs as that has been beneficial to us previously. Might be an opportunity to look at trusts and foundations as initial starting points ie Jerwood Foundation and research being done here.
- What we might lack is the introductory routes in for initial discussion and opening conversations to build relationships over time
- Hesitant of returning to National Theatre Trust (initial funders of FMTW). But we may get a pro-bono conversation with National Theatre’s Development Fund/team member to discuss strategy and lean on their expertise – Beth has a direct group connection with National Theatre and someone in the development team.
- What funds are currently there: BFR- how we can pay those who made that accessible. Money from Future’s Lab floating – please invoice if you haven’t already.
- AC has set up a donation button on the FMTW website. Link: https://freelancersmaketheatrework.com/support/
- Fundraising going forward is what we determine is our strategy going forward and knowing how those activities can be supported. Overheads, Roles as to what we’ve already got,
- We spoken a lot about merchandise- reframing to ‘have you got your rehearsal started kit’ and pushing a small advocacy campaign with merch
- Dual fundraising strategy going forwards: what we determine is our stragety going forwards, and knowing what our activities can be supported and who we can be approaching. Covering monthly overheads, supporting roles we already have, continuing beginning conversations.
There is now a fundraising slack channel. All experiences welcome!
We should be prioritising fundraising, there is a strong fundraising in order to top up core funds that we need to keep things rolling.
SH: what are our monthly overheads and how many member do we have (on social)
JO: Our overheads are minimal (in terms of monthly) but main outgoings are paying AL and Josie for their roles. We need to remember OTTER is being received in kind/free- this won’t be going forward so we need to cover that.
SH: Mid-term strategy that speaks to a crowd-funding model/500 Random Acts of Kindness. (ie. suggestion of a rolling donation) £1 a month from our following on social.
JO: We haven’t currently got a regular rolling donation, something that people can sign up to regularly. Being really clear as to what a regular donation means and being super clear on our remit on the website (ie this is what this donation goes to). Is there an opportunity to put news out on donations in our newsletter? And detail what the fundraising will go towards?
Action Point:
- JO: Can people have a look website to see where donations page/button is now live and provide feedback? It’s live but no-one will be using it yet. Stripe are our partners and they take a small fee (covers us in terms of GDPR, refunds etc)
- ALL: if you have any connections in terms of fundraising, or connections to begin initial conversations (now on SLACK)- all welcome to get involved.
- Merch: Push this with reframe ‘have you got your rehearsal t-shirt’, encouraging people to buy some merch
March for the Arts
VM: March for the Arts produced a collated set of principles for working guidance, pretty solid document that exists as a resource.
Do freelancers have any capacity to engage with: they would like a conversation, it could be that a few of us would be happy to be in a zoom with them to look if we have anything useful to add from our perspective. Does anyone have any capacity to help them moving forward into the next phase?
and beginning initial conversations. Does anyone have any capacity for this to be moved onto the next stage?
EJ: What kind of capacity are we talking about? Hours meeting and then reassess from thee? But after that, where will it go? What is the commitment?
VM: Yes, initial how can we be helpful and then how can we take it back to the group and form a working party around that.
EJ: IS there a reciprocal thing. A could of FMTW and a couple people from MARCH form the arts so we are Can we expand our pool of volunteers and it not all coming from our limited FMTW capacity.
SH: How many people would you want on that?
VM: Three of four of us initially then feed back to the wider group following that meeting. Al, EJ, Steven… An hour sometime in the next couple of weeks?
Action Point:
- VM to get back to MARCH FOR ARTS via AL from email channel. And hour in the next couple of week (Josie to be looped in aswell)
- Al to be in on the call from a digital perspective as well.
FUTURE OF FMTW WORKING GROUPS
PM:
Results from poll
10 nominated themselves for strategy
And around 10-15 for processes group (others been suggested)with cross-overs.
AS: Clarity on the difference between two groups?
AL: Strategy working groups is looking at: FMTW for the next 3, 6-12 months, big conversations about where we put our long term energy. Processes are more about FMTW works and practicalities on delivering.
(From Josie’s email: Processes: ‘This is a working group to talk about how we function as FMTW. Within this group we will discuss potential practical measures for how FMTW run, including things like decision making processes, how people are onboarded, how a core group might work, how often we have meetings’)
Processes are more about FMTW works and practicalities on delivering.
BA: At the end of that process, there can be a big Friday group meeting where we can all discuss together, pulling together both groups that run side by side so we can feed in together in a big group session
VM: Working group notes can be collated and feed into this for those who are not able to be present leading up to this work.
Action Point:
- Groups to be collated/organised by Josie next week. And a conversation is started between two groups.
- A time for each group to meet and conversation to be formalised. (timeline to be implemented and this to include a Friday meeting towards end of working group discussions to collate everything in one conversation all together)
Any other business
VM: Can we support AS in the Citizens Advice Bureau work? Do you have anyone working on that with you? I don’t have people working on it with me.
AS: We need to get ball rolling with CAB without a green light. How can we invest people and time in next. We can’t go back to Citizens Advice Bureau without green light. I’ve had preliminary discussions but now
VM: where does the green light need to come from?
AS: someone who is willing to start investing in it, someone who is willing to host and pick up the process either online or via a helpline. It’s going to take money and training people in the kind of work that will come in.
VM: Theatre Artists Fund to be approached?
AS: Yeah. I was approached by the Globe to research this preliminary last year and to figure out if there is a need and if there is a desire. There is, so now it’s vey much about getting funding, having someone write up a plan and start running pilots and getting it going in baby steps.
VM: When thinking about Theatre Can Change Response we have good sound evidence for the need for something like this. FMTW willing to get to someone like Theatre Arts Fund to say we have evidence for this immediate need, they feel like an organisation we can start this conversation with.
AS: FMTW- write up in google drive on this.
EJ: Where does this work overlap with Unions? The Unions should be in on this conversation- (if the unions aren’t doing that they are supposed to be, we can use that space to ask the unions to really step up on this front). But also So that we aren’t establishing another institution, that needs money to run, that is what anther institution is meant to be doing
AS: The only people hesitant about this being formed are understandably the Unions – two things we would offer that the unions don’t have access to: signposting. Alongside that- in us establishing content or facilities for people to know what their rights are, what is and is not appropriate behaviours/best practise, signposting them to the appropriate intervention that are already in place. The woman at the CAB mentioned very often when they take a call, it is the first time that that person has talked about the problem out loud and very often, what the CAB does is name is as ‘abuse’ or discrimination, so they name the problem so that the caller can get a handle on what it is and then moving forward to bringing to HR or ACAS or whatever.
VM: Unions are a pathway for those who belong to unions. Speaking for many of the craft practitioners- many of them are non-unionised and are very unlikely to join a union. Additionally there is significant issue with Bectu around the big crew move which is increasingly making Bectu feel like a non-theatre union (even though I am a member of Bectu). Point of entry conversation in relation to CAB sits quite accurately for me as a freelancer- that’s the conversation that I need at the point of beginning to find help.
Is the room happy for me to find a contract at The Theatre Artists fund to have an initial conversation with?
BA: Went to AAPTLE meeting this week. Mig Burgess (ABTT- Association of British Theatre Technicians board member) has compiled a Well-being survey. They are finalising and will be sent out and have asked organisations to pass that on. If it comes out, can we pass it on- it’s just asking people’s wellbeing across the board, a set of questions to be passed on through the usual channels.
AC: ZIP car follow up: I’ve contacted Zip car to put something in the newsletter next week, that will go in next week
Also a survey that went out about methods of communication at FMTW. Referring back to pole that Josie put out on the best ways we communicate. Streamlining slack channels, best ways of communicating, blurbing to explain channels and mechanisms how best to use SLACK and work through process of how to use slack- ie arching channels. But wanting to be sure not to archive information that is currently live and being used. You can opt in or out of any channel.
EJ: Suggested an ask/call out: ie can anyone jump onto SLACK to offer ideas as to what projects need clearing/archiving. Ie. a call out on BAT SIGNAL
EJ: Scotland’s Culture Minister has just changed (Fiona Hislop). Europe and Eternal Affair has been added into the job role. Can FMTW get in there early on be a part of the conversation? Does anyone South of the border want to be a part of the conversation to learn more and to contribute?
VM: Carry on touring fed back by Nikki on SLACK (Campaign group dealing with ramifications of Brexit). Very impressive contribution from Government, Unions, Impressive collective effort, If people have time and interest to look at what Nikki posted on SLACK.
NEWSLETTER FINALISATION
VM: is the newsletter about the work going forwards?
SH: Looking forward and back, 360? I have a better sense of what the year might be but maybe we throw in a whole raft of things : a bit of everything?’
JM: Suggestion to a collective newsletter, what we are discussing, what we’re up to, where is our forward momentum. A newsletter that highlights our work done but work going forward.
PM: An impetus to advertise the donate button that can be flagged.
AC: Josie’s survey- other suggestions in second questions that you use that to put you thoughts. It’s just a thought for it to be filled in so it can be collated next week.
Actions Point Recap:
- Theatre Can Change Working group to continue distilling and organising statements/quotes
- Group open to all and time and date for next working group meeting TBC
- Confirm a date and time to meet again
- Continuing mind-mapping how best to reach producers, AD’s, organisations with this campaign.
- VM to get back to MARCH FOR ARTS via AL from email channel. And hour in the next couple of week (Josie to be looped in as well)
- AC: to be in on the call from a digital perspective as well.
- AC: SLACK AUDIT (ALL: to flag any SLACK channels that are needing to be archived.)
- ALL/Call out: Contact EJP on SLACK on regards to Scotland’s New Culture Minister
- ALL/Call out: FMTW Fundraising Page (on website) pls feedback to AC and JO in regards to contributions on funding and also on the page itself: Can people have a look website to see where donations page/button is now live and provide feedback? It’s live but no-one will be using it yet. Stripe are our partners and they take a small fee (covers us in terms of GDPR, refunds etc)
- ALL: if you have any connections in terms of fundraising, or connections to begin initial conversations (now on SLACK)- all welcome to get involved.
- Merch: Push this with reframe ‘have you got your rehearsal t-shirt’, encouraging people to buy some merch.
- ALL/Call out: Carry in touring: If people have time and interest to look at what Nikki posted on SLACK.
- ALL: Newsletter: Collective Responses to be filled in by Monday 24th (Josie’s format for Newsletter offered) Poll to be sent to everyone in group to collect ideas for collective based newsletter: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/133Um0rSpTZCRpGkSH0SGHetkpMMYNaKjIoE5lh-wm7g/edit (Individuals can contribute collectively)
- Form a working group to discuss Citizens Advice Bureau helpline in conjunction with Theatre Can change Cross overs (AS, VM, JM to continue conversations> VM to contact Theatre Artists Fund to begin conversations)
- Strategy and Process Groups to be collated/organised by Josie next week. And a conversation is started between two groups.
- A time for each group to meet and conversation to be formalised. (timeline to be implemented and this to include a Friday meeting towards end of working group discussions to collate everything in one conversation all together)