EC PAPERS NOVEMBER 2017

9

Liberating Arts particularly Dr Rebecca Hillman, expected a determining, executive role in 7 the organising of the festival. Not unreasonably this was resisted by the GFTU as we were solely responsible for the up to £35k in hard cash needed to run the event. A compromise was eventually reached whereby Dr Hillman became the Academic Coordinator of the event and thus had an official although non- executive role. However, the process of organising the event was severely hampered by Dr Hillman’s refusal to accept the GFTU’s executive role in managing the festival and that the GFTU had the ultimate executive authority. For example in the month leading up to the event Dr Hillman took it upon herself to have printed leaflets and posters that did not use the Liberating Arts logo or branding that had otherwise been applied consistently across our marketing and media. While it is unlikely these ‘rogue’ leaflets did any serious damage it is certain they created a degree of confusion in Exeter as to whether there were actually 2 different events called Liberating Arts. However, the way Exeter University and Dr Hillman reacted to the decision to go from 3-days to a 1-day event caused the greatest concern. The day before the decision was made the Producer attempted to contact Dr Hillman to discuss the implications and what her attitude would be if such a decision were to be made. Dr Hillman did not reply to phone calls or emails… indeed she not react at all for over a week. This lack of communication was putting the GFTU in an impossible position and potentially putting us at significant financial risk and the legal implications of this were conveyed by the Gen Sec. to Dr Hillman via email. Eventually on Wed 18 th of October a manager at University of Exeter replied and agreed they would support the 1-day festival but suggested that the Producer or the Gen Sec of the GFTU were now only to communicate with Dr Hillman and the tech team at University of Exeter by email and that the GFTU would need to fulfil the tasks currently assigned to Dr Hillman as Academic Coordinator. This bizarre idea was challenged and ultimately overcome but was a serious hindrance to our effectiveness during the most vital and sensitive part of the entire process. After the decision to move to a 1-day event, Dr Hillman did not inform the academic participants until Tuesday 24 th of October about the changes to

A member of the Organising Group and a member of staff of the University Of Exeter Drama 7 Dep. 9 Producer’s Report 06/11/2017