EC PAPERS NOVEMBER 2017

12

Liberating Arts After the defeats of the 80’s the trade unions had to accommodate themselves to the realities of neoliberalism and the restrictive legal framework they had to operate within. As a result UK trade unions became increasingly technocratic, negotiating codes, rules and regulations in a managerialist attempt to protect their members interests. In such a world trying to inspire workers to fight and resist through a vibrant counter-culture is completely irrelevant, even counter-productive because it may alienate management and government. Thus under this orthodoxy the only way trade unions would or could pay for delegates to attend Liberating Arts is if we framed it specifically as some sort of 'training' event and paid much more attention in the design and programming of the event to this corporate 'training' agenda. Indeed training events in poster design, video making, song writing etc, may be an interim way forward in terms of engaging the unions in Liberating Arts, even though such training does not encompass the full aims of the initiative. (v) Income Stream or Subsidy? It is extremely difficult in the UK to make money in the arts. For example almost all theatre in the UK is subsidised, even in the West End many of the most successful productions originated in the subsidised sector. The Financial Times recently reported that the summer music festival market has reached saturation with several high-profile festivals going out of business this year. The implication for the GFTU is that if it wishes to pursue this type of cultural work it has to accept that it will never represent a source of income for the GFTU. A GFTU ‘cultural programme’ will always cost the organisation money. Overall costs can to an extent be offset by ticket sales for popular events that sell tickets at a price high enough to cover some of the costs. However, despite common perceptions, that is in fact very, very difficult to do. Yet this is a worthy cause. The money is worth spending. The trade union movement desperately needs a cultural programme that reasserts the importance of a vibrant counter-culture to achieving the political and economic aims of the movement and an organisation that will encourage and facilitate the development of just such a vibrant, diverse and sustainable counter-culture. But the point is that this work must be seen

12 Producer’s Report 06/11/2017