On March 13th, it will be one year since all culture was locked. Is there’s anything to celebrate? A few covid-waves later, the situation is still very similar: all doors closed, all screens open, many incomes in danger. Have we, as a society, handled it well?
The weekend of 13-14 March is a good time to make the balance. Not with long analyses, but on the street, among the people on a safe distance. State of the Arts and Still Standing do invite you…
But first we ask your attention for what is happening now in silence behind all covid news: a new subsidiy framework. Especially artists have reasons to worry about it.
If we don’t pay attention…
Will Jan Jambon become the minister that squeezes artistic careers, or the minister that takes artists seriously as ‘the cornerstone of his policy’?
These weeks will be crucial! If we don’t pay attention, the new Art’s Decree will just prolong the current precarisation of artists by covid. Especially the announced limitations on artist grants risk to become a painful straitjacket.
Meanwhile we think about an action, more soon…
Door to Door call: get talking on March 13th
In the project ‘Door to Door’ State of the Arts and Hart boven Hard are experimenting in having one-on-one-conversations in public space about people’s perspective on society. On Saturday March 13h we invite also you (within the framework of Still Standing) to get out of your bubble and get talking.
Put two chairs in public space and invite passers-by with a big question on a sign into a conversation about covid and/or culture. Let uw know people’s answers! Talking to people is a special experience, we can tell… Read our call.
Or do another creative action: Still Standing!
On February 20th, 500 creative interventions popped up all over Belgium to make culture visible again and to ask attention for a more fair distribution of the pandemic’s effects in society. Did you miss the vibe?
On March 13th, on the lockdown’s anniversary, Still Standing for Culture calls again for creative actions. In empty pub windows, at homes for elderly, on the public transport, from your balcony: do culture again, big or small, alone or together, each to his/her capacity and in a safe play with the current restrictions. Announce your action on www.stillstandingforculture.be.
One message: “all parts of society deserve a valuable place in this crisis.” More info on how and why.
Rather from you couch? Watch Reset on March 14th!
On Sunday March 14th, at 21h50, Canvas will broadcast Reset: a brand new documentary in which film maker Lies Van der Auwera pictures the resilient struggle of seven artists with covid, from March till November 2020. Also SOTA and the Artist Coalition pass by in their creative dance with policy makers in the different parliaments.
A movie that tells more about the pandemic’s impact on our job than all opinion articles and research reports together! Watch the trailer.