We are all imposters

Last week I walked into Baltic Gateshead at 6.30pm for a round table dinner with heads of organisations from across the cultural sector, senior colleagues at Newcastle's higher education institutions, local authorities and other strategic bodies. 

We were there to meet Sir Nicholas Serota, the Chair of Arts Council England (ACE); and Jane Tarr, the Director of Workforce and Skills at ACE. 

The focus was the North East cultural industry and the direction of North East Devolution.

The conversation around the table began with many people talking about how positive they were for the opportunity Devolution could bring to the North East, how it could bring more power and autonomy to the sector. 

Challenges for organisations vs challenges for people

There was discussion around skills, education and sector growth. People talked about the challenges organisations face in this cost-of-living crisis and how they still supported the work, the communities and the workforce while looking at 300% rise in energy costs. 

And whilst I could recognise the positivity and opportunity, I can't be unconditionally positive. I hear from the freelance workforce the profound challenges and inequalities across the sector. 

I see the level of bureaucracy that sits across funded organisations and fundraising itself. I see the power sitting in the same places, with little changing.

That day, the conversation was very much focused on the "institution." With this "institutional lens", solutions to the sector's challenges (and the challenges of the wider North East) are presented without really understanding the things that need to be fixed or why they're broken in the first place. 

I'm not blaming the organisations and institutions – they are businesses, after all, and have challenges running buildings, managing a workforce, and generating income.

But what I know and see is a workforce on its knees, and so far, the structures and funding provided to develop skills and sustainable growth have yet to be fit for purpose in its delivery. 

I cannot tell you how loud my internal scream is when I see another unpaid boot camp touted as sector strengthening! We need the support (aka money!) to come to the freelancers to really grow capacity in the workforce. Asking freelancers to give their time for free to attend a boot camp for which the facilitator is being paid isn't contributing effectively to freelancer opportunities.

When the conversation moved to our biggest challenges, I pointed out that as a sector, our biggest challenge was that the workforce within our major institutions must represent the people in our North East communities. 

There is an opportunity here. Because the freelance workforce often is more diverse and is more representative of our region. If the major organisations can work more collaboratively with freelancers, they will benefit from the lived experience of those people and those communities.

It was a candid and interesting conversation – by the end, everyone seemed adamant, "we should focus on people not buildings."

I shook my head! 

"No! It needs to be about people AND buildings!" 

It just doesn't need to be more buildings! 

We need and deserve world-class facilities in the North East and investment in grassroots and community spaces! But we must put the people of the North East at the heart of the decisions taken when it comes to our spaces.

Big fat imposter!

I want to say that I am in a privileged position in the sector. I've worked in the North East for a very long time; I had worked with most people around the table that day and have worked with senior colleagues at Arts Council England many times.

I'm no longer a senior staff member in a big institution because that is not what drives me. However, I still felt like the odd one out as I walked down from the bus stop to Baltic. A big fat imposter! 

I knew my agenda in the room would likely be different from all the others – I am there to fight for the freelancer, the workforce and for people to be at the centre of the conversation. There was most definitely power in the room, and I had to take a big deep breath and remember that I also have power; I have valuable things to say, and I practice deep listening across the freelance workforce and within my own communities so I also bring a lot of understanding and knowledge from those spaces.

That evening I went home and pondered the conversations I had heard, knowing the next day, I was hosting a round table with a group of very diverse freelancers who had complex experiences in the world of culture in the North East (a blog will follow on this!). 

We're all here because we love what we do – but the act of doing what we love in this sector, structured as it is, can be physically and mentally exhausting. 

Nick Serota asked why I had set up North East Cultural Freelancers – I said it recognised a gap, but what I actually saw happening in the community was deep and unfettered generosity! 

Freelancers have each other's backs and share knowledge, expertise, money, time and everything in between. 

If we could bridge the gap between the organisations and the freelancers – bringing the conversation and the understanding together and fostering a sense of generosity between them, we would be in a powerful place as a region – moving much closer to achieving our mission of being the Best Place to be a Cultural Worker. A mission that the North East Culture Partnership has now adopted in their Case for Culture after our commitment and lobbying.

If the organisations could take a moment to reflect on their practice with freelancers, understand what they have to give in our generous cultural community, and become part of a deeper and wider conversation, instead of always inviting us into theirs, we could move towards a better and more beneficial relationship. 

My takeaway from all this is we are all imposters! But in the same breath, that means we are all experts! The creatives, the problem solvers, the entrepreneurs who sit across the freelance workforce – we are the experts and the power. 

So, if you are invited into those rooms where the (traditional) power sits, please go with your head high, knowing you are there because you're an expert, you are powerful and you have so much to give!