The Performance program at CSM consists of 7 courses that use a number of performance spaces and workshop facilities to make work. These courses are very much practice based and I as a technical practitioner very much work on a practical basis. As such I wanted to create an artefact and to effect change on a practical level
As an older White man, I am very much the traditional stereotype of a technician. My team at CSM in the performance Program is more widely diverse, including women, men, people with differing racial/ethnic backgrounds, nationalities and declared sexualities. This is important, as we support a group of students who are very diverse themselves. Despite this diversity, we do tend to have a quality in common in our team which presents a wall of authority. We have also, intentionally or not, managed to keep ourselves somewhat sequestered and aloof from many of the students who we are there to support. This aloofness is due to a number of different factors including our roles managing the health and safety of spaces, our sense of institutional propriety, a feeling that we have to step back as there are so many students to support. We can’t afford to get too involved with any one student or we will be “overwhelmed”.
The result of this aloofness is that we find only the most gregarious and self-confident students are coming to seek our support. This is a point where my positionality is colouring my analysis of this situation. I say “gregarious and self-confident students” but actually I think that these are the students with the most privilege. They tend overwhelmingly to be white middle-class and have an already secure knowledge of the performance methodologies that we teach. If they are international students they tend to be educated in the Western-European tradition and speak fluent English. What are the barriers which keep some students from accessing our support? Why are some students comfortable with coming into our technical space to talk with us and ask for advice and guidance? Is this purely about communication of information, about certain students being more interested in Theatre, or is there something else at work? The fact that students seem to need to be white, upper-middle class, familiar with Western Performance tradition and fluent in English in order to approach us for support should be setting off alarm bells. I am concerned that our technical provision is mired in an “institutional Whiteliness” (Tate and Page 2018) That is alienating many students, in particular students of colour.
The entrance to the “backstage” areas for the performance program are our “dominion” we have our offices there. It is also where we keep much of our equipment and tools as well as having a workshop space. If students wish to see us in person then they either have to contact us via email or they have to enter “our world”. First of all it is a bit of a challenge to find “our world”. It is at the far end of the building, down a turning corridor. Our main door has a sign on it which starts with the words “Students Stop” This was put up to clarify to students that this is not the correct door to get in to the theatre during the pandemic , but I suspect it has another effect. To discourage students from coming in at all. Other signs and stickers on the doors and walls contain stern warnings and strict instructions in the name of health and safety.
“Diversity… is like having a big welcome sign in neon saying everybody welcome”. Melodie Holliday- LCC Foundation Course Design Tutor
(Lutterod, 2016)
I propose an artefact for my technical area which would evaluate and re-imagine the signage and immediate atmosphere which ushers students into our backstage area. This artefact will not only provide some clarity regarding our location and the fact that we are available for support, but it will also present our team as an open, diverse accessible group and our spaces as “Safe spaces” for all of our students. Upon developing this idea and these concerns I chose to consult my technical team. The team has been broadly supportive of this idea and do (to a certain extent) recognise that we present a formidable presence when looked upon by students. There is a little bit of defensiveness when it is suggested that we might not be as available to all students equally. I think that it is difficult to recognise that I (we) might be part of an atmosphere of subtle institutional bias/racism even if we as individuals work hard to be far from that. One colleague was able to poll a few students and came back with the concerning news that there was an impression that our team should not be “bothered” with student queries unless we were specifically working with them as part of a defined project. This kind of misinformation is exactly what I would hope to counteract by making a more explicit offer to the students.
After gathering some student opinion as well as opinions and ideas from colleagues I have begun designing a “Picture Sticker” which will go up on the wall at four strategic points in the Performance program area. This “Picture Sticker” will be an A2 sized poster featuring a range of information designed to connect our team with the students. These include: an invitation statement, positive photos of the team, personal team statements, offer texts stating how we are ready to support student work and create a safe space for all students, and finally, specific maps showing where we work.
The photos of our team are particularly important. They are an opportunity for us to present ourselves as accessible to the students. We will be smiling and relaxed. We will present ourselves visually as the diverse team that we are. It is important that students can see that we have a racial/ethnic and gender diversity within our team. It is also important that students can see that our technical co-ordinator and leader of our team is black and of Caribbean descent. It is valuable that students have a range of people with whom they can identify. I also hope to include photos of the many freelance technicians who work with us, and the students, on a regular basis.
Each of our team will be invited to write a short personal statement saying who they are what they do and what is important to them. This will be an opportunity for students to gain a small insight into the individual skills and personalities of our team. It is my hope that these statements will be a bit quirky and light-hearted. Perhaps we will each offer our favourite artist or film. The goal of this is to humanize our team.
A larger text on the poster will be an open invitation to connect with us, an explanation of our role in the performance program and the importance of our support work with students. There will be a clarification of the ways in which students can access our support as it is clear that different students favour different means of accessing support.
The maps at the bottom of the poster are important as they specifically provide an invitation into our working spaces (which are the students working spaces too). This explicit presentation of the location of these spaces will hopefully add a sense of entitlement for all students to enter these spaces.
In the process of considering and developing this artefact I have had the opportunity to think about what we should aspire to regarding our technical spaces. I think that a primary goal should be to make these spaces “safe spaces”. I refer to the policy created by Shades of Noir when talking about a safe space. “…providing an inclusive and supportive space for all attendees… free from intimidation or harassment…” (SON 2017) This should be our baseline, as indeed it should be throughout the university. The fact is that we have to work at this. We have to cultivate a culture of inclusion, constantly checking ourselves and our privilege to ensure that no-one is being excluded from the “Safe Space”.
I am also specifically interested in ensuring that a more diverse group of students start to access our support as a matter of course. I suspect that my position as a white, male, heterosexual, middle-aged, European will mean that I have a difficulty recognising the best pathways for a more diverse range of students and particularly students of colour to reach our safe space. I will need to do some consulting with colleagues and students better placed to see these pathways. Nevertheless, I am convinced that I should not let my positionality paralyse me for fear of “overstepping” or doing the wrong thing. I do believe that my past experiences of being an immigrant and having struggled with being outside the mainstream society has given me some insight into what some students may be going through in their time at university. This is a time for action and I believe that I have an obligation to take action as well as to consult and make space for others to do so.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Shades of Noir Website, “WHY DOES RACE MATTER IN THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?” DMAW16, May 9, 2016
Lutterod, K. (2016), ‘Lets talk about race’ (Film) Available at: https://shadesofnoir.org.uk/why-does-race-matter-in-the-learning-environment-dmaw16/
Sherrid, E ,(2016) “The Room of Silence,” (Film) , in collaboration with co-producers Olivia Stephens, Utē Petit, and Chantal Feitosa, and the organizing efforts of the student group Black Artists and Designers.” The Room of Silence
Shades of Noir Website- SOCIETY, January 27, 2017 , Safe spaces: What Are They, and Why They Matter?
D’Clark, R. (2018) B.A.M.E. is Lame. Shades of Noir-EXPERIENCE
Willman, A. Whiteness in Higher Education, Shades of Noir Publication. Peek a boo we see you: Whiteness. Available at Shades of noir Website
Friere, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed. London: Continuum.
Gladwell, M. (2008) Outliers:The Story of Success, New York, Little-Brown and Co.
Shirley Anne Tate & Damien Page (2018) Whiteliness and institutional racism: hiding behind (un)conscious bias, Ethics and Education, 13:1, 141-155, DOI: 10.1080/17449642.2018.1428718