Five tips for re-opening your office
As organisations are starting to think about and plan for a return to work, this is a really timely reminder that along with new equipment we will have to establish some new habits.
Keeping employees and customers safe and healthy while doing business in an ongoing pandemic will not only hinge on behaviors like wearing masks, performing temperature checks, washing hands, and staying six feet apart. It will rely on getting all of us to do these things, every time, for however long it takes. And that doesn’t happen unless those who see someone drop the ball speak up and remind them.
The article offers some great guidance on how to reset norms in the workplace.
Largest music recording project in history
Over three years US musician John Anderson worked with the Benedictine nuns of Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fidélité of Jouques, in French Provence to record the entire repertoire of Gregorian chant – over 7,000 hours. The recordings are now available online with the texts (Latin and translations) together with the scores. It is a true labour of love and a remarkable blending of the ancient and the contemporary.
Useful statistics
Seeing ourselves in the national data is not usually a priority for the arts and culture but if we want to make the case for additional support beyond the end of furloughing, we will need that view. This blog from the Office for National Statistics offers a view of the sector in context from a trusted source.
Overcoming the pressure to achieve during quarantine
As artists many of us have experienced a pressure to maximise ourselves and our practice during lockdown. Nye Russell-Thompson speaks personally about why the pressure to create a ‘Magnum Opus’ can be toxic and how just getting by right now can be enough.
An anti-racist reading list
There are a number of recommended reading lists around at the moment, and I’m sure you’ll find the one that is right for you. I was drawn to this list because it spans a wide range of contexts in relation to race including gender, sexual orientation, biology and representation.
The path to ending systemic racism in the US
A very powerful set of views from a group of TED talk speakers, I recommend watching it all if you can. Some takeaway points that landed with me:
Holding the weight is too much
People don’t experience issues they experience life
It’s a need for structural change
Dr. Bernice King quotes Einstein, which is resonant on so many levels
We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.
TED Build Back Better
TED2020 will be an eight-week virtual experience — all held in the company of the TED community. Each week will offer signature TED programming and activities, as well as new and unique opportunities for connection and interaction.
We have an opportunity to rebuild our world in a better, fairer and more beautiful way. In line with TED2020’s original theme, Uncharted, the conference will focus on the roles we all have to play in building back better. The eight-week programme offers ways to deepen community relationships and, together, re-imagine what the future can be.
White Fragility
A book that challenges the consciousness and consciences of those of us who are white.
White Fragility is a vital, necessary and beautiful book, a bracing call to white folk everywhere to see their whiteness for what it is and to seize the opportunity to make things better now.
Clean Break Members respond
Clean Break asked some of its Members to respond to this moment through the lens of their experiences of discrimination in and around the UK’s criminal justice system. Ann, Sandrine and Beverly shared their stories in a very personal way. Clean Break has pledged its commitment to anti-racism and strives to shine a light on the presence of racism and discrimination within the criminal justice system and the need for change.
This has been a week of profound tears and hurt for so many across the world. We are all reeling from the pandemic, economic crises, social isolation and now the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Susan and I want to acknowledge the injustices and inequalities that have led directly to so much loss of life and commit to whatever actions (however small) we can take personally to expose, challenge and change systemic biases. If that sounds trite, or like leaping on a bandwagon, all we can say is that it is meant with integrity and said with honesty. If we don’t say anything, through personal awkwardness or fear of offending, then how can we engage and support the call for change? We work in a sector that is predominantly white, highly educated, non-disabled, middle class, still has gender imbalances and where most board members are 50yrs+ – stealing from TED we must ‘build back better’!
Our nettlesome task is to discover how to organize our strength into compelling power. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Dawn & Susan