Heart of Glass is delighted to be hosting Women Working Class.
Please note we have extended the deadline to 10am 25th April!
We will be extending the deadline a week as we would particularly like to hear from women of colour, disabled, neurodiverse, unemployed, trans and low-income women, and people who have been discouraged from pursuing art based on class, race, gender, ability, etc as we feel we have not reached out enough. We want to expand the discourse from 'white' working class to a more diverse range of discourse, and in doing so ensure that the Women Working Class Resource reflects and addresses this.
A network of artists and producers AND £75 stipend per session - sound good? Here's how to get involved:
The Working Group will meet online, between 6:00-8:00pm on the following Thursday evenings: 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th May 2021.
Heart of Glass is delighted to be hosting Women Working Class (WWC), four weekly Working Group gatherings led by Fox Irving with women artists or producers working in Live Art, Performing or Visual Arts of lower-class origins to investigate how art/space/class interact to reinforce or subvert dominant values.
Hearkening back to the feminist consciousness-raising groups of the 1970s, this group will host an ongoing conversation among artists and producers to deconstruct hierarchies of space in the landscape of art by sharing our experiences and strategies, dreams and schemes, theories and knowhow.
The idea is not for a group to come together to talk about class, but to imagine/practice ways for art spaces to better serve class diverse artists doing groundbreaking, world-changing work; discuss how issues of class influence what we make; and explore what our relationships are to just being and surviving in the art world and how it can liberate us to do the radical.
In these gatherings the group will consider ways that we “drag up” to navigate art spaces, and operational ways to make art spaces more accessible to lower class people. The group will also look to break down the language of the, often inaccessible, art world and instead give space for women of these classes to be heard in the arena.
This group will be the North-West iteration of the Group, following on from the launch of the South-East group hosted by the Live Art Development Agency in 2020.
Fox Irving’s art is shaped by the precarious identity they inhabit as queer/femme/working class. They ask: what keeps people in place, what affords fluidity, and what kinds of assembly can be transformative? With a playful, D.I.Y approach informed by activist strategies and centering collaboration, Fox investigates how art can be used by marginalised communities that they are part of as a tool of empowerment. Fox was born and raised in the North West and now lives in the South East.
Dates and location:
Thursday 6:00-8pm on 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th May 2021.
The group will meet online via Zoom - this will be closed online space for participants of Women Working Class and a personal invitation will be shared with you ahead of each session. If you have any questions or need any support accessing Zoom, please be in touch with us at emily@heartofglass.org.uk
The offer:
Participants will receive a £75 stipend for each gathering to use as they wish. This will be paid via bank transfer at the end of each session. (Please note that if you need this paid in vouchers rather than bank transfer, we're happy to do this - just let us know in your application)
If you have any additional access requirements please let us know in advance at emily@heartofglass.org.uk
How to apply to be a participant:
- You need to identify as a woman based in the North West and working / benefit / under class to be part of this group and able to attend all the above dates.
- You need to be prepared to present a creative offering to the group. Offerings can be textual, performed, poetic, edible, speculative, etc, but they must be able to be shared in person for up to 8 people in no more than 5 minutes.
- Please send a proposal explaining how it feels to be working / benefit / underclass class to you to fox.irving@gmail.com.
Proposals of up to 250 words OR a video/audio application of up to 5 minutes should include:
Your name
The nature of art practice/producing work
You do not need to address these directly, but may consider these questions to guide you: What media or forms do you use? What big questions motivate you? For what audiences do you make work? Who inspires you? Why do you make art or call yourself an artist?
Description of your creative offering
This can include images / sketches / diagrams
Fox would particularly like to hear from women of colour, disabled, neurodiverse, unemployed, trans and low-income women, and people who have been discouraged from pursuing art based on class, race, gender, ability, etc.
The deadline for proposals is 25th April 2021, at 10am.
Applicants will be notified if they have been offered a place by the 2nd May 2021.
Participants will be selected by Fox Irving.
For further information please email fox.irving@gmail.com
Supported by using public funding by Arts Council England
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