Members Newsletter December 2022

Due to the unprecedented levels of inflation we are currently experiencing, we have decided to raise our Recommended Rates Of Pay for Freelance work for the remainder of this tax year, we are therefore applying an average increase of 10% to all our previous hourly rates, compared with the rates for 2021/2022. (Earlier rates for 2022/23 are now in brackets). Usually our rates are increased in time for the new Tax Year at the start of April, so these rates will be increased again at that time, (so watch out for new ROP at the start of April!)

The importance of ‘showing up’ for each other in the arts sector 

During this post-pandemic era and cost of living crisis, it is even more important to show up for each other at art events, art-house cinema screenings, live performances and exhibitions. Every time you cross the threshold of a gallery or artist-run initiative, fill in an exhibition attendance book, go to a screening, a live performance or art event, visit online artworks, or fill in a feedback form/survey (that organisations are required to submit to get future grant funding) you are helping to support the future of the whole Scottish arts sector. You are helping to maintain people’s jobs, core infrastructure and networks of our arts and cultural communities, which in turn gives us all opportunities. In Scotland, unlike many other places in the world, we are lucky that many art events and exhibitions are still free to attend. The more of us who attend, the more likely that art exhibitions and events will remain financially accessible.

It is also important that we show up for each other in our trade union. This sometimes literally means just showing up and being present. For example, in the SAU Learning Programme it is the members participating and learning together that creates the opportunity and space for solidarity and support in these sessions, and over the long term a more stable trade union for us all. Furthermore, the successful Scottish Union Learning grant applications that have been funding the SAU Learning Programme are reliant on our members showing up and taking part. If we don’t use it, we all lose it. Thank you to all of our members who have been taking part in the SAU Learning events, Subgroups, Working Groups, Rep team and Exec committee! 

Please keep on keepin’ on, and showing up for each other.

ART PINTS in Aberdeen

If you are based in Aberdeen, ART PINTS at SPIN is the place to be on Thursday Dec 15th at 6pm - 9pm (Free drink on arrival). Speakers include: Libby Curtis (Gray’s School of Art), Kirsten Body (Circus Artspace), Allan Watson (Deemouth Artists Studios) and Eleonora Belfiore (University of Aberdeen).  SPIN, Littlejohn St, Aberdeen, AB10 1FG. 

Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland

layla-roxanne hill (SAU member) and Dr Francesca Sobande have co-authored a phenomenal and groundbreaking book. Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland has been written with a deep sense of care, and in their words, “from a place of pausing, processing, piecing together, and, also, peering back from the archives.” It is a project of research and writing that “acknowledges the nuanced and expansive nature of many aspects of the lives of Black people in, from and connected to Scotland.” They have combined “their love of photography and visual culture with their intention to create work that aids the archiving of Black Scottish history.”

In October, SAU member Fadzai Mwakutuya (Afro Art Lab) led an utterly marvellous ‘in conversation’ event & book launch with layla-roxanne hill and Dr Francesca Sobande, in a packed cozy room at The Ceilidh Place in Ullapool. This book launch was part of a full day of Scottish Union Learning Black History Month activities (held at An Talla Solais and The Ceilidh Place) that was organised by Fadzai Mwakutuya in collaboration with Kirsten Body (SAU Highlands & Islands Learning Manager/Organiser) and Craig Finnie (Scottish Union Learning Highlands & Islands Development Officer). As part of Book Week Scotland, in November, layla-roxanne hill and Dr Francesca Sobande gave two more readings/discussions at events in Glasgow (hosted by the STUC) and in Edinburgh (co-sponsored by RACE.ED and The Salisbury Centre).

Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland is available at bookstores, and on the Bloomsbury website. For more background on this book and the authors, check out their research website 

STUC Disabled Workers Conference

In November, Gael Hillyard (SAU Treasurer) was our delegate to the STUC Disabled Worker’s Conference. This is the first time that an SAU delegate has attended the STUC Disabled Worker’s Conference. Gael spoke up in support of a motion in agenda Section 3: Fair Work and Equality at Work, motion number 11 - Proactive Change for Neurodivergent Workers. Gael brought artists perspectives to the discussions at conference, and in her report, she has brought back important knowledge for our whole team, including helpful insights for delegates to future STUC conferences.

Disability History Month - artists making history

If you are taking a wander down by the Water of Leith, seek out Lives: Reimagined a collage installation by Sasha Saben Callaghan (SAU member).

Sasha Saben Callaghan also co-curated the Not Going Back to Normal Manifesto (2020) with Harry Josephine Giles. You can still view/read the 49 artworks and texts at the Not Going Back to Normal Manifesto website 

Over the past number of years, multi-disciplinary artist (and former Cove Park resident) Lisette Auton has been producing an incredible body of artwork and writing, including performance videos and books. Here is a link to Lisette Auton’s film Writing The Missing: A River Cycle (2020), which also features Bex Bowsher, Sarah Crutwell and Vici Wreford-Sinnott. 

This film is a brilliant example of how to embed audio description, captions and BSL into artists moving image work.