Tarek Iskander
Photo: Michael Wharley
The pandemic was a unique opportunity to reflect on the world of theatre and contemporary performance – to think deeply and collectively about how it works, and how sometimes it doesn’t. To imagine something more inclusive, more accessible, more sustainable, more radical. And to ask the difficult questions that have often been verboten.
In those heady years, many started to question the value of our cultural buildings and institutions. Do we still need them? Or are they just expensive shibboleths? Do they just exacerbate the inequalities and irrelevance that are plaguing this sector? These questions became even more urgent as it became clear that what support funds were available were mostly going to buildings, leaving our freelance community out in the bitter cold.
As Artistic Director of a building in this period, I asked myself those questions a lot. Would it better if we just shut BAC and its expensive listed building – and became something more nimble and more virtual, based out in community spaces? Would this make us more radical, as well as more efficient?
But I eventually concluded that spaces like BAC really matter. First is the obvious: cultural spaces are vital to achieving meaningful economies of scale. There is a lot to be said for creating a critical mass, a place where artists and audiences can congregate in groups, where people from different walks of life collide and interact in a public space. Our cultural spaces hold a lot of shared knowledge about how to do things like put on an extraordinary event, how to care for visitors, how to create accessible spaces. And in a precarious economy (particularly for artists) there is also something to be said for creating stable work for skilled people who have expertise in functions like finance, marketing and technical skills – and where fundraising brilliance can be pooled to raise more money to spend on artists and their art.
So there are benefits, and sometimes we need to recall those fundamentals. But I think it’s healthy to keep questioning the important of our cultural institutions – and if they keep failing us on the basics (like diversity, inclusion, care, value for money, crazy ticket prices) then maybe we should think again. Let’s never accept the status quo or become victims of our nostalgia for a past that no longer exists.
But in recent times, I think buildings need to be more mindful of one important aspect of their work. That they should be safe homes for creative risk taking, and radical free speech. Everywhere we look this feels under threat – by the culture wars dividing our communities, by pro-active pressure groups who are increasingly litigious, by a fractious social media environment, by shrinking public subsidy, by cost pressures driving more ‘safe’ and commercial programming.
But this is the moment that cultural institutions need to stand up for the inalienable right of live performance to tackle the tough issues of the day, and to do so without fear. Buildings can provide cover and even legal protection for artists to do what they need to do, which is say the difficult thing, to challenge what feels sacred and help us all to reimagine the world together. Make no mistake, the ability to speak freely and dissect structures of power is under threat, and our cultural institutions need to be the shield. As artists we also need to be more bold and also more inclusive in our approach. Too often we only reflect rather narrow left-leaning visions, often declining to engage with really taboo subjects that don’t necessarily match our collective world view. But whatever we do, we need to feel safe as artists in order to take the big swings the artform and times demand.
To work in contemporary performance you really need to believe that ideas and collective imagination can change the world. I really believe this, because I see it happen at BAC every day. Sometimes we can feel the change we are making is tiny, against the sweeping historic movements and challenges that are engulfing the world right now. Too often, as artists, as companies, as buildings, we can feel like what we do is just a meaningless drop in the ocean. But to paraphrase David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas; ‘What is the ocean but a collection of drops?’
Tarek is Artistic Director and CEO of Battersea Arts Centre. Previous roles include Director for Theatre at Arts Council England and Resident Director at the National Theatre Studio. Tarek was also one of the founders and Associate Artistic Director of the Yard Theatre in Hackney. Prior to embarking on a career as a director and writer, he held a wide variety of senior management roles in the National Health Service.