THE ART OF BELONGING
Tags: Equity, Actors Life, Theatre, Actors, Unions

As the pandemic robbed members of our everyday livelihood, we turned first to technology and then to each other and, thanks to Equity, rediscovered a profound sense of belonging, writes Equity president Jason Klarwein.

Jason Klarwein (second from right) directs Belvoir’s Cursed! during rehearsals in Sydney in September. Cursed! was one of the first COVID-safe productions staged in Australia. Photo by Brett Boardman.

As artists, we are constantly affected by the rise and f­all of potential or actual employment. We exist in the space between our profession and the working lives of the rest of society. How many times have you been asked, “What are you doing next?” or “Do you have work next year?” This planning or future aspiration is a great cause of emotional trauma for artists, whose identity is often wrapped up in the self-value that the workplace invests in us. How do we find self-value in our profession if we are constantly changing workplaces or shifting from contract to contract?

It’s something every performer knows: the anxiety of relevance; the anxiety of worth. COVID-19 led to an extraordinary dip in the wave of employment — so much so that some people could see, or even touch, the bottom. What to do when there is no mechanism or workplace ‘to do’?

Initially, technology seemed to provide the answer — transfer all our art online. If we kept ‘doing’, surely people would see our worth and we could keep creating, even if the oxygen of an audience was depleting rapidly. It left performers profoundly perplexed: how do we survive without an audience? It left employers in an even more absurd situation. The number of arts organisations paying full-time wages to administrators to manage companies with no artists or audiences was not lost on the fraternity of actors, directors, stage managers and designers, who are in the business of ‘doing’.

Actor, director producer and Equity president Jason Klarwein. Photo by Brett Boardman.

If anything, we have been taught an amazing lesson: stage and screen are collective endeavours. We inherently knew this, but if you think back a short time before 2020 decided to halt what we have come to know as ‘normality’, can you remember how we, as individuals, found strength in our profession? What were our priorities? How have they changed, slightly or profoundly?

Artists are contradictory, like human nature, because that is what we have chosen to reflect — humanity. We are autonomously creative but financially dependent; we are emotionally vulnerable but stubbornly resilient. These contradictions make for great art but sometimes the art comes at a high cost. And as we retreated to our isolated bubbles, with only technology to link us, some of us began to wonder whether we were really valued by governments or even by society in general.

We began to look inward. Maybe we haven’t communicated what we do properly. Maybe people don’t realise art and storytelling are all around them. Maybe Australian society and governments don’t even know we exist.

Enter Equity. Belonging and self-worth are interlinked. Belonging and the collective are also interlinked. Belonging and the arts are integral to society, even more so in a crisis.

We know historically that great art movements come after times of major crisis. While our government sat on its hands and employers ‘pivoted’, Equity methodically went about promoting the everyday nature of what we do.

It seemed obvious to us that art was everywhere. In backyards, in streaming services, in dusted-off musical instruments, in stories told around the dinner table that was now full with family. Our campaigns and petitions brought awareness of the need for art and the necessity of supporting artists, the majority of whom give their time for other causes. All of a sudden, the media (our fellow members) had excellent stories about our industry and you may have noticed a difference in the water-cooler chat with strangers about the arts and ‘how it was all travelling’. Suddenly, the public was invested. This was the result of staff and members coming together to create a sense of worth through belonging. This is one of the core roles of Equity and you will hear more about it in 2021.

Our government currently has no arts policy. It has no cultural policy. This will only come about through broader public awareness that our profession is an integral part of the life of the nation, and has been so throughout its history, particularly after crises.

So where did performers go during COVID? They went to each other.

Belonging to a collective is the best way of working. As performers we know this. Creative change happens not through the individual but through the collective, where we find the most power. The protection of our wages, conditions and hours is going to become very important in 2021. We have already seen arts companies start to retract and, unfortunately, performers and crew are usually the first to go. We have also seen the opposite — companies willing to take risks to keep as many artists and crew engaged as possible, so that their work can be complex and fruitful. They are to be commended. But when the job ends, there will always be the union.

2020 is a testament to the the positivity and strength of our industry. Whether you pay your fees, sit on a committee, increase wellbeing in your daily job, work for diversity on stage and screen that reflects our nation, take a survey, be a delegate in your workplace, run for an elected position or are just a voice for those who can’t or are afraid to speak. You have achieved all this in union with each other. Feel proud that you are an artist in this country and know that you are surrounded by others who stand proudly with you.