
Issue No 113		28 September 2001

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Workplace

Making Art Work

By Steve Wilson

The Workers Cultural Action Committee is a community cultural development provider. What is this? And what does it mean for the union movement?


	Making Art Work

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In the Australia Council Support for the Arts Handbook 2001, the key aim of the Community Cultural Development Fund is described as enabling communities 'to advance their artistic and social aspirations by working closely with professionals artists. Through these collaborations communities are assisted to maintain or reclaim their culture, to address issues of concern to them and to create contemporary artistic works which reflect the richness and diversity of Australian communities and their cultural life' .

This definition is based on three main principles:

- a community cultural development project is the result of a collaboration between an artist and a community;

- that through this collaboration a community is assisted to re-affirm its identity by the production, practice and celebration of its culture;

- and, that Australian society is not a homogeneous culture rather a construct of a number of different cultures representative of different communities.

These days we often hear the term community used to describe the general population or the whole society of a country - especially by politicians. It has been used descriptively in terms such as community liaison officer, community health centre, community justice centre or community transport. It has a vagueness about it when used to enclose people within its definition. In contrast, a standard dictionary definition of community describes it as a 'group of people forming political or social unity, or living together, or having race, religion etc. in common' . In fact the term community is describing different groupings of people. As in the Australia Council's definition of community cultural development, community is used to describe difference and these different communities are representative of the cultures of different groupings within our society.

How does this apply to the union movement?

Well, simplistically, union members are a community within Australian society with its own values and ideas, its own culture, who believe in collective action to achieve change and improvement in society. They have a proud history and these particular values and ideas have been represented in a variety of artworks (eg. banners, badges, cartoons, novels, photography, poetry, processions, short stories, songs, theatre, visual art etc). One role of the workers cultural action committee is to assist in the expression of this particular culture within society.

Yeah, so? What purpose does this serve?

The ACTU document "Unions @ work" details a blueprint for the sustainability of unions and the union movement. It outlines a program of education and training, the use of new technologies for organising and recruitment, and of cultivating 'a strong union voice'. Key measures to achieve this last aim are modern and comprehensive campaigns; marketing the union message; involving members around contemporary employment issues; and, forming strong alliances with other groups in the community. Given the comments of young people in the Hunter Region it is a timely strategy.

In a revealing survey commissioned by Newcastle Trades Hall Council on 'Young People's Attitudes to Trade Unions' (2000), a focus group of young people stated that the most information they had ever received about unions was through the media. For the participants, unions were seen as predominantly male and associated with heavy industry. "Anything you hear about unions, it is always the miners and other male [jobs]. I would never think that there might be any females". (Respondent, Focus Group #2) "That's exactly right, you just sort of think of the waterfront workers or you think of men with big beards!" (Respondent, Focus Group #2)

I use this example to demonstrate a point about the culture of unions and how it simply is not being communicated to young people. And given that union membership is less than 30% of the workforce, it is also an example of how the message is not getting out to the rest of the workforce.

Increasingly in our society, business is being asked to consider or assess the success of their operations in terms of a triple bottom line. Author and management consultant, John Elkington, used this term to refer to three inter-related criteria used to assess the sustainability of an organisation or a community's operations. The criteria are; financial, environmental and social. Accordingly, an organisation or community is sustainable if it is; financially secure, minimises or eliminates negative environmental impacts and acts in conformity with society's expectations. Also, there has been discussion about a fourth bottom line - the criteria of social capital.

Amanda Vella describes social capital as the construction of linkages between people and communities . It enables different groups to bind together effectively despite their differences. It is the creation of networks, goodwill, trust and shared values which arise from interactions between people. Eva Cox expands on this by describing social capital as public good and these interactions as "shared experiences" and accordingly sharing the ideas and value systems inherent in these experiences .

Unions as a community need to engage in the creation of goodwill with the rest of society and with its own membership. The workers cultural action committee argues that the creation of public good and a strong, union voice can be achieved through collaborative cultural projects.

For example?

The committee is currently in discussion with the NSW Nurses Association about a small performance project at John Hunter Hospital. This project is based on the working life of nurses. It will fulfill a vital function in re-affirming and reflecting the values of nursing to nurses, in defining them as a community and helping to assert pride in their occupation and as being union members. It is a community-building exercise. Also, if opened to the public, the project is a promotional tool for the union. If coupled with a publicity campaign the project can assist in getting the message out to the general public and being 'good copy' for the media.

A similar project is underway with the NSW Teachers Federation about public education.

The committee is also developing a national touring exhibition, "Last Days @ Big Harry's Place", based on our work with employees at the Newcastle Steelworks before its closure in 1999. It is an important artwork that documents the working lives of this particular community and circulates the values, union values, behind this group. It presents unions to the general public in a different way and engages with them in different venues (eg. galleries).

We have developed musical performances, banners, publications, sculptures and parade art. All informed by union members through collaboration between artist and community. This is a practice whereby the artist works more as a producer - laying bare the artistic process and involving the community within it - rather than the more traditional practice of an artist working in isolation. It is artist and community working together. The extent of this cooperation would and does vary depending upon the circumstances of each project but the end result is a 'product informed directly by the concerns of the community and executed with a high degree of skill' .

The cultural development of unions is an important function. For unions to grow and to grow as a strong and vibrant community, the committee works to actively circulate the values and ideals on which this particular community is built.

Steve Wilson is the arts organizer with the Workers Cultural Action Committee

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 113 contents

Interview: The Custodian
Labor's arts spokesman Bob McMullan on the role government can play in nurturing national culture.

Media: Chucking a Wobbly
Veronica Apap meets Dan Buhagiar, the programmer of Labor Council's new online initiative, Wobbly Radio.

E-Change: 3.3 Unleashing a Networked Culture
Politics does not occur in a vacuum - it's is as much a product of its culture as it is an influence on it. In the post-Industrial Age how will this relationship change?

Unions: Are You a Terrorist?
Away from the talkback noise, Mark Hearn reports on how a Sydney workforce is taking up the cause of racial understanding and tolerance.

Organising: STAA Performers
Film industry workers are acting collectively to ensure they don't become Mexicans with Mobiles.

Workplace: Making Art Work
The Workers Cultural Action Committee is a community cultural development provider. What is this? And what does it mean for the union movement?

History: Creative Alliances
Neale Towart wanders through the archives to look at how unions' have worked with artists to promote progressive casuses.

Performance: Tales from the Shop Floor
Peter Murphy profiles Sydney's New Theatre and the role it has played in fostering working culture.

Review: Homegroan
In an extract from her new book, The Money Shot, Jane Mills argues that the local film industry needs more than patriotism to get bums on seats.

Satire: PM Pleads To Nauru: Take Our Aborigines Too
In the wake of Nauru�s acceptance of the Tampa refugees, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has struck a new deal with the small island nation to take our Aborigines as well.

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» Email Workers Saved

» Union Power Gets Tilers Paid In Full

» NSW Nurses (Pro)Claim Their Worth

» AOL Sheds Non-Union Staff

» Building Inquiry Faces First Test of Integrity

» Telstra Guilty Over Union Discrimination

» Paint Workers Finish the Job

» New Project Agreement A Template

» The Workers United, Need a New Slogan!

» Activists Notebook