Playing for Time Making Art as if the World Mattered

by Neal, Lucy

• ISBN13: 9781913743819
• ISBN10: 1913743810
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2023-08-31
• Publisher: Triarchy Press Ltd

Summary

Now back in print... This groundbreaking handbook (first published in 2015 by Oberon and now needed more than ever in the face of multiple unfolding crises) is a resource for artists, community activists and anyone wishing to harness their creativity to make change in the world. Playing for Time explores the pivotal role artists play in re-thinking the future; re-inventing and re-imagining our world at a time of systemic change and uncertainty. Playing for Time identifies collaborative arts practices emerging in response to planetary challenges, reclaiming a traditional role for artists in the community as truth-tellers and agents of change. Fifty experienced artists and activists give voice to a new narrative – shifting society’s rules and values away from consumerism and commodity towards community and collaboration with imagination, humour, ingenuity, empathy and skill. Inspired by the grass-roots Transition movement, modelling change in communities worldwide, Playing for Time joins the dots between key drivers of change – in energy, finance, climate change, food and community resilience – and ‘recipes for action’ for readers to take and try.

Author Biography

Lucy Neal is a theatre maker and writer exploring celebratory events that act as a catalyst for change. Co-founder Director of the influential London International Festival of Theatre (1981-2005), she has been active in the grassroots Transition movement in Tooting, SW London since 2008. Lucy tutors on The Arvon Writing Course Fierce Words and is a Trustee of the Aluna Foundation. She is author of The Great Imagining - how the arts spark cultural change in Zero Carbon Britain's Making It Happen and a founder 'declarer' of Culture Declares.

Table of Contents

Preface 1 Introduction 5 DRIVERS OF CHANGE 17 THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF HUMAN BEINGS AND ENERGY | PAUL ALLEN 20 RELOCALISATION AND THE TRANSITION MOVEMENT | ROB HOPKINS 27 GROWN-UP ECONOMICS | BETH STRATFORD 34 ART AND CLIMATE CHANGE | HEATHER ACKROYD 41 ART AND ACTIVISM | FARZANA KHAN, JAMES MARRIOTT, KEVIN SMITH AND JANE TROWELL OF PLATFORM 47 REDESIGNING OUR FOOD SYSTEMS | BONNIE HEWSON 55 RECLAIMING THE COMMONS | JONATHAN GORDON-FARLEIGH 60 RESTORATION OF ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITY | KATE RAWLES 65 THE PRACTICE 70 Transitional arts practice 71 THE PRINCIPLES 76 FOUR PRACTICES 82 1. Fabio Santos 82 2. Ruth Ben-Tovim 84 3. Hilary Jennings 87 4. Maria Amidu 89 PART 1 THE PRACTICE 92 LAND: GOING TO GROUND 94 Introduction: Song by Waiata Telfer 96 Going To Ground 98 Between Body and Land by Nic Green 100 Emergence Land Journey by Fern Smith 103 Beuysterous: Towards Planetary Sculpture? by Bridget McKenzie 106 Rannoch Wolf by Dougie Strang 110 HOME: BELONGING TO EARTH 112 Introduction: Art Should Be Like the Bread on the Kitchen Table by Eva Bakkeslett 114 Belonging To Earth 116 Singing in a Dark Time by Dougie Strang 118 Away From Home! The Journey of Survival and Creativity in a New World by Cedoux Kadima 120 Florilegium: Honey Flow I, II, III, IV by Amy Shelton 124 Loop: Betty, Pat, Diane, Ivy, Lyn, Bonney by Maria Amidu 127 Humility and the Superhumus by Lucy Neal 130 RITES OF PASSAGE: SEEDING NEW MYTHOLOGIES 132 Introduction: The Sacred in the Everyday by Gilly Adams 134 Seeding New Mythologies 136 Transition Through Nature by Ruth Nutter 138 The Life Cairn by Andreas Kornevall 141 Liminal by Dougie Strang 143 Ulverston Lantern Parade: Ceremony And Celebration by Sue Gill 146 FOOD GROWING: FROM EMPTY PLOTS TO FULL PLATES 150 Introduction: Radical Roots by Josiah Meldrum 152 From Empty Plots to Full Plates 154 The Edible Garden by Fabio Santos 158 Grow Sheffifield and Abundance by Anne-Marie Culhane 160 Fruit Routes by Anne-Marie Culhane 163 Seeds by Azul-Valerie Thome 165 Memories of Mr Seel’ s Garden by Michelle Bastian 167 Feast on the Bridge by Clare Patey 169 ACTIVISM: CROSSING THE RIVER OF FIRE 172 Introduction: On The Tightrope Between Art and Activism: Five Promises by John Jordan 174 Graeae by Jenny Sealey 177 Creative Practice of Activism by Danielle Paffard 179 PART 2 Work-A-Thon for the Self-Employed by Ellie Harrison 181 Crossing The River of Fire 182 Shake! – Youth Voices on Art, Race, Media and Power by Farzana Khan 183 Starting From Where We Are: The Co-Operative’ s Frack Free Future Campaign by Sarah Woods 189 WATER: WISHING WATER WELL 192 Introduction: Watching From The Shore by Amy Sharrocks 194 Drop in The Ocean by Jess Allen 196 Wishing Water Well 197 Treasures From the Thames by Mike D Webber 199 Delta by James Marriott 202 Message in a Bottle by Fabio Santos and Lucy Neal 204 Coral by Lynette Wallworth and Lucy Neal 206 BODY: RHYTHMS OF SENTIENT BEING 210 Introduction: Putting Your Body on the Line by Fern Smith 212 Rhythms of Sentient Being 214 Charnel House by Dougie Strang 215 Farplayer Ansuman Biswas 217 Bedside Manners by Anna Ledgard 219 Field Sensing by Anne-Marie Culhane 222 HANDS: A SHOW OF HANDS 228 Introduction: Horace’ s Hands by Barnaby Stone 230 A Show of Hands 232 Craft by Hilary Jennings 232 Birdyarns by Deirdre Nelson 234 Clay Cargo by Julia Rowntree 239 Craftivist Collective by Sarah Corbett 240 WORD: CHOOSING THE STORY WE LIVE BY 246 Introduction: Words at the End of the World by Paul Kingsnorth 248 Choosing The Story We Live By 249 Diarykeepers by Anne-Marie Culhane 252 Between Ourselves: The Empathy Roadshow by Sarah Woods 254 Objection Overruled: Ecocide Trial by Heather Ackroyd 256 STREET: AT THE CROSSROADS OF POSSIBILITY 262 Introduction: Turning the Tide by Jonathan Bartlett 264 At The Crossroads Of Possibility 266 Encounters Shop by Ruth Ben-Tovim 268 The Happy Museum Project by Hilary Je