Tag: Inclusion and Diversity

Does policy influence equality in the theatre industry? LGBTQ+ presence on and off the stage in the UK.

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By C1905618

The glitz and glamour surrounding the West End and Broadway are the hottest places to see our names up in lights. The LGBTQ+ community have become synonymous with all things theatre, especially in the UK. Anyone and everyone are welcome on the stage. Theatres and the UK government have even developed policies around inclusivity to create space for this. But is LGBTQ+ presence on stage any more visible than in previous years?

Notable cultural quarters like Cardiff and London overflow with spaces for LGBTQ+ people to thrive. Theatre companies and groups receive substantial funding and appointed policies ensuring equal opportunities for all and saying a big no-no to the discrimination of creative practitioners. Thanks to the Equality Act of 2010 and theatre policies improving equality in the creative sectors, the theatre has become a place where LGBTQ+ presence thrives with career opportunities and reoccurring LGBTQ+ storylines… Right?….

Letters Waiting in the Wings

Source: Broadway Box Photo Gallery via Google Images

A colourful portfolio of LGBTQ+ storylines reoccurs annually on British stages and is touring globally. Popular shows from  Kinky Boots – a musical based on the British film surrounding a shoe factory and drag culture – to smaller musicals such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch – a musical covering a botched sex-change operation and exclusion of a German emigrant rock singer. Furthermore, Drag performances and storylines are entering local theatres and the Westend through arrangements such as Everyone’s Talking About Jamie. But do theatres’ associations with queerness translate equality on and off-stage presence?

Source: MsMojo via YouTube

Notably, the Sherman Theatre’s 2022 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream reimagined Shakespeare’s classic theatre production. The play, originally written in a heterosexual context, was adapted to portray the lovers as a lesbian couple. The Sherman Theatre’s policies surround ‘tell[ing] local stories with global resonance’ and a place for everyone. Their contribution to LGBTQ+ visibility through their productions demonstrates these policies. Yet, with this fruitful collection of theatre performances, acronyms in the LGBTQ+ continue to be invisible on the stage. The Gs and Ls are growing in visibility across theatre, but what about the others? What about the community’s Bs, Ts, As, and Ps who wish to see themselves through characters onstage?

Statistically, the UK is not lacking in LGBTQ+ citizens. The Gender identity, England and Wales: Census 2021 received 45.7 million respondents aged 16 and over on their gender identity. Cardiff notably had the highest percentage of respondents who identified as trans men (0.12%) and those who identified as trans women (0.13%).

A similar census conducted on sexual orientation received 45.7 million respondents 16 and over. 1.5 million respondents identified with LGBTQ+ sexual orientations. London holds the highest number of LGBTQ+ respondents (4.3%) in the English region, while Cardiff holds the highest (5.3%) in the Welsh region. LGBTQ+ individuals are creating a large community in these spaces, but why is it so hard to find theatres and productions dedicated to their presence?

Is eradication of the past as problematic as previous discourses? 

Younger generations, in particular, have identified the outdatedness of queer representation through previous theatre performances. How younger generations feel about policies implemented to discontinue theatre performances that cause discomfort or offence is understandable. They surface the question: should theatre abolish the continuation of problematic discourses to prevent this?

Notably, the presence of outdated LGBTQ+ storylines and characters on the stage can be an excellent opportunity to learn from previous mistakes. It may sometimes feel uncomfortable, but spaces must be left for queer historical theatre, even if they do not align with updated ideas. These spaces will allow for recognition of theatre’s contribution to the LGBTQ+ community and demonstrate how far they have come. Their existence does not excuse new productions using past problematic discourses, however. Policies should protect their significance in developing more updated understandings of LGBTQ+ representation that will contribute to equality on stage.

All this queerness, nowhere to go.

Source: BGD Interview with Panmai via Google Images

Theatre policies ensuring the safety and inclusion of minority groups are ubiquitous in the UK. Unfortunately, including LGBTQ+ members are still deemed a political statement in the UK and elsewhere. Policies and even laws aren’t always contributing to equality for creative sectors.

Exemplary, 2014 saw the formation of India’s first transgender theatre group, Panmai. The theatre group created and conducted by trans activists – Living Smile Vidya, Angel Glady and Gee Imaan Semmalar – aims to provide opportunities to transgender citizens in India. Vidya mentions the transgender struggles of being subjected and restricted to beggary and sex work propelled by anti-LGBTQ+ communities in India. The group’s policy is to create creative careers for transgender individuals, reducing the social exclusion they often experience.

Although the Supreme Court of India’s 2014 verdict recognises transgender individuals as a ‘third gender’ by law, this has not equated to cultural or social acceptance of LGBTQ+ citizens in India. Similar to many theatres across the globe, Panmai’s policy can create a temporary space for LGBTQ+ members but does not necessarily extend outside the group.

Policies of inclusion and equality do contribute to the visibility of some LGBTQ+ members, but others remain absent from the stage. The presence of bisexuals, asexuals, pansexuals, and gender-fluid individuals on the stage is necessary to consider theatre LGBTQ+ fully inclusive. Theatres can create spaces for LGBTQ+ members to experience inclusion, even if they do not receive it off the stage.

Umi embraces digital disruption releasing ‘Introspection Reimagined.’ (C1769646)

Posted in Digital, Innovation, MusicTagged , , , , , , ,

Umi’s Introspection Reimagined, a fresh take on remix culture in a digitally disruptive music landscape.

Source: Twitter

Umi transformed her Introspection EP adding two interludes, Beautiful Day and Solitude and creating Introspection Reimagined.

Source: GENIUS
Source: GENIUS

Umi‘s lyrics delve into the loneliness and beauty within the world around us, the pressures, and opportunities.

We can create a day filled with wonder or search for quiet far away from the noise. So, which will you choose?

Does this mean everything is a remix?

Source: YouTube

Introspection Reimagined‘s reflective and meditative, all the songs are recorded live, feature different instrumentals, inspired by musical influences from her “African American and Japanese roots.”

We see a journey of identity, creative expression, and navigating the music industry and neoliberal economy.

Source: YouTube

Traditional ideas of Japanese culture are tackled within her music and beyond. Cultural identity and heritage are shown as part of the creative process, our experiences and background shape our creative lens.

Source: YouTube

What influenced Introspection Reimagined?

Flavia D’Avila values the creative process and raises problems surrounding quickly producing content.

Introspection Reimagined shares how Umi “really wanted to explore the malleability of music. One thing I noticed in the industry is that there’s a quick turnover in terms of “make a project, drop another project, drop another project.” Personally, I felt like I didn’t get to sit with my last EP long enough.”

Source: Spencer Middleton

How does music move online successfully?

By connecting with fans in an engaging way online.

Pierre Bourdieu’s idea of social capital focuses on the value of social connections, and this shapes interactions in digital spaces, and provides a place “where fans can give input on songs they want [Umi] to sing.” 

Source: Twitter
Source: YouTube
Source: Drawing I created on Umi‘s official website

Digital spaces offer a combination of cultural domains, such as performance and celebration, and audio-visual and interactive media.

Umi elevates storytelling with interactive media. Introspection Reimagined’s release was marked by live listening event online, this all builds an online community for artists and fans alike.

Source: 2009 UNESCO Framework for Cultural Statistics

By creating a loving space for fans to join in!

Source: YouTube

We are part of celebrating her music in Introspection 🦋 The Movie, this generates momentum leading up the release of Introspection Reimagined.

Source: YouTube

The movie ends with “what colour are you feeling?”

We ask ourselves how are we actually feeling?

Which colour matches our emotions? I choose lilac reminiscent of spring.

Umi opens up a dialogue for fans across digital spaces.  

Source: Twitter
Source: Twitter

Fans are included in collaborative performances with painters and musicians, guided meditations, and celebrating the Full Moon Series with Umi, redefining performances into a “Wellness Retreat.“

Source: YouTube

Umi’s aiming to “heal through creativity and heal through [her] music.”

Source: Umi’s official website
Source: YouTube

How to navigate the digital opportunities ahead?

Authenticity is a main component to Umi’s success, in staying true to the music she achieves a safe space where fans open up and want to connect.

Source: Twitter
Source: Umi‘s official website

Umi asks fans how they are feeling over social media, she replies to fan posts, and uploads acoustic covers, longing to give songs more time before moving on the next project.

Source: Umi’s official website

“I feel like people get to know me better by listening to this project or feel closer to me because I’m really letting myself sing for the first time,” Umi expressed.

Source: Twitter
Source: YouTube

Creativity and the Artist’s Mind

The #BrokenRecord Campaign and streaming issues within the music industry raise concerns over ethical treatment of artists and surviving in the music industry.

Source: Spencer Middleton
Source: YouTube

Kobalt are changing the structure of the music ownership, Snow Patrol gained “23% more income on a song.” Kobalt asks a valid question, “Creators are the future of music, but who’s creating a future for them?”

Source: YouTube

Do you grant yourself permission to be creative?

Source: YouTube

Digital Disruption is breaking down barriers, empowering more agency.

Artists can shape their own identity by choosing a name, like Madi, Caz, and Umi for creating a distinctive professional persona, yet questions arise over the power of the music industry monopolies on shaping an artist’s career.

Digital spaces reimagine ways we collaborate, interact, and moves towards a world with greater choice for consumers – but at what cost for artists?

Can museums truly be spaces for active participation for everyone? (C1769646)

Posted in Digital, Education, Innovation, MuseumsTagged , , , , ,
Source: Own Pictures.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

What is participation?

Participation according to David Wilcox “is to increase the involvement of socially and economically marginalized people in decision making over their own lives.”

Source: Vimeo

Museums are publicly funded and open to everyone but whether people feel welcome to enter them becomes a different story.

How do we acknowledge the colonial past museums reflect and decolonize the narrative?

Wilcox introduced 5 levels or stances for active participation and reflected how “[r]eal participation is active and gives people a meaningful stake in the project.”

1. Information – Telling people what is planned.

This includes knowing the historical background and valuing minority and marginalized voices.

Source: YouTube

‘Empire Through the Lens’ exhibition and shifted the focus to the origins of artefacts, and the post-colonialism experience and reflections of British imperialism in film and photography.

GUS CASELY-HAYFORD

“Photography is so important to understanding colonialism.”

Source: Gus Casely-Hayford

JAN BIRCH

“It’s really important that people in Britain understand the Empire’s part in their own history.”

Source: Jan Birch

2. Consultation – offering options and reflecting on feedback.

Communities want to be consulted and how museums choose to build partnerships and include people from the start is essential.

Would you visit anywhere where you don’t feel your voice is recognised and valued?

Source: Vimeo

The comments and feedback from the Bristol Museum exhibition below highlight the key opportunities offered in tackling how colonialism shapes the histories of museums, communities, and influences whether everyone feels comfortable inside them.

This creates an open dialogue and recognising the diverse cultural heritages using participatory frameworks.

Source: Bristol Museum, Empire Behind the Lens Exhibition Comment Card, called “An excellent and valuable exhibition.”
Source: Bristol Museum, Empire Behind the Lens Exhibition Comment Card, called “One wonders whether time will truly change this.“

3. Deciding together – encouraging ideas and joining in with decision-making.

Source: Vimeo

Pierre Bourdieu’s Field of Cultural Production and the funded institution shows the power dynamics in traditional institutions such as museums restricts participants.

Wilcox’s work is improving community or individual agency by including participatory outcomes at the heart of museum policies.

4. Acting together – forming partnerships and implementing change together.

Bell Hooks inspires “Radical Openness“ in creating awareness of inclusive cultural practices, and refreshes community engagement and participation.

Source: YouTube
Source: YouTube

5. Supporting independent community initiatives – helping promote a framework, support, and advice for funding.

How do we define community?

Source: Vimeo

Communities require collaboration  at the centre of active participation.

IMG_2904
Source: Randy Conley

Nina Simon creates “The Participatory Museum” highlighting the right model of participation and co-curation for the institution is chosen first, these include: contribution, collaboration, co-creation, and hosted.

The measurable impact of engagement is meaningful participation and develops a sustainable model for museums and designing an invitation to participate tailored to communities.

Source: YouTube

The value of opening up museum spaces to everyone is undeniable, by inviting people into these spaces it’s the important step for welcoming communities and driving active participation.

Discovery is a huge part of inviting children, young people, and adults to museums.

The Heritage Lottery Funding document expressed the desire to “help more people and a wider range of people to take an active part in and make decisions about heritage.”

The element of discovery and creating a sense of community make museums relevant.

Source: Own Pictures. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Does technology hold the key to changing museum spaces?

By encouraging us to use social media and photography, museums are changing rules on taking pictures for enhancing museum trips and arguably improving our experiences.

Source: YouTube

The evolving state of museums means embracing active participation for connecting communities and encouraging individual and community empowerment.

For the Record. Waterhall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
“For the Record. Waterhall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery” by Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
MIT Museum: Kismet the AI robot smiles at you
Source: “MIT Museum: Kismet the AI robot smiles at you” by Chris Devers is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Source: Own Video
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Source: Own Pictures. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Digitalising museums?

Museums quickly created online ways to connect on a global stage. This created better accessibility for an international audience and removed financial and geographical barriers.    

How do we enrich museum spaces for the future?

Carrie Westwater talks to her students about what she calls Non-Selective Curation, and invites participants to be part of the process by introducing a different cultural lens. Participants are given time to negotiate, learn together and create together, using the museum as a resource. The script plays a key role in participants viewing their own words in progress and transforms how power performs in museums.

Source: I Created a Mentimeter Word Cloud
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Museums change what welcome means for local communities, this is how we create meaningful, active, and real participation.

Let’s build brand new doors for active participation!

“GLOW”: A Feminist Fireworks Display (C1834958)

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Image: GLOW Season 2 Promo via The Verge

From its exterior of extravagant spandexed stuntwork, glamorous venues and neon lights, GLOW is a wholesome, yet educationally fuelled comedy-drama packed with 1980s nostalgia, romantic turns and unexpected twists. With its exceptional reputation among critics, it is easy to recognise how GLOW became a go-to binge-watch for many Netflix viewers.

Image: GLOW in rehearsal via The Atlantic

Creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch’s fictionalisation of the 1986-1990’s women’s professional wrestling circuit, otherwise known as “Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling” (or GLOW), portrays a band of misfits in their journey to fame.

The show, comprising of three seasons, is a triumphing advocate for equality and inclusivity, which cultivates the evolution of Queer storytelling. While highlighting the stigma surrounding homosexuality and AIDS, it also manages to break down barriers of masculine hegemony, reminding viewers of the clear-cut misogyny that was prevalent in the workplace and 1980s showbiz. The heterosexual perspective, and specifically the male gaze, is something GLOW engages with directly for its show-within-a-show.

A Feminist Alliance

Season 1 begins with a mystery audition based in an out-of-town gym. Organised by a hopeful director Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) to create a pilot for a new wrestling show, this unlikely joining of forces forms a feminist alliance that cultivates new audiences all over the world. Misogynistic Sam Sylvia (a loose assimilation to original GLOW director Matt Cimber), holds dominance of the show; meaning many of those chosen are there purely for their appearance. As the show progresses to Season 3, it focuses less on actual wrestling and settles more with the mood surrounding issues of the time, providing a rare energy that “fully owns its campiness and its showy aesthetics, but it’s smart and subversive underneath the glitter.” GLOW does this by reframing important moments starring Bash (Chris Lowell) and Arthie (Sunita Mani) to further explore their sexuality; this is a good example of a show not just “adding queer characters but queering the narrative itself.”

Kick-ass Inspirations

National Women’s Conference in Houston November 19, 1977 via The Observer

Flahive and Mensch’s curiosity of the subject grew after exploring the aftermath of the Woman’s Liberation Movement in the 1970s; Flahive remarks on their initial ideas regarding the plot of GLOW to Rolling Stone, “We wanted to look back on the 1970s, coming out of the women’s movement, and into the 1980s, and ask the question: Did it work? Did things get better?”

Cultural Economy

Pictured: Carly Mensch (left) and Liz Flahive (right) via Deadline

In ensemble with its inclusive cast, GLOW also put women at the forefront of behind the scenes. In each season, over half of its directors were, in fact, women, including the talented Lynn Shelton, who died suddenly earlier this year of a previously undiagnosed blood disorder. The vast majority of writing credits of episodes also belonged to these gifted women.

Considering gender representation and the cultural economy; in 2019, only 20% of streaming platform’s directors were women. Consequently, it is evident that the majority of positions in behind-the-scenes and production are men.

Therefore, Flahive and Mensch’s triumphant success is a encouraging message for many women entering the industry, with GLOW Season 1 achieving a 94% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 achieving a 98% rating and Season 3 also scoring high at 86%.

COVID-19: A Blow to “GLOW”

The extravagant dramedy came to an unfortunate end when Netflix decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW. Its large-scale production and high cost was a challenge of its own; but the show’s focal point, wrestling, proved too high a risk to take with regards to COVID-19 itself.

Flahive and Mensch comment that “We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone.” Following this, they made a plea to their admirers: “Register to vote. And please vote.”

Let’s get down to business…and address the lack of appropriate on-screen and off-screen Asian representation in the film industry (C1844595)

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When the heroine with jet-black hair and almond shaped eyes appeared on screen, it had ignited an unfamiliar yet comforting feeling in my 5 year old self. Watching Mulan on the big screen, the first Asian Disney princess based on a Chinese folklore, I was amazed to see a reflection of my East Asian features in a strong female protagonist featured in mainstream Western media. It was when I grew older I finally realised how this experience leads into a bigger problem in the film industry – the lack of diversity in racial representation.

Why is this a matter of concern?

On-Screen

According to the Hollywood Diversity Report from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA): only 5% of all film roles in 2018-2019 were played by Asians.

Despite the rising strides of diversity in films, the limited on-screen representation frequently fails to accurately depict Asians, showcasing them in inferior or undesirable ways, leading to issues of misleading racist caricatures and lingering stereotypes of minority groups in society.

In particular, some films suffer from tokenism. Tokenism is NOT diversity. It’s a strategic move of hiring a minority solely for the sake of claiming inclusion and avoiding any criticisms or claims of discrimination.

One trope from this phenomenon is the “token ethnic friend”, which is a character most often played by a POC existing solely to uplift the White protagonist. Often being overshadowed and misjudged, these roles normalise reductive stereotypes, negatively shaping how viewers perceive certain demographics.

Image 1: Joy Li (2016), via behance.net

This further opens up another can of worms – how Asian stereotypes are reinforced in written characters. Through spreading such misrepresentative content to large multinational audiences, minority communities are forcibly put into boxes of stereotypical personas, potentially brewing into internal conflicts of personal identities.

Tied down by stereotypes and character tropes, such poor representation in the film industry limits minority actors and actresses to break out of from their typical one-dimensional roles and branch out into different genres or cinematic styles. Bound by the aftermath of such misrepresentations, Asian film, television and theatre actor Lee Shorten laments his struggles of breaking down the highly constructed barrier.

“It’s also rare for us to play a character or tell a story where being Asian isn’t the sole or dominant /defining part of that character/story. (…) The burden of representation is still heavy, we’re rarely allowed to just play people, you know?“

Off-Screen

When a live action Mulan was announced in 2020, the kid inside me jumped in joy in hopes of reliving my childhood bliss – finding a reflection of myself in mainstream Western media. Instead, my dreams came crashing down as I found the film had a predominantly White crew – to top it off, a White director.

Image 2: Off Colour (2020), via Twitter

As described by Christina Chong, the majority of successful on-screen ventures featuring Asian stories and actors were supported by Asians off-screen. So unsurprisingly, the film was met with immense backlash with its cultural inauthenticity and inability to accurately present the Chinese tale.

With the media’s major role in influencing the masses, accurate representation would help the audience have a more positive outlook on minority communities. After all, how can one write a script about different races, religions etc, without being in their skin to experience what they’ve been through?

What could be done to change the situation?

  • Prevent tokenism by writing Asian stories and characters that defy stereotypes
  • Adopt colour-conscious casting, similar to the musical Hamilton which casted historical figures as all minorities to show how influential they are throughout the country
  • Incorporate Asian culture into storytelling without framing it in a dominant aspect
  • Employ more Asian off-screen crew members

Although there are more positive depictions of appropriate on-screen and off-screen representation in recent years, diversity in racial representation still has a long way to go for the industry. One day, I’d like to see my reflection on both sides of the sector.