Independent Artists Alliance invites you to: WTF*?

WTF*!?
Whatever The Frustration, Where's The Fun, What The F***, Who's The Funder, What's The Foundation, Where's The Festival, Where To Focus, Win The Fight, Wiggle Tickle Fiddle...

Call it a benefit, a festival, a manifesto,...
June 12, 2010, 1-10pm @ Beursschouwburg
5€ or more (for the whole day)

On June 12, 2010, we - IAA: the independent artists alliance - are organizing WTF, a festive event manifesting our concerns about the current precarious situation of independent artists. As economic priorities cut away even more funding from the arts - and especially from the more fragile project based work - we feel urged to organize a symbolic event. Instead of spending time developing our own individual work, we want to express our solidarity and support one another. Despite our very diverse artistic ambitions we are united in defending the essential conditions needed to develop artistic practices.

Over 9 ongoing hours we invite ALL independent artists to present excerpts of past material, or work that has not found enough pathways to be visible, to create new work especially for the occasion, to improvise together, and to formulate and join in open proposals... It will be an eclectic mix of dance, theatre, performance, video, installations, performance lectures and music where one artist at the end of the day will receive all the proceeds.

Apart from expressing solidarity this event is intended to manifest our concerns about the current situation in the performing arts:

• the cutting and freezing of project subventions
• the ongoing institutionalization including more bureaucratic administration
• the role of workspaces in our artistic field
• the lack of sustained support from the creation stage to end product
• the growing thematic festivals that do not include all work being produced
• the precariousness of a big artistic community that is neither young & emerging nor established
• the language barrier that still cuts Brussels in two while in reality the performance arts scene is very international
• the dependency of artists on state subventions and on institutions to produce and present their work

This is how the event will work:

• the audience gives what they want (a minimum of 5 euros) which goes into a box which lets them come and go throughout the day.
• all proceeds raised from the bar will also go into the box
• all artists that are present during the day and participate either on stage or with a video installation we ask to also give 5 euros and put their name into the box
• at 9.00pm one artist's name will be drawn to receive all the proceeds raised during the day for their future research and/or performance

WTF is being precipitated by the changes in WorkSpaceBrussels which until recently (and hopefully will continue to be hereafter) was an organization that supported independent artists. WTF is initiated by some artists affiliated with WSB but by no means is reserved to them only. All artists who feel affiliated with our cause are welcome to participate. Independent artists are young & emerging artists, but also artists who choose a less predictable path, people who make time for autonomous research, career shifts and risk, artists without a back office to support them, freelance researchers and dramaturges, people with multiple identities.

How to participate?

We hope to make a fluid, organic, 9 hour performance where ideas and proposals flow in and out of one another and actions occur at the same time. There is no specific selection of the works presented during the event so please feel free to join by any format : video (installations or finished pieces) or perform excerpts, works in progress, or new proposals on the stage or in the space. We embrace any political/ artistic gesture to draw attention to the concerns mentioned above.
How could you be part of it? You could simply show up on June 12 and be inspired by the moment, or you could add your name and proposals to the wikispace:  http://w-t-f.wikispaces.com. The schedule and time frames are just a guide, so feel free to add yourself wherever you want and be open to whatever happens on the day. Think of it as an Open Improve where we know certain actions are going to occur during the day, but we don't quite know how to get into them, or out of them, but we know they will occur.

The Beursschouwburg' Golden Room will be open for us on Thursday (1-6pm), Friday (10am-6pm) and Saturday (12-1pm) for rehearsals, set-ups and try-outs.

Contact:

• For video, sound or installation contributions, please contact: kdesault[@]gmail.com
• For special needs for your performance, please contact: randomscream[@]hotmail.com
• For general questions, please contact:
  kristien.vandenbrande[@]gmail.com

How to support WTF*?

• Logistic support:

The more help we have at the bar, at the entry, backstage,... the better! Please add your name and contacts to this schedule if you want to do a one-hour shift.

• Communication:

We hope to reach all independent artists, journalists and writers, programmers, the minister of Culture, Commission members, and of course a big audience. Please copy this message and send it to your contacts, print the flyer from the wikispace, invite people to WTF*!? via Facebook,...

• Collective writing:

On our wikispace homepage we will open a discussion forum where you can post and discuss all your concerns. We will install two computers in Beursschouwburg, but you can also participate in the discussion from at home. This could become a publishable text, a manifesto, a letter with recommendations to the minister of Culture...

Beursschouwburg will be open for us on Thursday (1-6pm), Friday (10am-6pm) and Saturday from 12am on.

Wikispace blog.