Why radical leadership is the way forward for the creative sector
"A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself." – Maya Angelou
Written by Kamina Walton.
We are in a pivotal moment in the arts right now in relation to leadership, vision and structural change. As anyone who works in the cultural sector is well aware the Covid-19 pandemic has caused untold devastation across our community. Buildings have closed and staff teams have been furloughed. Tens of thousands of freelancer cultural workers have lost their income, receiving little or no support from the government.
As if the pandemic wasn’t challenging enough there was the very public murder of George Floyd in the US followed by the Black Lives Matter protests in May/June of 2020. These events have had a profound impact on communities of colour, provoking rage, trauma and often despair. They have also caused many leaders to confront their own privilege. This has meant questioning their approach to inclusivity and looking long and hard at their own organisations. But maybe in despair comes opportunity.
“There has been a lot of reflection during the pandemic, not all of it concluding that the arts should pick up exactly where they left off. This may be the moment for structural change. The British arts after the pandemic may need to be rawer, more basic, more plugged into their communities than ever. And that might not be a bad thing.” – Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian
The Leadership Crisis
Our institutions – from politics, to business, to education, to the criminal justice system – are shot through with structural racism and sexism. This, in turn, is preventing those discriminated-against groups from participating in these institutions.
According to a 2019 survey undertaken with over 15,000 young people across 25 countries, 82% felt that society is in a leadership crisis because there are not enough good leaders right now. We also see this reflected in our cultural sector. This is particularly in relation to diversity and representation, institutional racism and tired notions of leadership.
“Innovation happens because somebody decides to take a risk.” – Kuley Thiarai, Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales
Now is the time to champion new voices, embrace risk and advocate for change. We need new ways of working, recruiting, and collaborating. As a sector we need more transparency and vulnerability modelled at a leadership level. We need to build a new culture around this.
‘Leadership’ is a concept highly shaped by culture and, increasingly, by generation. Some of the most effective leading is done in collaboration, and within Rising we have grown a team that is built on trust and respect.
“We need to create more fluid organisational models which encourage change rather than fear it.” – David Jubb, theatre producer and ex CEO & Artistic Director, Battersea Arts Centre
The Rising narrative is one of genuine co-creation, risk-taking and leadership transformation. From the very beginning my vision as Founder/Director was always to lead the agency with young people over a five year period. During that time I would help build a team, our community, our resources and our standing in the city. Once established I’d hand on this leadership to young people within the team to take the agency forward. This transition is now in progress. Over the coming months I will be reducing my days and in September Euella Jackson and Jess Bunyan will become Rising’s new Co-Directors. This model of five year leadership is one that I hope will be adopted long-term. I imagine Euella and Jess handing over the baton again in five years from now.
Diversity of Thought
We recognise that the best ideas are arrived at through a diversity of thought, and for that to happen you need a diverse workforce. Caroline Criado Perez (from the Penguin Podcast interview about her book ‘Invisible Women’) highlighted the importance of having a diversity of approach to avoid short-sightedness in any area of work:
“…when It comes to decision-making, when it comes to design, when it comes to anything really, (because) there will be gaps in your knowledge if you have a homogenous team. There will be things that you don’t know, because you don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t know what the gaps are in your knowledge that will result in that discrimination.”
Within Rising we see the value of working closely with communities, holding conversations and co-creating opportunities and programmes of work that directly respond to their wants and needs. Our practice is based on active listening, reflection, being prepared to take risks and go on a journey together without fixed outcomes. We’re a solutions-focused agency that is steeped in creativity while engaging with social justice issues and challenging the status quo. Others may see us as argumentative dissenters but our emphasis is always on how things can be done better. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg said:
“Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say ‘My colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way’ but the greatest dissents do become court opinions and gradually over time, their views become the dominant view. So that’s the dissenter’s hope, that they are writing not for today but for tomorrow.”
Authenticity, equity & reflection
My own leadership approach has been about authentic participation – where people have ownership and authorship over the work, and power is shared. I recognise that I don’t have or need to have all the answers. I do need to create the right space to bring together the right people to ask the right questions. Some of the key lessons I have learnt from the past year have been to do with the vital importance of clear communication, within and across the team. I recognise the value of regular time to reflect in order to learn and move forward better and wiser. We now have scheduled time of between 2-4 hours each week for every team member to stop, reflect and continue learning. I know this will have a positive impact, not only on the work we produce but also on how we manage our workload. We will also learn to prioritise our time differently.
The dominant perception is still that, in order to lead effectively and successfully, leaders need age and experience. The young people in Rising’s community are proving this wrong. We are placing young leaders in strategic positions across the region’s cultural sector. We do this through initiatives such as BE IT, our radical leadership programme, and OnBoard, our governance programme advocating and recruiting for more diverse boards. We have faith that by giving these young people agency, their voices will be amplified. Their visible presence within the sector will contribute towards systemic change.
“As our internal agency grows, so too does our confidence in ourselves, our creativity, decision-making and our ability to influence the world… these are the qualities that we as leaders need to face the challenges ahead.” – Auriel Majumdar, Arts Professional
Rising Team photo Whose Future billboard Bristol
What’s of value now and for our futures?
In the Harvard Business Review ‘Women Are Better Leaders During a Crisis’ the leadership competencies that were rated most highly included:
Communicates powerfully
Champions change
Values diversity
Collaboration and teamwork
Inspires and motivates others
Interpersonal skills were considered to be of greatest importance. These along with honesty, integrity, and a sensitivity and understanding of the stress, anxiety and frustration people are feeling at this time. These are values and attributes that we hold dearly within Rising, that have enabled us to grow the agency and community rapidly over recent years. We recognise that through our work we operate within, and are part of, a civic society. As such we have a responsibility to connect deeply with the community we serve. This involves active listening, respect, trust-building and an openness to learn.
“We are at a crossroads, so civic responsibility is about an acknowledgement that we are complicit in shaping and redefining our cities and the decisions we make now as cultural organisations will shape the future of the city.”– Madani Younis, Creative Director at the Southbank Centre
It’s time to re-think our notions of culture. We need to question what we really understand by community engagement and participation. We must look internally at our teams and externally at our partners and see how representative of our communities they really are. Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that collaboration can involve conflict, to accept that language is power and is often not fit for purpose. We should practise empathy and speak authentically to the people we truly are.
Kamina Walton, Founder/Director at Rising @KaminaWalton