Happy New Year friends. After 14 years, Mood of Collapse blog has a new name for the new year, Creative Aberdeen!
This might not seem like much to others but I've decided or realised that what I'd set out to achieve has grown and changed so much over the years as have I and it's become more than just one persons idea or take on culture, or at least it should be. The rationale that mood of collapse blog was my own personal views on things provided some safety and allowed me to advocate for artists and projects I believed in which has brought me a lot of fulfilment and many amazing friends. But I've always disliked the gaps in the representation of the spectrum of culture, one of the pitfalls of only being able to cover so much ground working alone. Indeed there's entire area's of culture that I've had a blind spot for in theatre & dance and I find I'm still only learning about artists through chance conversations or online research despite them operating in Aberdeen for decades. So I'm hoping to give better exposure to the creatives that are out there now working away behind closed doors.
So what's going to be different? I've given the blog and social media a rebrand to start with. The name change is important for helping direct people to where information should be easy to access, from creative classes and spaces for making art to festivals, opportunities and the artists and makers who make Aberdeen a creative city. There's been a lot of positive changes over the last 8 years within Aberdeen's creative scene and at times much more visibility but this tends to be through individual advocacy as apposed to collective support. The silo approach to culture is counter productive whereas I hope we can shout about everyone across the arts with equal fervour and favour. I know organisations sometimes have their hands full trying to promote their own activity but if we can create an online critical mass then surely this can only drive real world engagements and give projects more visibility.
The Deen Scene mailchimp's have been trying to do this in a handy and accessible format with only a few clicks to sign up and access. I'll be pushing them out every month again from February. I'm also looking to share content from new voices with guest contributors & articles forming more of the pages output. And I want this to extend across the spectrum, from the student level to the professional artists and makers who's knowledge and insight benefit the sector. Its also about listening to emerging voices from across the city and asking what they need to succeed in Aberdeen. Maybe we can address some of the disconnect that exists between the creative individuals who are unaligned to organisations and how power within the arts is managed and held to account. Transparency and advocacy for the arts while uplifting new cultural voices can be a good thing for Aberdeen.
Maintaining our independence is important and by having a team of contributors I hope we become more accountable. I think anyone who contributes to the site should get paid for their time whether its writing a one off piece or a regular column. This means securing funding which is a new challenge for us but an essential one of we're to achieve our goals. I'm hoping that contributors will be passionate and help to expand what we cover while looking at how we become more accessible to those outside of creative circles and engage people in our communities. How do we help our communities, how do we bring them on a creative journey as active participants and not just passive viewers being fed content or told what they need? These are some of the challenges which we've started to look at in 2022 with ART CLUB and at our studio space so I'm up for tackling those challenges and know loads of great people who are as well. Meaningful engagement, supporting and listening will be key.
Although there is a lot to be said for the personal connection I have with the things I've covered on the blog it does also hamper that critical aspect which is important when looking at art and creative projects. I've always operated on the basis that if I'm going to put my time and energy into writing then I want to focus on things I like and seeing the positives, if something doesn't feel right or doesn't do it for me then generally I don't cover it. But through conversations with artists and friends there is a need to have a critical space where we can critique things and issues that have arisen over the years within the cultural sector from problems with how we access funding to the top heavy approach some organisations take in trying to dictate who and what should be considered culture. One person has suggested an open letter page where people anonymously vent and highlight issues. Indeed its sad but not unsuprising that many within the cities big culture groups are afraid to speak out for fear of work place reprimands should they been seen to go against the establishment. This begs the question, who gets to dictate what culture is or looks like in our city? We'll be delving into this and more going forward, critical discussion is healthy and needed.
So January is going to be a sporadic mix of posts and healthy changes despite being full of the cold at the moment. I'll be keeping the same editorial policy of avoiding click bait traps to lure people in or marketing ploys but we will invariably be asking friends to help us share our work and to help build up a meaningful network that celebrates our city and shire creatives, creative friends and visiting artists from outside Aberdeen. We hope to do all of the above in a way that's open and inclusive. I guess I used to be accountable to myself and now I'm hoping to be accountable to you. It can only be a good thing and I welcome your feedback and suggestions. Contact me for a chat at jon@creativeaberdeen.co.uk
P.S. If this all fails I'm changing everything back but it'll be Mood of Cats blog and only feature feline related content. You've been warned!
