Who Ordered Humble Pie? Paper delivered by Elio Gatti 10th Annual - - PDF document

Who Ordered Humble Pie?

Paper delivered by Elio Gatti 10th Annual International Arts and Health Conference 12-15 November 2018, Port Macquarie NSW

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 1

Paper delivered by Elio Gatti 10th Annual International Arts and Health Conference 12-15 November 2018, Port Macquarie NSW

Who ordered humble pie?

Synopsis This presentation explores several reasons why local government is well placed to be a powerful and strategic partner in the promotion and support of creativity and wellbeing within a regional context. There are however limitations that frame and contain the scope of a local government involvement. Understanding these boundaries and addressing their constraints upfront can in turn lead to establishing productive cultural collaborations guided by more informed and mature expectations. About walls and barriers Any practitioner involved in Arts and Health would have experienced a degree of frustration in dealing with a local Council. Although proposals from creatives vary a great deal in scope and budget, they would have met with some common responses. Something along the lines of:

• “Sorry, arts and health is not part of a Council’s job ”.
• “Sorry, you should first submit this proposal to the Local Area Health

District”.

• “Sorry, you submitted a proposal as a solo trader. Our grants are only directed

to not-for-profit organizations. Please find a local association that can auspice your proposal and try again”.

• “Sorry, we cannot see how our local community festival can benefit from your

proposal”.

• “Sorry, we are very proud of the current arrangement between our regional

gallery and the local public hospital. Managing the installation of paintings on the hospital walls is a significant commitment of staff and resources for us and there is no room for your proposal.”

• “Sorry, we have allocated our resources in other urgent social priorities, like

homelessness, domestic violence, children’s abuse, single parents’ assistance, senior citizen’s centres, youth centres, children’s centres, suicide prevention projects, disability action plans… …..and the list of course is painfully long. After having served for fifteen years as a Council Cultural Officer, I am here to add that unfortunately frustrations are also experienced by Councils in their dealing with local artists.

• Some well-established artists simply refuse to be engaged by a local Council.

It’s a matter of maintaining a high profile reputation.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 2

• Some local artists express their disappointment for not having been chosen for

projects because they believe it is their “right as tax payers” to have a priority

• ver Joe and Jill…..especially if Joe and Jill come from another region….and

(God forbid!) from another country!

• Some great local artists simply cannot work with community. They have never

been trained to listen.

• Some local artists in the middle of a contracted project…suddenly find a much

better idea of going forward and off go the initial plan of action and its budget!

• Further it is not uncommon for local artists to disappear one day before the

project is set to begin...without leaving a note. This list too can be painfully long! I am aware there are no numbers in this list. No hard data expressed in percentages. No measures. However, anecdotal as it is, this list begins to shed some light over the fact that Councils remain cautious in entering the field of Arts and Health despite its thirty-year existence. Equally artists, especially registered art, movement and music therapists continue to see little relevance in collaborating with local Councils. About regional councils It would be reasonable to ask if there is a real solution to this conundrum? Plus a further consideration. If this field has already clocked thirty years with little or no input from Councils, isn’t this sufficient proof that this area may be better off ignoring the involvement of local Councils? Within the context of a region and within the purview of a twenty-year professional experience, I’ve always found local Councils to be unique strategic centres for the cultural development of their own communities. Ignoring the involvement of local Councils is tantamount to settling for the often mis/quoted definition of a region as “a cultural desert”. Australian capitals and well-developed Australian cities have in their urban centres peak cultural organizations as well as state and federal institutions who can relieve city councils from their public cultural commitments. In the economy of a region however, any cultural organization finds it impossible to survive without the direct or indirect partnership with the local Council. It is therefore imperative that Councils come on board of the arts and health operations if we are to see this field develop in the regions. About definitions The more pragmatic question however remains open. What exactly is the role of Councils? Or what is a good fit for Councils beyond the successful management of an agreement between public hospitals and regional galleries? Of course this is not an easy question to answer! Part of the difficulty is due to an elusive definition of the field. For those who approach it for the first time, Arts and Health can appear to be as wide and ominous as an ocean. An ocean filled with amazing flora and fauna that is partly explained and mostly unexplored. An ocean whose liquid boundaries shift with time and currents and politics since there are no clear signposts.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 3 For those who have worked in this field for several decades Arts and Health remains exactly the same wondrous and ominous ocean…..a field where just about anything can happen…anywhere! Metaphors aside, I’ve already listened to something close to 250 presentations over the past three years and the breath and nature of the Arts and Health topics have never ceased to surprise me. From practitioners dressed in orange pushing trolleys filled of arts and craft materials along hospital corridors in Sydney, to a nurse turned harpist in Canberra who plays her seven therapeutic harps on demand from patients inside and

• utside the hospital. From the recording of an interminable heart beat echoed in the

longest known tunnels in Scotland, to a successful visual art program for child bearing Aboriginal women in Brisbane and the Blue Mountains. Then there are ingenious and effective preventive promotional campaigns on depression, on breast cancer, on addiction, and many other urgent social topics. Extraordinary creative training programs for young clinicians and medical personnel that use theatre techniques and visual arts in NSW. An institutionalized music and movement program that restores a degree of human dignity in dementia care centres across Norway and touring plays in Canada that restore a sense of normality for service personnel affected by post traumatic disorders. These are all impressive initiatives! But where does a local Council fit? The short answer is that Councils don’t really fit in this area albeit as silent and passive partners

• f local area health districts. However there is much more to the field of Arts and

Health than it may first appear. Let me explain further this crucial point. About a compass Since I left Council I’ve been working on an ambitious model aimed at mapping the expansive territory covered by Arts and Health. After various disappointing attempts I realized I was going about it the wrong way. Maps and cartography come as a result

• f good navigation and good navigation is best informed by navigating tools. To put it

another way, without a sense of direction and orientation even the best maps become

• useless. Therefore I set out to create a compass of sorts that provided a strong sense of
• direction. Since the four cardinal points of a compass (North, South, East and West)

are the fruit of an abstract concept superimposed on reality as a grid, I created a compass that uses four extreme cardinal points which together become a useful grid/framework/tool for orientation purposes in the field of Arts and Health. On the vertical axis I placed two extremes representing Health. At the top I placed the Clinical Approach and the bottom the Social Approach. Both have in common the provision of health and wellbeing supplied and organized by a given society. The Clinical approach focuses on the individual body and often it is only specific parts of the individual body. The Social approach instead goes beyond the individual body in

• rder to focus on the relationship between one body to other bodies. The Clinical

approach studies the material and visible parts of the human body and its visible

• symptoms. The Social approach studies instead the invisible and intangible

relationships between bodies of a given group and community. Another assumption in this vertical axis is that the Clinical approach is capable of producing quantified and measured results in relatively short terms case by case, individual body by individual body. While the Social approach takes a much longer

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 4 time to collect and measure its data and the output is not always considered as reliable. I placed the Clinical approach on top because at this historical point, our society believes this to be a superior approach in terms of impact, efficiency and intervention

• n health. This alleged superiority is in turn marked by the way public resources are
• rganized and distributed.

On the horizontal axis I placed two extreme approaches representing Creativity. On

• ne extreme point I placed the Original approach on the other I placed the Traditional
• approach. Both approaches have in common the provision of creativity supplied and
• rganized by individuals.

The Original approach believes that a handful of individuals are very talented. This talent is innate and congenital to them. Whether self taught or through a level of training from distinguished masters these uniquely gifted individuals become eventually masters of their own arts as they invariably exhibit a unique and original

• style. In this light their works are considered “masterpieces”.

Furthermore it is believed that great masters are as rare as precious gems. Each century produces only a few. Generally they are also regarded as a genius who can see and understand things that normal people cannot. They express these insights through their art forms. Therefore their masterpieces are not only elegant and beautiful but also deeply imbued with hidden meanings and powerful messages for humanity at large. Finally the masterpiece of a great artist knows no boundaries in terms of financial

• value. In fact the general consensus is that the value of a masterpiece increases

exponentially with time. In the field of arts and health it is also believed that great masterpieces have a thaumaturgic quality, i.e. they have a healing power of their own. One has to just look at a great painting or close the eyes and listen to a great music in

• rder to allow these works of art to yield their magic.

Implicit in the Original approach there is also the assumption that true artists can only follow their arts as a calling, a passion and a curse as this path demands extraordinary sacrifices from the individual. In the Original approach the main preoccupation remains to be true to one’s own muse, possibly by never compromising the integrity

• f one’s own inner vision. Creativity at this cardinal point of the axis is identified by

an individual unique genius expressed freely in content and forms that appear new, unique, daring, innovative and of course original. The second approach to creativity is the Traditional approach. In this approach creatives are also regarded as talented individuals however their “art” is always referred to more as a skill, a craft. Sometime creatives are so because they were born with a particular dexterity of hand. Most often creatives are the outcome of a long and hard apprenticeship during which time the skill is acquired and eventually mastered. Traditional art is a form of creativity that follows ancient and established cultural

• norms. Producing a Chinese porcelain vase, a Persian carpet, an Aboriginal totem or

performing an Italian Opera, dancing a classic ballet, building an igloo or a Federation Cottage, mastering a Thai massage technique or a Tibetan form of yoga…these are all artistic expression that follow a specific cultural norm, practice and tradition. Creatives who perform or create these traditional forms of art, are praised for their skills and the mastery of the execution. If there are profound hidden meanings in these work of art, the authorship is either assigned to a specific author who lived

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 5 centuries before or it is simply lost in the anonymity of a cultural group and its folkloric origin. Implicit in the connotation of a Traditional art is the assumption that creatives perform their service for a client who will pay a set fee. The fee is set by current market values and only rarely it is a fee set by creatives. The Traditional approach carries with it a strong connotation of trade and trading, an underlying economic imperative that drives the creative individual. In the Traditional approach creative practitioners’ main preoccupation remains to satisfy the orders of a master or a client to the best of their abilities. Note that these cardinal points are not mutually exclusive opposites, rather like yin and yen, they act as polarities that ultimately complement each other along the given continuum of the axis. At another less obvious level the axis of Health represents the production of knowledge and understanding organized by the observation of reality. The axis of Creativity is instead concerned with the production of knowledge and understanding

• rganized by imagination….and imagination is by definition that which is not real. I

don’t here to replicate the old stereotype of science versus the arts where one is all about observation with no creativity while the other is all about creativity with no connection to reality. In both science and creativity there are constant crossover between observation and imagination at work. However the two axes remain profoundly distinct in a different way. The axis of Health determines the validity of a statement through a test or experiment in reality. So what is true or what is false is ultimately determined by concrete evidence taken from reality and visible to

• everyone. The axis of Creativity instead determines the truth of a statement in a much

more personal and abstract way. In art what is true to an artist is the outcome of the creative individual SELF aligning with the SELF of the artwork. In this sense truth becomes an intimate, individual, ethical stance not a social provable reality. There is no “evidence” outside the statement of the artist. Or to put it another way, the only “evidence” is the work of art itself. This in turn means that the two axes are themselves two complementing polarities. Together they form and define the field of Arts and Health. A field that mixes

• bservation with imagination. Tangible realities with intangible stories. Socially

driven cultures with individual original thought. So how does this compass work? At its most elementary level the compass describes four quadrants numbered in the figure 1 as 1 to 4.

• A painting created by a visual artist, purchased by a gallery and hung on the

hospital wall pertains to the first quadrant. Here we have original work of creativity meant for a one to one encounter.

• An ephemeral installation in a festival, a new concert in the park, a flash dance

in a shopping center belongs to the second quadrant.

• A registered music therapist that plays the harp for one patient is placed on the

third quadrant. This quadrant belongs to art, music and movement therapists who work on a case by case basis.

• Finally a creative therapist, a social worker, a community worker and arts and

craft volunteer providing creative workshops in community centres, nursing homes, shopping centres and the like are placed in the fourth quadrant.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 6

• Fig. 1 The Gatti Compass.

About spaces and roles As the compass begins to orient the field of Arts and Health, several aspects of the quadrants emerge. The following are only a few observations pertinent to this presentation.

• Local Councils are not equipped to input into the first and third quadrants. The

Clinical approach is an area safely and competently led by hospitals and local area health districts. Creative practitioners are best to submit their ideas/projects directly to local area health authorities.

• The Social approach however is intimately connected to local Councils and as

the compass suggests, this is at least half of the field of arts and health not a small sliver as current mainstream frameworks would suggest.

• Another point is about prestige, social status and reputation. The four

quadrants are ordered in terms of what is perceived to be the most prestigious approach to health down to least prestigious. At the very top of the hierarchical ladder the original artist approach combining with the clinical approach form the most valued collaboration. At the bottom of the ladder, the local volunteer and community worker combining with the Social approach becomes in this context the least prestigious collaboration. Once again it

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 7 should be noted that the distribution of public resources follows directly this scale of perceived superiority.

• This means that the fourth quadrant is perceived to be the most humble, the

least paid and the closest to the grassroots of communities. My argument here is that this fourth quadrant is where local Councils should begin to invest more resources with confidence. It is also a call to creative practitioners to unleash their imagination in a way they have not dared to do before. In terms of community building and community health this is actually the most powerful quadrant of all! In order to support this view, let me introduce at this point an experiment I conducted last year while I was still a cultural officer working for the Central Coast Council in NSW. Experience, Explore, Be More Imagine a small army of artisans that work across a region like weavers work across a loom. Imagine a tenuous creative thread being woven and inter-woven across the region connecting people to people and people to land. Imagine that this tenuous thread is then joined by another and then third and then a forth and soon these threads combine as they reveal a pattern and a texture. Imagine people of all ages, genders, cultures, abilities and social backgrounds beginning to trust these threads and following their call. Going to places they have never gone before. Meeting people they have never met before. Experiencing things they have never known before…and in this process imagine them finding hope. Not an acquired hope linked to some product or service or brand. Rather a deep hope of their own, born from a sense of gratitude. It’s a gratitude they feel towards a new sense of community. Or perhaps better still, a re-newed sense of community, as this is in fact an ancient feeling. A primordial instinctive feeling that makes us see “community” as a safe place to live in. We are social creatures and our instinct is not dissimilar to pack animals. Remember? We still believe that being part of a community is a safe way of being in this world despite the atrocities we have seen or experienced first hand. Many of our anxieties are born from feeling profoundly isolated and alone with little or no connection to others. Two participants of the workshops were able to express this very point in their powerful and eloquent

• feedback. (See appendix 1).

As these deep feelings of hope and gratitude and safety begin to emerge…. aspects of individual healing also begin to manifest themselves in various ways. Ways that are mostly unplanned and unexpected. Ways that are spontaneous and “original” because they are generated by the “original body”, the individual body that was unhealthy and unbalanced and anxious. This is in essence the initiative we called “Experience, Explore Be more” that ran four times at an interval of two months across the second semester of 2017. It started with the activation of eight sites and quickly grew to cover 21 suburbs and 27 activated sites spread around a radius of 50kms.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 8 Fig 2. Location of 21 Suburbs activated during the pilot project. In just four days 92 workshops were offered by a total of 57 creative practitioners. Notwithstanding Council commitment to pay creatives, 38 workshops were delivered as a voluntary service because creatives insisted they wanted to give freely to the community. A total of 623 patrons attended these free workshops that reached just about every

• age. From toddlers arriving in prams to senior citizens in their mid nineties! It is also

remarkable to note that Aboriginal, multicultural, disability, gay and lesbian representatives participated both as presenters of workshops and as patrons…. without this ever being a targeted output of the pilot project. This simply happened because the representatives of these groups are active and caring members of our community! The following table lists the spread of creativity included by workshops. 92 CREATIVE WORKSHOPS

Music, Drumming, Singing, Song recording Storytelling, writing, song writing, poetry Visual arts, photography, sculpture, painting, arts and crafts. Food preparation, food degustation, talks on fermented food. Cultural talks, cultural walks Nature immersion and gardening Free movement, folkloric dances, ballroom dances, advanced techniques Various forms of yoga, meditation and breathing techniques. Social games and social sports Theatre and cabaret Aboriginal corroborees End of life sessions

Table 1 Creative forms covered by workshops.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 9 The feedback collected was a reliable indication of the patrons’ opinions as 52% of participants filled out the survey across 78% of the total of workshops. The results were positive beyond our initial expectations. A sample of 335 responses (52% of total attendance) 99% Participants want these workshops to continue. 90% Participants experienced something new during the workshop. 88% Participants met new people at the workshop. 73% Participants attended the workshop because it was close by. 55% Participants consider themselves part of a group. 40% Participants explored a new venue by attending the workshop. Table 2. Responses of patrons attending workshops.

• Fig. 3 Responses of patrons attending workshops.

When I consider that this initiative was conceived and organized as a pilot project with limited resources and within such a short time frame, my mind boggles at the thought of what could be achieved if this initiative were allowed to run systematically for two or three years. Conclusions While I respect the knowledge, competence and jurisdiction of our local area health districts for adopting a clinical approach, I simply propose that the social approach to arts and health constitutes at least half of the field. A large area of missed

• pportunities that remains somehow misunderstood and underdeveloped. I urge local

Councils to consider their leadership in this area and invest with confidence a

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 10 congruent portion of their public resources since the returns would be in time both surprisingly visible and highly valuable. I also invite creative practitioners to step up their collaboration and fire their imagination. There is so much work ahead! Humble, quiet, competent work that restores trust in social foundations and confidence in communities for their ancient, perennial ability to heal themselves. With these aims in mind I founded a small company Salus Creatives whose vision is not simply to trade as a business. Rather to build a regional economy of hope where creativity and wellbeing are a sustainable daily practice. I believe this vision to be eminently possible. No pie in the sky stuff. Rather a homemade humble pie found in every corner of our towns, our villages, our homes as we dare to re-imagine a better world around us and we begin acting with the little we already have.

Elio Gatti SALUS CREATIVES Who ordered humble pie? 11

APPENDIX 1

Statement made by patron who attended the workshop on Yoga Meditation, at the Bamboo Budda Café, 22 June , 2017 The teacher was friendly and welcoming, the class not too difficult. Meditation: This was more a religious teaching than a lesson in meditation, so was not what I had anticipated, but I am still happy to have experienced it and will look further into the Buddhist lectures @ libraries and pursue meditation elsewhere. I would like to THANK Central Coast Council for this opportunity to experience new things / tools to assist in managing anxiety / depression at no cost - one

• f the most prohibitive aspects of accessing mental health wellness support is

the financial outlay, in particular for very low-income member of the

• community. Just seeing the pamphlet offering such a variety of events, from

Art Therapy to Yoga and more, made me feel considered and supported - suddenly not just an 'island' adrift - so THANK YOU, and please CONTINUE!! I would also like to thank the venue, BAMBOO BUDHA for providing the beautiful location and the yoga and meditation practitioners for their time. Statement made by patron who attended the workshop by Gypsy Artemis Enhancing life by Exploring Death, December 1, 2017. Hi Gypsy I am XXXX. We met recently when I attended your session at Erina's fair. I feel that I gained great benefit from your gathering and the counselling sessions that I attended in the days before. You will recall that my wife had unexpectedly taken her own life shortly beforehand. Unfortunately her funeral is still waiting to be held as the coroner in Canberra has not released her

• body. Hopefully that will take place today and the funeral will be at 1.00 pm

Thursday 14/12. It is taking a lot of patience just waiting for that part to be finalised. When I returned to Sydney following our meeting I told my family and friends that I felt like I had been reprogrammed. I was very much more at ease. I still have the occasional lapse into tears, but that is to be expected. Thanks again, and I would appreciate it if you could send some vibes our way

• n the day of the funeral.

XXXX