Writing Bla|k| in Ireland
I knew I was on the periphery. I just didn’t realise how high the walls were that would have to be scaled. My discovery this week was there really is no centering of minority narrative experiences in Ireland — never mind the women of colour stories!
The context was Galway, the Irish Arts Council was launching its new Equality, Human Rights and Diversity Policy. Note the ‘new’ — as far as I can ascertain, this is a misnomer as there is no ‘old’ one.
Day one’s workshop was ‘reserved for arts officers, venues managers and directors of arts organisations only. Due to high volume of demand for this workshop only one ticket per organisation/local authority will be allowed.’
Perhaps the first tell was the fact that there were empty seats in this ‘high demand’ workshop.
My walking into Arts or Education or Health spaces in Ireland as the only person of colour in management (& paid not volunteering) is unfortunately endemically normal in Ireland. Ireland does not readily employ unknowns and non-locals — and what are migrants but utterly unknown and the epitome of non-local arrivals.
Thus the leadership spaces of Arts Institutions being so whitewashed was not really that odd. But the lack of engagement? That was at odds with what I expected of a nation that embeds in its core identity the notion of challenging colonialist oppression based on race.
It was a tough day, I could feel how odd, unwanted a presence I was in the cold lack of welcome.
There was one other person of colour, but I later found out Abid Hussain was not a local exemplar of leadership but guest speaker for the following day and the Director of Diversity at Arts Council England. His presence reaffirmed another observation I’ve noted, which is for Irish Arts, minority ethnic in people of colour is only accepted in a room when sourced internationally particularly from the UK or USA.
It became rapidly apparent that the fact I hadn’t known, wasn’t invited, and was told my place could not be supported by public funding available to attend the session, was reflective of the exclusiveness of the ‘Inclusion’ in Ireland.
Day Two of the event had far more diversity represented. On stage and in the open invitation to Artists to attend for free. But as one speaker, Traveller/Minceir playwright Rosaleen McDonagh pointed out, there was a 5minute limitation for speaking to those representing the underrepresented voices of Ireland. Five whole minutes.
In some ways the whole second day presentation reminded me of what Dr Stephane Shepherd from Johns Hopkins University referred to in a lecture long ago as, ‘a Museum approach’ to culture. Being put on display, but not being empowered.
Butterfly specimens pinned for examination — ‘Essentialised and Exoticised’ — as my essays deconstructing racialised texts in long-ago undergraduate days would have referenced these experiences.
It was as one speaker commented the ‘day’ that was allowed — or in this case the 5 minute allotment in the day that was allowed — to remove any cause for complaint.
The superficiality of the systemic inclusion reverberated.
I had attended the Inclusion launch with high hopes of finding allies, new projects and pathways that perhaps I had simply been unaware existed, but as I returned home, I realised not only were there none, there never had been any historical commitment or inclination to support diversity in Ireland before migrants became ‘an issue to solve,’ why would there be now?
It was a realisation early hinted at in the cautionary commentary from Dr Sindy Joyce, the first Mincéir (Sindy advocates this true-name & self-identifier for Travellers) to be allowed to study to a PHD that reverberated.
(I say ‘allowed’ with intent; an Education system that has been only able to support one of a minority group to a doctorate, cannot purport to have any pedagogical inclusive depth).
This is a ‘bold policy’ Dr Joyce said, but ‘we have seen many a bold policy gathering dust on government shelves in this country’ and she went on to highlight the need for bold action. As did the other presenters, who had clearly experienced prior Irish institutional tokenism.
With all this in mind, I did my volunteer, weekend ‘In the Margins’ workshop supporting writers from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds with a renewed commitment.
Because the reality is this: We do not need the permission of systemic gatekeepers to create the places and spaces that matter for the creation of our Art and our Learning. In fact the opposite is the truth, the systemic gatekeepers, if they wish to reflect real Arts & Education diversity and not ‘pale into insignificance’, they need us.
And as an aside I’d recommend Artists from marginalised backgrounds to increase their Artist fees in correlation to the lack of systemic support received. An ‘Exclusive rate’ for the extra yards we run and systemic hurdles we overcome…
