Re-shaping Advocacy

Our Artistic Director Ellie wrote this piece following her time on Clore Leadership’s Inclusive Cultures programme. You can read the full article, ‘Re-shaping Advocacy’, on the Clore Leadership website.

Intro:

I’d like to acknowledge my position as a neurodivergent, non-disabled, white leader of an arts organisation. I’m aware this perspective permeates everything I write.

In this piece I question what can be gleaned from sensory methodology, which has been developed over decades of being with disabled children to expand our definition of advocacy so it never becomes simply speaking on behalf of.

Love your unresolve-ables

My experience of leading Oily Cart has been a bit like repeatedly tripping up in ethical tangles. It can be hard to talk about the tricky bits… the minute you bring them up, people look uncomfortable. There’s a seductive comfort in sticking with the positive. Yet without facing up to the gnarly tangles, especially the ones you may not be able to resolve, and especially where you are part of the problem, there’s no possibility for progress.

Someone once reflected that working with me was like chipping away at the floor you’re standing on to see what’s underneath. This attitude causes problems for a planning team who need definites and funders who want good news stories.

Making space for the ‘unresolveds’ can be counter-intuitive.

Through the Inclusive Cultures programme, and the wise minds I’ve encountered, I have noticed a shift towards honouring the tangles, without experiencing them as a threat. I have a hunch that being wildly curious about our grey areas could push towards something more nuanced and ultimately better, even if beyond the scope of our individual careers. I’m trying to now stand amongst the tangles, and breathe…

Read Ellie’s full article, Re-shaping Advocacy, on the Clore Leadership website.