 |
in may i played a mayworks show in toronto.
the old white lady on the board hated me & wrote this letter.
she was full of so much shit.
my good friend joey helped me craft my response.
enjoy..
Wednesday May 7, 2008
To Winnipeg Mayworks,
On behalf of the Mayworks Board of Directors, we'd like to let you know about a performer, Patrick Skene ("Pip Skid"), who was programmed by Winnipeg Mayworks as part of the larger inter-festival collaboration.
His performance was offensive.
Patrick Skene performed at a spoken word poetry performance evening, on a slate that included four other poets, and some high school students who had participated in our Mayworks in the Schools program, in which artists work with students about art creation, labour and display of artistic work.
In terms of his performance, he was grossly misogynist and described violent images of sexual aggression towards women. The most extreme example of this was his story of a co-worker "fucking a blow-up doll".
As a further sign of his disrespect for the audience, the organizers and the venue, he blew his nose onto the stage floor. If this is interpreted as his being "angry" and "blue collar" we strongly disagree. All other performers that evening also expressed deep and profound anger towards the classist, racist, sexist, and anti-immigrant workforce in Canada, without exhibiting such repellent behaviour. After his performance, Pip Skid proceeded to speak loudly in an adjoining room, interfering with the audience's enjoyment of performers who were scheduled after him.
Patrick, whose anger is expressed in his performance, anger about having had crappy paying jobs, lacks any larger analysis. This is progressive art? The fact that a white man will say "Fuck racism!" while giving an imaginary racist the middle finger? This is not, in fact, progressive. This is offensive and amateurish.
To be clear, this has nothing to do with his use of profanity, which from him was yet another sign of his immaturity as a performer, simply looking for shock value, as if nobody in the room had ever heard, or uttered, the phrase "fuck the cops" before, to use only one example.
There were first-time performers that evening, high school students who had spoken powerful words on stage that night possibly for the first time. These performers were more respectful, more mature, and their material was of a higher quality, than this co-called professional. It was telling to see them leave the event shortly after Patrick began his set - in fact a number of people left. His performance had a palpable negative impact on the energy and spirit that had been built by the other performers. It was a real shame for an otherwise fantastic evening.
Based on this unpleasant experience, we will work on developing a clear agreement for any future cross-productions with other Mayworks organizations in Canada, as well as a very clear agreement with the artists recommended to us through other Mayworks festivals. We will be looking at making it a requirement that artists understand the mandatory anti-oppression politics that we incorporate into all our programming in the Toronto Mayworks Festival.
Respectfully,
The Board of Directors of Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts
and now my response...
Friday 14 May, 2008
Dear Mayworks Toronto Board of Directors,
This is a response to the letter sent on Wednesday 7 May. Unfortunately and misguidedly, this letter was sent out to all those involved in the creation of this cross-city collaboration, and so, my response is sent to all of those carbon copied. Please excuse the cross-fire; it is not my intention to bother those who are not directly involved in this misunderstanding.
First off, I want to apologize for any behavior that was rude, such as spitting on the stage. That act is inappropriate and frankly, gross.
To Begin with my issues regarding the letter sent, I gave a disclaimer of strong language and strong imagery during my show, and if anyone was offended by those things, there was time to go to the other room. I also suggested I play last, as my set is accompanied by loud music. My show is not based on shock value. Rather, it is an expression of frustration and humor in the face of a very oppressive global system, a show which people all over the world have been relating to for 16 yrs. Many of my songs not only outline a problem in our world, but also give solutions. The "Fuck Racism" song you are referring to is a song about the war in Iraq and why it's happening; the song is not just an excuse for me, a white man as you so clearly state, to get up on stage in front of many people, and shout profanity. A few folks left during my set, yes, but the room was full of laughter during my stories and I had a large number of audience members, of all ages, approach me after to thank me.
I believe your letter may also be an attack on hip hop music. Just because you don't understand this genre of music does not mean you have to be so scared of it. It reaches a lot of people across many socioeconomic groups and cultures.
As artists of the Workhorse Showcase, we were asked to create pieces that young people in the current work force could relate too. I feel that my voice of anger and frustration is very relatable to youth; young people with nothing and not much of a future they can see.
If the thought was that I would receive this letter and not be fazed, you are sorely mistaken. A group of people who believe me a misogynist is something that saddens me greatly. It means that my message was not properly heard. If you were to actually listen to my lyrics, not just key phrases that caught attention, you would find them quite the opposite to your claim. The story of the blow up doll was an example of a terrible work environment with terrible morale. I am personally offended by that accusation.
Also, your claim that I was speaking loudly after my performance and interrupting others was incorrect. Yes, I was in the room where some were being louder than a respectful level, but it was not me. We were in a public venue and I have no idea who the loud ones were.
I have to say, this Board seems to have jumped to an extreme and biased judgment of me, when perhaps you should be concentrating on understanding the artists you bring to your festival. To invite me and not know about how I perform, and then to judge me, is the most unprofessional situation I have ever been in. It is not my job to tailor my art to make your Board content and comfortable. I do encourage you to further develop your agreements for any future cross-production and anti-oppression policies – this is your job. The onus is on you for knowing the type of artist you are booking.
Furthermore, it is important to discern, when not satisfied with a creation of art, if it is because you simply do not like it. An entire audience will never be able to appreciate a piece in quite the same way. It is important to not judge an artist, based on personal dislike, for the genre they choose to speak through.
Finally, to have such a problem and not take it up directly and solely with me, but to send an email to all those involved in this festival, is the work of amateurs. As a professional artist, I'm concerned about the effects of slander may have on my career, and how my peers and community may view me.
Best,
Patrick Skene
Pip Skid
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|