Wed 9th December 2009 0:16
‘The real challenge is: how to keep your arts organisation surviving day-to-day whilst you strive form long-term transformation of your business model?’
Earlier this evening I was reflecting on a conference debate I’d been to earlier in the day, whilst simultaneously cooking dinner and foraging in the freezer to work out what I could scramble together evening tomorrow given I’d be on the 08:36 to London after dropping off the kids at childminder and have no chance to pick up anything for dinner. As a working mum, you get good at juggling priorities as you have to be able to do about ten things at once – thinking not just one step ahead all the time, but about three or four.
If you think running an arts organisation is challenging – you want to try running a household with two children under three whilst trying to also work part-time. I’d like to see the bionic Michael Kaiser try and do that! Bet he can’t potty-train a toddler whilst balancing a laptop to type up a research proposal and email it through before the deadline.
Seriously, though – this raises an important question for me. Working parents (and those with other caring responsibilities – like aging parents) have a lot to offer art organisations but we know that many leave the arts when they start a family (see, for example, the Creative and Cultural Skills Blueprint for Visual Arts). According to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, working mothers are the group most likely to face discrimination in terms of employment and taking a career break can seriously damage your career and potential to earn for the rest of your life – hence their current campaign: work better.
So, how can we make sure working in an arts organisation is possible for those of us who want a family life as well as a professional one? I used to work 8am – 10pm many days when at the British Council and regularly spend nights away from home for work. Even at the Arts Council I would regularly clock up 55-60 hour weeks, especially as I had to attend board meetings and openings in the evenings. Meeting many of the leading arts managers though the Clore Programme I have been struck how many of them – not all – are working extremely long hours, often without taking holidays and with no family life.
Is that what it really takes – as many would have us believe? I’m not sure – and I hope not. I think we have developed a culture of long hours and assume these roles are not possible without working every hour of every day. I’ve also come across some inspirational leaders who make time for their families and ensure they are home in time to see their children, and don’t work weekends or school holidays.
I’m biased – obviously – as I have children. But I know how hard I’ve found trying to find interesting (i.e. challenging and responsible) roles on a part-time basis, or even on a full-time but well-balanced (i.e. 35-hour week) basis. That’s why I’ve been self-employed since having my children three years ago. We know that arts organisations are lacking managers, fundraisers, finance people. I also know the playgrounds I inhabit two days a week are full of brilliant, experienced women (managers, fundraisers, finance directors included), who’d be an asset to any organisation which had the sense to offer roles on a part-time or flexible basis.
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Hi Claire – I quite agree. I don’t buy that there is a split between work life & personal life – surely it is just life! And we should all be able to make the most of our talents as well as spend time with family & friends.
Coming from a ballet career where there is flexibility for working parents in the admin or education side but absolutely none for the dancers I believe all employers just need to be smarter about how work is organised and challenge preconceptions about what is effective and how it has to be done.
It is important for everyone (whether they have kids or not) that as a society we enable parents to have time to bring up their children well and that our economy has everyone of talent contributing to it.
So let’s all keep talking about it and perhaps we can change things for the better!
Hi Claire – we’ve had this conversation haven’t we?! I am tempted to go back into an organisation again after six years of running my own business but just can’t see it working.
I do job-share in one sense by working in partnership with other consultants. The benefit to my clients is they effectively get two separate companies thinking about their projects. The benefit to me is that when it works you get that lovely blend of intellectual challenge and support. Why it works is I think that you don’t demarcate your time to set days and hours, so there is a lot of communication and overlap. Traditional job-shares don’t seem to work in this way, nor are they set up with the job-sharers in mind. So, if I went for a job, I wouldn’t have any say in who my job-sharer was and that meeting of minds might not happen.
M
Hi Claire, excellent question, thoughtful responses. Something many of us have been tackling for several years and perhaps never quite getting it right (although I know a few who have). Clearly there is no one-size-fits-all, for some its about not bringing so much of the home into the work place (and I do understand the perspective of the non-parents brigade in wondering why on earth we keep going on about it). For me its the other way around. Its an enormous challenge to where we place our energies and, if mothers are interested in inspiring or driving holistic leadership, then it needs to be discussed. The simple choice I personally have to make is how on earth I can try to be a brilliant professional and a brilliant parent at the same time, because frankly both of those are part of who I am – they are what make me me. So, what gives? If I have respect for myself and the people around me, then I need to build a responsible approach to that into my personal life as well as my work life. I need to make sure I am there for my young children in spirit and emotionally, and not just physically as my body moves seamlessly from laptop to bathtub with frightening ease – and all the time that blank look on my face giving away the fact that I am deep in thought about that latest challenge presented by my client rather than engaging with my own children’s ideas and insights… Who do I value more? My kids of course. Who do I give more time to? Actually, sometimes, the client. Therefore I constantly weigh up the need to practice what I preach in the board room at home. There’s a whole variety of strategies which will help this, from time management, prioritisation, delegation, motivation, segmentation, communications, and so on. But it also takes will and old behaviours die hard. When you enjoy your job as much as I do, sometimes it’s easy to forget that head space needs to be shared.
Forgot to say, there’s fab web site here dedicated to just such a discussion: . Good luck on Clore, sounds fab to have some thinking space.
Thanks for these comments. I certainly recognise Ruth’s there-in-body-but-mind-still-in-work-mode situation. Never sure whether having a Blackberry helps or hinders the working parent – I can deal with working enquiries when I’m not in the office which is good for the client, but I do sometimes end up ‘working’ when I’m supposed to be playing in the park with the kids. Nothing like coming home to some kiddy fun and reading bedtime stories after a challenging day at work though – the best stress-buster I can imagine.
BTW I came across an interesting social enterprise the other day which basically works with working parents (or possibly just mothers) and helps them find work – unfortunately they only cover London currently.
http://www.womenlikeus.org.uk/home.aspx
Great topic and I’m sure there is no one-way solution. I left the arts 7 years ago to start my own business and have children (two up-hill struggles at once!). I think the idea of the ‘life and work unified’ solution is rosy on paper but in reality doesn’t work. The only way I can ensure I’m giving my clients and my children everything they need and expect is to keep them separate. By strictly segmenting my working time I find it helps. This does mean working many evenings, but that in return gives me flexibility during my day, so a fair deal I think. Brain space continues to overlap- but that’s the same whatever your circumstance.
Thanks for your contribution Lizzie. Makes me sad to think how many of the women I worked with ten years ago are no longer working in the arts, mostly because after starting families the pay and conditions (and long hours culture) didn’t work for them. And indeed there are other women I know who just got fed up with the pay and conditions and not being able to afford to own their own homes etc on £16K a year in London etc. Something I rant about here:
http://www.claireantrobus.com/2009/12/13/where-are-all-the-visual-arts-managers/
Those of us who still work in the arts are mainly freelancers so we can adopt the flexible working practices you describe above.