We're closing the agency in august... aGAIN
Picture of the Rising team laughing round a table
So last year, we trialled our first August of Rest. It was a month where we closed the agency to public facing work and focused as a team on reflecting, reading, resting and interrogating our work against the backdrop of picnics in parks, resting in living rooms, making stuff and cooling off in paddling pools.
It was an opportunity for us to come together as a team and get to the roots of our work. As artists, producers and activists ourselves, sometimes you’re so deep in the work that you rarely get time to stop and look at the bigger picture. What is it all for? How could we be doing the work better? Who else is doing the work alongside us?
It’s safe to say August was a success, so we’re doing it again. Jess and I are really glad that this will be a permanent feature as part of our legacy as Co-Directors. We were really humbled to hear from our community and partners about how much our move had inspired them to plan their own Augusts of Rests this year too. It’s important to us that we can build a culture of rest in the sector because, while it’s great that it’s something that we can do, it’s definitely possible for other organisations to do it too - you just need to plan for it, tell people and prioritise it. Because the rumours are true; ‘it ain't no fun, if the homies can’t get none’.
We’re acutely aware of the challenges that are being faced by our colleagues and our community. Just this month, our friends at Theatre Bristol announced that they have to close due to lack of funding after 18 years of supporting artists and performers in the region. The comes just months after Saffron Records started their fundraiser to sustain them and their work after a change in their funding.
Times are equally as difficult for our community too. The cost of living crisis and the lack of affordable housing is making freelancing increasingly untenable for large swathes of our community. The mental, emotional and physical toll it’s having has meant that many young people in our community are having to leave the creative sector. This is going to have detrimental effects on the quality of work we will see in the sector, as the current skill and diversity gaps will worsen - undoing the work we and so many of our allies have been working towards. As an agency that makes a point of turning-over it’s leadership every 5 years to remain youth-led and create space for new leaders to step forward, will there be any young leaders around to lead Rising when Jess and I leave to hand over the mantle in 3 years? Will Rising even exist in 3 years?
We are fortunate that we have built rest and reflection into our work from the beginning to think about these questions, and honouring August is central to that. We don’t take it for granted. That’s why, this year, we’ve been able to offer rest fees for 10 randomly-selected members of our community. This will give £100 of no-strings-attached money for the recipients to do whatever they want; pay rent, do a food shop, get a massage, take some time away from freelance work, buy a new chair for their home office or sleep a little better knowing they have a tiny buffer that month, so they can have their own moments of rest and reflection in August too.
There’s a lot for us to think about this year, whether it’s around how we can future-proof our agency model, who will be the next young leaders of Rising, is the creative industries a harmful space for freelancers right now? What’s next for our agency and community? What new projects do we want to work on? We’re looking forward to sitting with ourselves, strategising, re-energising and connecting with our board and allies. We won't be looking at emails, managing projects or doing daily tasks - dreaming only. We hope you all have the best Summer, and see you on the flip side in September.
The Rising Team xx
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