Fergus Evans, 16 January 2017

This is Bad Enough

This is bad enough

So please …

Don’t give me

gobbledegook.

Don’t give me

pages and dense pages

and

“this leaflet aims to explain … ”

Don’t give me

really dodgy photocopying

and

“DO NOT REMOVE

FOR REFERENCE ONLY.”

Don’t give me

“drafted in collaboration with

a multidisciplinary stakeholder

partnership consultation

short-life project working group.”

I mean is this about

you guys

or me?

This is hard enough

So please:

Don’t leave me

oddly none the wiser or

listening till my eyes are

glazing over.

Don’t leave me

wondering what on earth that was about,

feeling like it’s rude to ask

or consenting to goodness knows what.

Don’t leave me

lost in another language

adrift in bad translation.

Don’t leave me

chucking it in the bin

Don’t leave me

leaving in the state I’m in.

Don’t leave me

feeling even more clueless

than I did before any of this

happened.

This is tough enough

So please:

Make it relevant,

understandable –

or reasonably

readable

at least.

Why not put in

pictures

or sketches,

or something to

guide me through?

I mean how hard can it be

for the people

who are steeped in this stuff

to keep it up-to-date?

And you know what I’d appreciate?

A little time to take it in

a little time to show them at home

a little time to ask “What’s that?”

a little time to talk on the phone.

So give us

the clarity, right from the start

the contacts, there at the end.

Give us the info

you know we need to know.

Show us the facts,

some figures

And don’t forget our feelings.

Because this is bad

and hard

and tough enough

so please speak

like a human

make it better

not worse.

Elspeth Murray.

Art speak is a barrier. If we don't break down what we are saying we will never

diversify our audiences, so the same people will go to the same shows etc

Its fine to use language but not to use jargon.

You gotta think, what would my Nan make of this

The best and most successful ways to break down barriers and arts speak etc is to

create spaces for conversations between artists and communities (see Trinity Centers

IGNiTE project)

Say what it is not what it will make you feel (as an audience member can decide for

themselves how they will feel).

What does it look like? (what happens if I lick it?)

Comments: 1

Elspeth Murray, 17 January 2017

Thanks Fergus and friends for calling this session and welcoming a badger into the discussion and sharing my/her poem

here too :-)

I sometimes think that professional language is something we hide behind - *professing* to know what we're talking about

when sometimes we'd be better just speaking our truth in simple terms and owning up to the parts we're still not sure about.

And yes - asking yourself what your granny would make of it is a great question!