Do They Even Know?

I’ve heard some stories from colleagues about people who have raised commonly known arts issues with politicians, only to discover this was the first time the politician had heard about it. So I began to wonder … could it be simply that no one had thought to tell them at all?

I think it’s entirely possible.

We naturally all exist within our own little bubbles and echo chambers, and it’s easy to think that just because you and everyone you know are sharing memes about it on your instagram stories, that it’s a commonly known issue. But how many people have actually mentioned it to a minister or local member in any capacity, like in a face-to-face meeting, phone call or email?

Considering that a) politicians come, go and move around; b) dealing with politicians can feel difficult and onerous; and c) their interfacing with the arts is probably with larger organisations and celebrities, it’s possible that they may just have no idea what’s really going on. Without ongoing conversations and consultation, how could they? The arts sector is so incredibly diverse, unique and difficult to understand if you don’t exist within it, so I hardly blame them.

This ignorance was proven in exquisite fashion when my organisation met with our arts minister and raised a very well known and long-term issue for us in the sector. They were surprised to hear about it, and promised to take action. Which they then did. It was kind of shocking how easy it was.

Now I’m not so naive that I think this is the whole picture. I’m sure that quite often politicians will feign ignorance to get out of a tricky position, and perhaps only pull their finger out when they’re finally put on the spot. But that lends itself to the same line of argument; put the heavy word on your politicians!

I think this is what’s going to motivate me the most to contact my politicians, assuming that my email is the first time they’ve heard about, rather than thinking it’s a commonly known issue that they just don’t care about.

Thoughts?