Tuesday 22 September 2020
12:00pm – 1:00pm

Covid-19 and the Artists' Union: Is this a turning point in Japan?

This event will start at 12pm BST (British Summer Time)

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Fully booked

The impact of the pandemic has been truly pervasive, shaking every section of society and all aspects of our personal lives. As offices and religious spaces closed their doors, so too did galleries, theatres, and music venues, which are only recently starting to reopen. Given the economic downturn, budgets for cultural institutions and artists’ commissions are in serious peril. Museum staff and lecturers in the arts are being laid off, and exhibitions and residencies have been postponed – the forecast hardships are rapidly becoming real.

In the UK, government funds were made available in the form of loans and stimulus packages for artists, arts organisations, and other professionals such as conservators and technicians, though there has been criticism that the financial aid was not provided early enough to prevent irreparable damage. In response, the Artists’ Union England has started a petition for the government to provide crucial help, and has also made small grants available to artists to keep them afloat. In Japan, on the other hand, artists have had very little in the way of an emergency relief response from the government. This has highlighted the need to establish a union in Japan to campaign for more help for artists during these challenging times.

The panellists in this talk discussed the current status of Artists’ Associations and Artists’ Unions in the UK, and progress towards forming a similar organisation in Japan.

A video of the talk can be found here:

About the contributors

Julie Lomax

Julie Lomax is CEO of a-n The Artists Information Company. Julie Lomax joined a-n The Artists Information Company as CEO in 2018 after working as Director of Development at Liverpool Biennial. She was previously Director of Visual Arts for the Australia Council for the Arts, responsible for visual arts policy and investment. She worked at Arts Council England as Director of Visual Arts for London, responsible for over £40m investment in the arts in London. She is also Chair of The Showroom, London and Executive Committee member of the Association of Women in the Arts, and regularly lectures at Sotheby’s Institute. She originally trained as an artist, graduating from Chelsea School of Art with a degree in Fine Art. www.a-n.co.uk

Yoi Kawakubo

Yoi Kawakubo is a Spanish-born Japanese artist based in London and Tokyo. He turned to artistic practice after receiving a degree in applied neuroscience and subsequently working as a financial trader for several years. He creates photographs, moving image and sound installations, often based on historical research and personal history, all intertwined with economic, social and philosophical reflections. He is currently engaged in an artist-led movement to set up a network in Japan that could act as a trade union, government pressure group and knowledge-sharing platform for art workers. His recent notable exhibitions include The Yokohama Triennale 2020 (Yokohama, Japan), Roppongi Crossing (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019), 21st DOMANI: The Art of Tomorrow (The National Art Center, Tokyo, 2019), Linguamania (The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 2017), The Vision of Contemporary Art 2015 (The Ueno Royal Museum of Art, Tokyo, 2015). He was a Fellow of the Overseas Study Programme for Artists, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in 2017 and the recipient of the POLA Art Foundation award for overseas research in 2016.

Professor Richard Hyman

Professor Richard Hyman is Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations at the London School of Economics (LSE). He has written extensively on the themes of comparative industrial relations, collective bargaining, trade unionism, industrial conflict and labour market policy. He received his BA and DPhil from Oxford University, and joined LSE in 2000 having previously held a Chair in Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick. He is founding editor of the European Journal of Industrial Relations and has served on the editorial board of numerous journals throughout his academic career. He has been one of the most prominent figures in British and European employment relations research for most of the past four decades, and in May 2009 the British Journal of Industrial Relations (BJIR) held a conference in his honour and to celebrate his distinguished contributions to the field.

Zita Holbourne

Zita Holbourne is an award winning human rights and equality campaigner. Zita is the Joint National Chair of the Artists’ Union England and the National Vice President of the Public and Commercial Services Union which represents public sector and culture sector workers. She is the co- founder and National Chair of BARAC UK, campaigning against racism and injustice. She is also a visual artist, designer, curator, poet, author, writer and vocalist. A member of the UNESCO Coalition of Artists for the General History of Africa and co-ordinator / curator of the Roots, Culture, Identity art exhibition. She is the author of the book Striving for Equality, Freedom.and Justice which she also illustrated. Zita has exhibited at a broad range of art exhibitions in the UK and internationally, including participating in exhibitions at Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum. She has advised the European Commission on social inclusion and gender equality in the culture sector. Zita is the winner of the Postive Role Model for Race award by the National Diversity Awards and a Lifetime Achievement award for Equality Champion by the Legacy Awards. She campaigns for Equality, Freedom, Justice and Rights through arts and activism.