Motion #1

Space

Question inspiring this motion:

What kinds of spaces and support do we need to create a new arts landscape for ESEA artists?

For ESEA artistic practice to thrive, ESEA artists need:

1.1 flexible space, where work, rest and relationship-building can happen;

1.2 hybrid space, where the digital is integrated into bricks & mortar so that the widest possible access to communal ESEA cultural life is available to our dispersed communities;

1.3 inclusive space, that models ESEA understandings of hospitality, encourages intergenerational connections, and celebrates ESEA festivities and cosmologies;

1.4 open space, that is aware of its context within a pan-European landscape and its connection to ESEA and Global Ethnic Majority diasporas; and

1.5 (an) administrative headquarters, that can serve as (a) symbolic and actual rallying point(s) for ESEA arts advocacy and organising.

Motion #2

Identity

Question inspiring this motion:  

How do we want “ESEA” to be defined as an emergent category?

We understand ‘East and Southeast Asian’ (ESEA) as:

2.1 an identity that is emerging and is continuing to be redefined through lived experience; 

2.2 an identity that is transversal (i.e., crosses and connects different identities), and inclusive of a wide range of cultural heritage;

2.3 a category that stems from the Western gaze and which collapses all ‘yellow’ peoples into one, but nevertheless enables solidarity and mutual support against systemic and institutional racism; and

2.4 a category that requires more research, interest and investment in order to understand the specific impacts of colonialism on our very diverse ESEA communities.

Motion #3

Curatorial

Question inspiring this motion: 

How can ESEA artists be curated/programmed better?

For ESEA artists to be curated and programmed better, they require:

3.1 the presence of curators, decision-makers and institutional leaders of ESEA heritage who are informed of or have lived experience of ESEA history;

3.2 programmes and spaces that allow for intersecting ESEA identities and inheritances;

3.3 a removal of the orientalising and white gaze from institutions and curatorial practice;

3.4 being relieved from the burden and fatigue of having to educate curators on the basics of anti-racism, decolonisation and orientalism; 

3.5 sector and institutional interest in the cultural knowledge and value of British ESEA artistic practice; and

3.6 for this interest to be manifested as high-profile investment, such as in major exhibitions, public collections, research and publication, and senior appointments of ESEA curators and creatives.

Motion #4

Care

Question inspiring this motion: 

What does care mean and look like for ESEA people, and how do we create this?

We consider care to have the following facets:

4.1 Care is well-being: encompassing physical, psychological, economic and environmental wellness.

4.2 Care is compassion and obligation to each other: honouring our pasts, stewarding our futures, understanding our legacies.

4.3 Care is welcome: inclusive of all people of ESEA heritage no matter how close or far they think they are from it.

4.4 Care is curiosity: celebrating the diversity of ESEA communities.

4.5 Care is accountability: to each other in our shared struggle and in demanding accountability to us from institutions.

4.6 Care is learning to care: always reflecting and improving what is ESEA care and how we do it.

4.5 Care has to be defined by ESEA communities in their own terms.

Motion #5

Vision

Question inspiring this motion: 

What should an ESEA arts ecology look and feel like in 10 years’ time?

We envision the future ESEA arts ecology or landscape to be one where:

5.1 ESEA artists are not platformed by institutions in order to exoticize ESEA cultures, to showcase victimhood or to demonstrate anti-racist ESEA heroism (i.e., the liberal white saviour gaze), but where institutions are committed to showcasing fully rounded ESEA artists and practices;

5.2 ESEA artists can be bold about their identities, intersectionalities, interests and have the authority to tell their own stories;

5.3 ESEA role models and leaders exist within arts institutions, policy/funding bodies and as independent public figures;

5.4 ESEA groups work in collaboration, trust and mutual advancement rather than in competition with each other;

5.5 ESEA artists are part of a larger intercommunity, working in collaboration and solidarity with other global ethnic majority groups; and

5.6 where there are multiple sites of ESEA cultural production that are networked, and alert to evolving climate and social justice issues.

Motion #6

Organising

Question inspiring this motion: 

What kind of organisational approaches or cultures should be established in a new ESEA landscape?

We believe that an arts landscape conducive to ESEA practice has organisational approaches and cultures where:

6.1 ESEA programmes, institutions, networks and spaces are able to exist throughout the UK (and particularly outside of London) that are not run by white people;

6.2 structures are created from the grassroots level first, and stay relevant to the grassroots;

6.3 institutions are aware of the specific power dynamics in play between them and people of ESEA heritage;

6.4 there is lexicon, vocabulary or language available to talk with and about ESEA work, artists and practices that are not informed or created by the white gaze;

6.5 the ESEA community can learn from the organisational approaches and strategies of Black, South Asian and other minoritized communities; and

6.6 a spirit of mutual and community learning exists: one that creates real relationships, increases trust, decreases inequality and builds confidence through skills/knowledge sharing.

Motion #7

Archiving

Question inspiring this motion: 

How can ESEA practices be written about, documented and archived better for legacy and learning?

ESEA practices should be written about, documented and archived by:

7.1 centering ESEA voices, and dismantling colonialist knowledge structures that frame and support the Western gaze;

7.2 adopting native ESEA methods of remembering and transmitting information and knowledge;

7.3 creating a way of archiving and documenting that is itself a safe and confidential space or activity, paying particular attention to ESEA sensitivities, trauma and dignity around memory and knowledge sharing;

7.4 including non-verbal knowledge (visual, material, performative, relational, etc.) as an important part of the archive, or what is worthy to be documented;

7.5 building a diversity of archives to reflect the diversity of ESEA worlds, but finding a way of owning this ESEA constellation of knowledge collectively;

7.6 inventing new, relevant and bespoke vocabulary or language in order to interpret and write about or from the archive; and

7.7 evolving constant questions on what an ESEA archive is, one with the ability to transform to be most useful to ESEA artists past, present, and futures.

Motion #8

ESEA Connections: from Britain to the global diaspora

Question inspiring this motion: 

How can British ESEA creative and curatorial practice connect with and contribute to the cultural work and discourses of Asia and its diasporas?

We affirm our connection to the global ESEA diaspora by:

8.1 strengthening relationships and exchanges with grassroots cultural organisations and individuals internationally;

8.2 staying aware of the changing meaning of Asia as being developed by different countries in Asia;

8.3 being attentive to the struggles and conditions of ESEA cultural workers in non-Anglophone spheres, particularly with our neighbours in Europe;

8.4 welcoming and integrating new ESEA migrants or migrant communities into our established arts/cultural community; and

8.5 inventing and modeling ways of overcoming historical geopolitical differences and learning to live/survive together as a community(ies).