At one point would it be fair to say that Beyond Skin was the place where musicians from an ethnic minority background would meet up?
I think that certainly did happen, at the least we have been a founding catalyst for relationships and many intercultural collaborations. We have worked with a lot of musicians from local and international places of origins.
Do you think things are better now regarding racism than they were 20 years ago?
I think world events make a big difference and so we are always dealing with something which can create tensions between people. I think you always have to keep your eye on the ball; Politicised factors driving division and hate like Brexit, Stop the Boats, blaming vulnerable people and other various political rhetoric enables racists and the far right a platform. I do think that creativity, getting people together to play music and make art, showing people the things that we have in common is always useful.
We have put heavy metal musicians together with flautists from Loyalist flute bands. We have had musicians from Afghanistan collaborating with young women trad musicians. And unique within the good relations sphere, that can be very dry, we have pushed creative freedom and experimental collaborations with people in Northern Ireland and with our global neighbours in 32 countries.
So you are looking always to ensure that racism doesn’t get a hearing?
Yes. We are always campaigning. And we are trying to show the single mother struggling to heat her home and feed her family, and the Iranian mother refugee in instructional accommodation, that it is the system that has let them both down. The refugees are nor responsible for the situation a single mother finds herself in and vice versa. It is essential to show that people in vulnerable situations need to work together and not to be used as political pawns.
I think most people are not aware of the work we do behind the scenes, under the radar, in the middle of very sensitive divisions. screwdriver work I call it. The aim to try to reduce tension, and again, always looking to use creativity.
Where to now?
One of the things I have been thinking about is that in some ways Beyond Skin is the established organisation now, an institution. So we have to keep the organisation fresh, innovative, bold and creative and not get lazy. I like that new organisations are coming through with new ideas and new energy. I want to be part of encouraging new organisations to add to the legacy that Beyond Skin has been able to build over the last 20 years.
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www.beyondskin.net
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