Delegates at an Arts Conference in Huddersfield on 21 February found their numbers seriously depleted after lunch. It’s not unusual for conference to lose delegates to boredom, rival appointments, or the lure of the pub. But in this instance 15 delegates disappeared and have not been seen since.
The Conference – W(h)other the Arts? Creativity and the New Austerity – was being held at the Cedar Court Huddersfield. Over 100 arts professionals from across the United Kingdom had gathered to consider the place of arts and arts funding in times of severe cutbacks. After an opening keynote from London Mayoral cultural advisor Munira Murza, the delegates split into smaller buzz-seminars to think hard about particular topics. It is reported that all 15 of the vanished delegates were in the same seminar, brainstorming the topic ‘He Who Pays the Piper: The Priorities of the New Cultural Philanthropy’.
Only one member of the seminar did not disappear. Gina Young, from the Bellshed Arts Centre, Redcar, told this website:
Things weren’t getting particularly heated. We were just working through some of the implications of moving from a publics subsidy to private sponsorship model. We were being very systematic, thinking about what private sponsors might expect and how they might wish arts organisations to behave, the kind of work they were going to put on. I had volunteered to take notes of the meeting and Jeremy Ryman from Northern Lights Opera Co., who was our group’s rapporteur, suggested we look over the notes so that he could feedback. I needed a comfort break so I nipped out as he started reading out our conclusions. When I came back two minutes later, the room was empty. Just my notepad on the floor and 15 lanyards, some on the floor, some on the chairs. I thought it was maybe a prank, like when the DCMS team all came back in to State of the Arts 2007 after lunch wearing each other’s clothes, but no. They just went.
Those delegates in full:
- Karen Olerenshaw
- Mike Dawson
- Lesley Sanchez
- Helen Grayson
- Fiona Hart
- Alfie Mercer
- Richard Norman
- Bob Hall
- Dorinda Chandrashekar
- Benjamin Castillo
- Lyn Beckett
- Gene Welch
- Sylwia Svobodnik
- Harry Berman
- Laura Rayne
If you see any of them, please get in touch.
There’s still hope. They’re Aren’t Gone. #TAG2012
