I.C.E. Coming of Age
January 7, 2018
I.C.E. 2018
Reflection has been the constant across my social media feeds over the last few weeks. This time of year is always one of reflection and review and there have been many looking back on 2017. These contained both the highs and lows but predominately, the lows: whether it be acts of gross and indecent violence; a politics, which is reductionist and negative; and debates and ballots around who has the right to choose how others live.
I also sat with my keyboard in a moment of reflection, but why should I repeat what has already been said and recorded. With this said, I will leave review to others and try to own the future. I intend starting 2018 in the way I want it to continue; great expectations and a renewed focus on a few personally important areas. One of these is an organisation that I have been associated with the last couple years and in which I am now the Chair; I.C.E. (Information and Cultural Exchange).
I.C.E., as it is cautiously referenced, has developed a profile and reputation, which is the envy of many community arts organisations, cultural institutions and structures. Situated in Parramatta, its work radiates out to the surrounding suburbs and communities making up the populous area of Sydney, which is the West. I love the cachet, which comes with telling people I am the Chair of I.C.E., the response is always positive, and whether it be its ambitious program or the creative work of its producers, there is a positive recognition.
I like the edginess of the name, its impact on making you feel a little bit uncertain because this is the best reflection of the creativity and the work that comes out of the place.
When asked about I.C.E. and what it does, my references are its work: the large-scale pieces such as the Arab Film Festival Australia; the historic and complex narratives around Johnnies and Mehmets (an online memorial, a decorated honour roll commemorating the service and sacrifice of fourteen soldiers, Anzacs and Turks, who fought in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915); and most recently to what is quickly becoming an iconic program Garage Barbershop ,a project seeking to ‘turn men boys to men through the art of barbering’.
But this takes too much time, and people are far more comfortable with short and pithy descriptions, easy labels that allows them to file I.C.E. (a community arts organisations, a training organisation, a digital media centre) each a neat category, but none which do justice to the work. So I have been working on my short narrative: one, which frames I.C.E. as an organisation focusing on people who are vulnerable and deriving art from their perspectives. In doing so both art and capacity are nurtured and developed. So I am looking forward to the next person who asks me what I.C.E. does?
The answer will be about a mission around which all else falls into place: “Moving people out of disadvantage through art, creativity, technology and skills.”
Both as a Board, and as organisational leaders we are looking at 2018 as a year not just of consolidation and growth but really one about staking a claim for what we do and who we are.
In what will be far braver agenda, we will work to find resources that will allow the continuing production of art that surprises, excites, and reflects diverse experiences. Alongside this mantra will also be one of skills enhancement and through this the production of art that enables; and art that connects. This is a big agenda, and while it will not be fulfilled in one year its aspirational nature is essential in challenging current normative expressions of our culture and our lives.
A focus on the disadvantaged and vulnerable, is not some soft leftist ideal, it is for me rather intrinsically selfish; the ability and privilege to hear stories different from our own, the rise hands and voices that practical support and skills support. Through this, not only am I nurtured but my understanding of other perspectives and lives is enhanced.
Every time I engage with a program, activity or artwork coming out of I.C.E. I am surprised. A surprise invoked by a visual perspective of the decorative top of a building in Granville, the beautiful henna inspired designs on coffee mugs or the energy associated with the recent All Girl Electronic program.
The beauty for me is the texture this work adds to the cultural tapestry of the area; it is in realising the extent and nature of what we don’t know and what we are yet to find. It seems to me that the imagination and creativity coming out of I.C.E. is different to anything else I’ve been involved in and I am excited by this.
So in preparing for 2018 I look forward to being involved with:
further establishing I.C.E. as an intrinsic cultural force in the Western Sydney area radiating out of Parramatta;
seeking more financial support from philanthropic sources who are both touched and excited by the work;
reaching out to the currently untapped potential of the large numbers of second and third generation immigrants who have successfully driven small, medium and large businesses in the area and for whom Western Sydney belonging is heartfelt;
shouting out the, ‘rollup, rollup’ call increasing the already large numbers of people who not only enjoy and experience the work, but who can also find the work in themselves and their own stories.
For over a decade and half I was associated with a multinational advertising company whose slogan was simply and elegantly, “the work, the work, the work”. This was like many corporate slogans, totally results driven at times at the expense of the creators of that work.
I would like to appropriate that slogan for ‘I.C.E.’ and proclaim “the work, the work, the work” but I would insist on adding ”the people, the people, the people”. It is this binary relationship between the work and its producers, which is uniquely I.C.E.