Tuesday 10th March
Today my schedule is to
- Meet Fahim Qureshi - Head of Arts & Cultural Programmes at Luton Culture Trust
- Check in with Lucy from Revoluton
- Join Imrara at Dar Aminah Book Club
Fahim has been involved in and started some incredible art projects. In one hour of meeting him over a coffee in the Hat Factory I manage to get a brief history of his professional life and I find out more about Luton’s working class history and its connection to art and culture. Fahim is from Luton, but left to go to art school in Leeds where he was heavily involved in activism and the anti racist movement. We talk about Hackney as he used to work there for the Council and it’s where I’ve lived since 2007. I say that I feel that Hackney is very divided by wealth, class, and race and the only social event I’ve been to that feels genuinely mixed and so so joyful is Hackney Carnival. I find out that Fahim was one of the people who started it.
We talk about the history of trade unions in Luton. A working class town of intellectuals with a strong union history. He tells me that many of the factories had their own social club with cultural events, as well as places for education. The Griffin Players drama group who are still going strong started as part of the Concert Party and Dramatic Section of the Vauxhall Motors Recreation Club. Culture, education, and politics, so embedded within the very fabric of work places. It feels sadly too much like a distant dream.
I ask Fahim where I can find out more about this history and he tells me about the Luton I Remember Facebook group. I search trade union and there are a few posts and images that come up. This one is very telling.
Fahim also tells me about the Affluent Worker Study (1961-62) done in Luton which is a study that questioned whether a rise in wealth effected peoples identity as working class. The study finds that despite an increase in wealth many of those interviewed still identified as being working class. The study shows how in Luton class identity is not contingent on wealth, and how strong class identity was felt. https://esrc.ukri.org/about-us/50-years-of-esrc/50-achievements/affluent-workers-and-class-identity/
He has long been involved in the cultural life of Luton. When he was younger he was involved in running the Marsh Farm film club when he grew up in Luton – there should be a super 8 film made about marsh farm somewhere!
I find out a little more about other cultural projects and centres - in particular the 33 Arts Centre in Luton ran by Paul Jolly – which was integral to the growth of the arts scene in the town. We talk about just doing stuff – perhaps there is a culture of waiting for money or funding before starting and art project? I reflect on the current climate we are in. We have been living in austerity for a while. No longer can artists rely on state support like the dole to help support living costs. There are no squats to provide space and housing for artists.
From around 2007 to 2011 I lived in a pub in Hackney with around 11 other people. We turned the bar into a sort of social centre with weekly music nights and cultural events. No one ever got paid, but lots of successful artists played or were associated with it – Nick Mulvey, Puma Rosa, Kate Tempest. The building was sold to a housing developer in 2011 and there was nowhere in London we could find to keep living together and keep putting on events. We scoured London for potential buildings to squat – but this was 2011. Things had changed. Now most friends don’t live in London – unable to afford the rents. What was possible 20 years ago feels very different now.
We talk about the cultural activities happening at the Hat Factory now and its focus on running arts workshops. I like this bottom up approach to arts. For me I have become more curious about a whole different range of arts through doing art myself. It’s a different way into art, that’s more built on own experience and learning. We talk a little about the barriers facing people going into buildings which may not seem like they are for them, and the importance of going to people, not expecting them to come to you.
Perhaps we'll meet up next week – I’m really interested in speaking more. What's become really apparent over the time I’ve spent in Luton is how much politics and art overlap for people. I think its more apparent than in other towns and places I’ve been to, and I wonder how much it has to do with the rich and interlinked history of trade unions, education, and cultural institutions in the area.
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The evening book club was cancelled – hopefully back next week!
