A cup of tea is my kind of protest

It’s 8.30am and by my rights as a student I shouldn’t even be out of bed yet. As a student, I should be nursing a god awful hangover and missing a lecture. As a student, I’m pretty appalled by the rioting protestors from yesterday. But the less said about that the better…

Like most people, I feel like I’ve been hit on all sides after the Comprehensive Spending Review. As a student. As a public sector employee. As an artist. But instead of sitting back and grumbling about my wasted vote, I had my say on the day of the Comprehensive Spending Review instead.

On 20 October 2010, I was involved in a different form of protest. Unlike yesterday’s violence, vandalism and destruction I ventured into the House of Lords, drank tea, ate sandwiches (with the crusts removed, of course) and had a nice little chat with Lords, Ladies and MPs from across the country about how important the arts are. Oh yes. That’s how we do it National Youth Theatre style. We lure them in with the promise of free drinks and cakes (which actually cost a FORTUNE!) and show resilience in the face of adversity by singing “Smile though your ART is breaking”.

I’m a process-over-product girl. For me, the arts is about more than producing a pretty piece of dance or putting on a thought-provoking play. It’s about the things you learn whilst doing that. It’s about building confidence, working together and appreciating the talents and skills of others. It’s about seeing things in a different way, being open minded and respectful. It’s about giving people a chance to be heard. Above all, it’s about understanding one another –and I’ve seen enough prejudice and stereotyping in the world to know this is a huge social problem.

Unfortunately, it seems our Government is run by people who won’t trust in the benefits of this, or rather don’t want to be seen to. Yesterday I found out the Home Office had vetoed a performance of Inside, a play about fathers in prison, being taken to Rochester Prison (the very place where the play was researched and created!) for fear of looking soft on prisoners by letting them watch drama in times of austerity.

No wonder I’m up so early. I’m going to need more tea and sandwiches. My fight for the arts has only just begun.