This is such an interesting post! Looking forward to reading more about your thinking and your Fellowship journey.
I’ve been thinking about class and arts leadership lately, which is connected to the money that big cultural jobs can offer - if you’re running a cultural institution, by nature of the job and salary how fair is it to say that you move away from your working class roots? Therefore all leaders of big cultural orgs are middle class by their very position? How do we make sure working class people are properly represented in the arts if those initially representing leave their roots behind as they gain more influence and power?
This is a fascinating post Tom and I am looking forward to reading more as you share them. You nicely articulate how our relationship to money is so tightly bound up with our upbringing, and what a huge impact that can have in a myriad of different ways.
Thanks for sharing your story with such transparency, Tom. There’s a real lack of conversation about money in the creative sector. While salaries are sometimes discussed, wealth remains a taboo topic. We often hear the narrative of the “struggling creative,” yet many in the industry come from upper-middle or upper-class backgrounds. In recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that working-class creatives are being pushed out of the sector.
This is such an interesting post! Looking forward to reading more about your thinking and your Fellowship journey.
I’ve been thinking about class and arts leadership lately, which is connected to the money that big cultural jobs can offer - if you’re running a cultural institution, by nature of the job and salary how fair is it to say that you move away from your working class roots? Therefore all leaders of big cultural orgs are middle class by their very position? How do we make sure working class people are properly represented in the arts if those initially representing leave their roots behind as they gain more influence and power?
Thanks for getting my brain back into that space!
This is a fascinating post Tom and I am looking forward to reading more as you share them. You nicely articulate how our relationship to money is so tightly bound up with our upbringing, and what a huge impact that can have in a myriad of different ways.
Thanks for sharing your story with such transparency, Tom. There’s a real lack of conversation about money in the creative sector. While salaries are sometimes discussed, wealth remains a taboo topic. We often hear the narrative of the “struggling creative,” yet many in the industry come from upper-middle or upper-class backgrounds. In recent years, it’s become increasingly clear that working-class creatives are being pushed out of the sector.