On Performing at Victorious Festival
I read some poetry at Victorious Festival last Saturday. As I previously posted, I was extremely conflicted about doing so due to the ultimate main ownership of the festival, via Superstruct Entertainment, by KKR.
I performed a short set around the flora and fauna of Palestine and the wider Levant.
My set was watched by an audience of 13.
This was probably because it was early on in the afternoon. It was raining, it was quite cold. I doubt my material (and I was clear what I would be reading about) made any difference.
Let’s face it, even if the tent was fuller, the chances of my words making any kind of difference on the day was pretty limited. But I hope that my decision to perform that particular set, and make it part of my profile on the Victorious app in case anyone happened to look at it, might register something with one or two people at least.
KKR’s involvement in other damaging environmental projects is an additional factor to reflect on before considering performing again.
The depressing thought I have with regards to the latter is that in reality so many arts festivals and events are ultimately funded by organisations deeply involved in activities that I feel are unpleasant and offensive.
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You only have to look at the furore around the British Museum’s BP sponsorship deal, or the Barclays sponsorship of the Isle of Wight festival (amongst others) to see that issues around this wider area of corporate involvement in the arts are becoming far more visible. But the counter argument is that without this investment in the arts then many of these events and activities simply couldn’t happen.
I guess we have to find our own way through and decide what we will or won’t do. What we are comfortable with. Of course the KKR situation with Victorious is more one of ultimate ownership rather than sponsorship, which is a different issue altogether.
How I approached this, and feel about things after the event, are mine alone, and purely about my decision to perform, and what I read and have no reflection on anyone else attending, performing, or working at Victorious.
We all have to lead our own lives and do whatever it is that we feel is right. Some bands I really like performed at Victorious. Am I going to boycott them because of it? No.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, here is one of the poems I read
Palestine Iris
On the scrubby hills above
newly minted settlements
their clean white walls
barbed wire fences
Airbnb apartments
Booking.com views
a drift of purple flowers
seeded in the dirt
of all this lived history
always watching over
faces following the light
the sun’s daily traverse
bearing witness
