Phase 4 - Shades Of Noir

September 2016 – April 2018.

Context.

Phase 4 heralded a full program of events, publications and interventions. We focused on the following streams of activity:

People – Offering opportunities for students and staff to come together to share their experiences and knowledge.
Process – Facilitating student-led events, chances to exhibit student work, and providing opportunities for creatives to share their work through online and analogue publications.
Policy – Providing training and support for academics, creating new resources for creative institutions to use within their curriculum and focusing on pedagogies of social justice.

Outcomes.

Student Development:

A number of the Phase 4 team have already reflected on their Shades of Noir experience. The team is primarily made up of students and alumni of UAL.

Phase 4 saw an increase in our team numbers and intersectionality, largely in response to the increase of work that Shades of Noir (SoN) was delivering across the sector at the time. The team consisted of 14 students (BA & MA), 3 HPL Academics and 1 student alumni (CCW). All Student contracts were established through arts temps and ranged between 6-20 hours per week. A new team structure was implemented and trialled for the first time, with the introduction of an ‘education team’ who focused on the development of new academic resources centred around Archives and a Creatives of Colour Database.

Academic Staff Recruitment:

Phase 4 has seen the launch of Teaching Within (TW1 October 2016), a programme which actively creates space for People of Colour and social justice advocates to complete their teaching degrees. This programme was created and developed by Aisha Richards. 20 intersectional creatives joined the programme, consequently enrolled on the PgCert and were placed by SoN on partnership courses at the 6 colleges of UAL. As this was the first cohort to complete the programme, there were a number of challenges faced and institutional problems of discrimination and racist practices were re-confirmed. TW2 was launched in July 2017, intaking a cohort that started an engagement in December 2017.

Staff Development:

Course handbook audits and developmental workshops continued to be delivered across UAL. Additionally the training of Academics Diana Donaldson, Mary Evans and Melodie Holliday by Shades of Noir and Black British Academics in order to build capacity in the delivery of this programme of work and the practice of social justice pedagogy.

Shades of Noir also launched a new academic online provision called the ‘Education Site’. This housed the now separated Artefacts and Creatives Database sites. Both of these tools allowed Shades of Noir the platform to digitise the Tell Us About It Archive (Finnigan 2011) and to collect together profiles of Creatives of Colour from across the spectrum of the art and design sectors.

In addition to this, we also used this platform to publish a number of Critical Case Studies and Curriculum Support Checklists. These are tools that have been developed in reflection of lived experiences of students and staff of colour. The resources are used as part of UAL-wide staff development workshops including ‘changing mindsets’ and ‘inclusive teaching and learning unit’.

Shades of Noir also invested in our own team’s development, with a visit to see Angela Davis at the WOW Festival in 2017 and the opportunity to spend time in Oxford to develop plans for phase 5, This trip also encompassed an event hosted by the ACS at Oxford University where Aisha Richards featured for this institution’s Black History Month programming.

Events & Publications:

The SoN team facilitated 10 events in the first part of Phase 4, which were held in the academic year of 2016-17. This also saw repeat events being commissioned and delivered at Ravensbourne University, each with bespoke panels and publications. Event information can be found on the events section of our site.

During this Phase, Shades of Noir collaborated with Arts SU on a ‘Creatives of Colour in the Industry’ event and the Black British Academics Network (founded by Dr Deborah Gabriel) on an event called; ‘Sisterhood, Solidarity & Self-empowerment for Women of Colour in Academia’. Both of these events were a bold example of our ongoing commitment to the HE sector and to Students at UAL.

Alongside these events, we also produced 12 new publications. Collectively these have had a global reach of over 130000 across 6 continents. Selected copies have also been sent to 150+ creative HE institutions around the world. Additionally Aisha Richards co authored a subject report titled Retention and attainment in the disciplines: Art & Design(2016), Higher Educations Academy (now part of Advanced HE)

These publications have since become a key part of our pedagogy, becoming a resource for academic training, student-facing deliverables and Institutional changes in culture.

Visible Faces in White Spaces:

April 2017, Central Saint Martins.

‘Visible Faces in White Spaces’ is an exhibition inspired by Rhian Spencer’s work ‘Black Faces in White Spaces’ (Fine Art, Camberwell College of Art, 2016). Spencer’s work features a series of illustrated portraits of black staff subjects and was displayed on iPads which were integrated throughout the Camberwell campus.

During his study at Camberwell College of the Arts, Spencer often felt like a representative for his entire race as he was the only black person in many of his classes, leading him to feel excluded and isolated. Spencer’s work serves as an activist stance to create an enhanced black presence within his academic community.

Shades of Noir (SoN) echoes this activism by proudly showcasing the contributions of students and staff of colour, working within the University of Arts, London (UAL). These 60 portraits, taken by SoN photographer, Jay Lee, are put front and centre as a celebration of their contributions and recognition of their collective significant presence within the institution. These people are the driving force for change within UAL and are bringing cultural currency to the table every day which enriches our communities.

Challenges Faced.

An increase of student staff members brought challenges regarding management and pastoral care, adding significant pressure on senior members of the team
Greater demand from external organisations & Institutions
Matching expectations to the growth of the team in terms of deliverables
Pressures of quality assurance around publications, consistency, event development and delivery
The launch of Teaching Within presented a large number of challenges over pastoral, policy logistical deliveries and resources
Increase of student & staff support requests across UAL
Direct grievance against individual members of Shades of Noir and the organisation as a whole.