Lesley Taker
Curator and Exhibitions Manager at FACT (UK)
Lesley Taker is Exhibitions Manager at FACT in Liverpool. Curatorial interests situate in contemporary art and technology; specifically ideas of embodiment, gender, experimentation with form, and issues of identity. Currently exploring concepts around Fear within contemporary art practice and experience.-
For me, FACT has changed a lot over the last few years, with a new Director and Head of Programme, a renewed push to being more artist-centred, and leaning into the political nature of our programme. Our team has always been predominantly female, but now this is reflected at the Leadership level, with a high percentage of the staff coming from working-class backgrounds. We have a team who have incredibly diverse journies in terms of formal education, what areas they've worked in and the experiences they bring to FACT. I think one of the contributing factors to cementing change in the organisation has been the Board of Trustees and how much they have pushed FACT into its next chapter. A lot of work went into selecting a board which would not only support FACT but also challenge us as an organisation and as a team, especially querying how we approach topics of Equaity and Diversity.
I think a lot of people, especially those who have always thought of FACT as a cinema, don't know about the work we do both in the galleries, and also out in the wider city region, and internationally. I think artists are beginning to find out more about what we are doing through word of mouth, and sharing of experiences - of what it's like to do a residency, produce a commission or make an exhibition with the team and the focus we have on longer-term working and sustainable practice. We are making even more changes in the coming year to connect more with the local arts ecology through initiatives like the Studio/Lab, a new strand and physical space in FACT which is focused on artist production and experimentation with digital culture. Part of starting this has been engaging in an open and honest conversation, trying to understand the reasons why some of our local audiences and artist don't usually engage with us: what might they need, what might they find useful or inspiring in our programme and how to maybe work on that together.
Intersectionality is very important to me personally, and to us as an organisation, and we have been on an incredible journey since 2018 that has brought a wide range of collaborations into the city and into FACT. For us, any EDI journey is one which moves beyond tokenistic representation and checking we meet our Arts Council quota. It's about working with equity, care, and responsibility and having the values identifiable in our programme also be reflected in the ways we work. Tech is a space which is always part speculative and ever-evolving, it provides room to experiment, play, discover and create: it is by its very nature about queering reality or finding less fixed ways to experience the world. So, as an art space which focuses on digital art and culture, it is not surprising that we have always collaborated closely with LGBTQIA+ communities in the city and further afield, and many curators and programmers who have worked here have identified as having a queer/feminist practice. We're constantly having this conversation about what it means to belong, and what that means in terms of identity. It doesn't come down to simply a representation of a demographic, but it's really about the ways we actually engage with people.
[...] When it comes to your idea of tokenisation of groups, as I mentioned we are currently thinking about how we move beyond representation and equality into practices of equity and visibility. We have quite a lot of discussions with other organisations about how we all work with artists, this not only keeps us informed and challenged but also means we can share our experiences of best practices: encouraging other organisations to adopt better practices in terms of paying artists and ways of working. For example, it's still extremely surprising the number of times we encounter artists who are not being paid or paid a tiny amount, for their work - this is even more unacceptable when those artists are coming from underserved communities and the themes of their work directly relate to their lived experiences. At FACT we are trying to think about how we can make these institutional processes as transparent and visible as possible, to normalise things like fees and contracts. For example, we've also worked on the accessibility of our contracts with artist Jack Y Tan, which is easy to read in every sense of the word.
From a personal point of view, I acknowledge that working in these ways requires a constant commitment to shifting perspectives and not being afraid of having conversations which expose you and challenge your approach. You have to be ok with feeling uncomfortable. For example, we have done a lot of work over the last 3 years with amazing curators and activists to develop major exhibitions and event programmes - a programme we're currently expanding. They have been embedded in the team for around 12 months, and bring completely different reference points and approaches into the organisation. During this time I have had to challenge assumptions about audiences, try to acknowledge and lose my defensiveness, and learn that it's always best to ask versus assume, as well as the importance of consistency. My curatorial practice has always been feminist and focused on queering spaces and ideas, and it has been a privilege to be able to work through this in such an intersectional way alongside colleagues who have completely different practices. It's also an incredible privilege to have the opportunity to explore these things institutionally, with an organisation that genuinely wants to change the way we work versus just talking about it. It's a slow process, which can often be derailed by clashing agendas and external pressures, but I never doubt our commitment to working in a way that rejects things like the tokenism you're talking about.
[...] There has been a big push towards change in recent years because we used to have a very male-led institution. It used to be very different. And I think now the team is much, much more working class than other art institutions; we have a large number of working class people in our team. And a lot of people who did not study art at university, or if they did, they took other paths after university and were hired here because they might have worked elsewhere or because they had other experiences.
One of the problems we have is that what's happening inside the organisation in this sense is definitely reflected by the artists we engage with, while it's not reflected by our audience. Our local audience in Liverpool seems to be resisting the change that's taking place in FACT and my next step is to try and connect more with the local arts ecology through initiatives like the Studio Lab, in an open and honest conversation, trying to understand the reasons why they don't usually engage with us, and what might they need, what might they find useful or inspiring in our programme and how to maybe work on that together.
On the front of having a board, we are in a very fortunate position. It is not just luck actually, it is very hard work. We select our board members carefully, so that they can always push us in the right directions. We have a wonderful relationship with our charity board, and for example, a prominent member is an extraordinary woman in corporate business, with a focus on technology. She's very well known for her work in EDI and LGBTQ inclusion, and she's queer herself: one of the reasons was that we have always done a lot of work with gay and trans artists and non-binary artists. And so we thought, we have this community. We have that support. We have that trust. Now how do we take that approach to other spaces that really represent the incredible diversity of people?
[...] When it comes to this idea of tokenisation of groups, I want to note that we have quite a lot of discussions with other organisations about how to work with artists, to keep us informed and challenged as well. In general, we don't do work if we don't have a budget for it and cannot afford to pay an artist. I had a conversation with a group of black trans artists that we were working with at a local museum, and they were doing a residency - unpaid, with access to their archives and mentoring. Although an outcome was required from them at the end of the residency, which didn't feel right as they were not paid. And to me that feels even impossible and so obsolete, I was surprised this is still happening. And it was a project specifically around transatlantic slavery, as well.
We've also worked on the accessibility of our (written) resources and contracts with curator Jack Tan, that is supposed to be easy to read in every sense of the word.
We were working with a great curator and activist last year, Annie Jael Kwan, originally from Singapore. We had worked on this whole exhibition together on a public program for nearly two years; we had a really good working relationship. She brought totally different reference points in the organisation - it was during COVID and she'd really wanted to engage with the East Asian community here, but it wasn't possible because a lot of that community group don't do any online stuff. She'd been wanting to do a Lunar New Year celebration. In Liverpool we have the oldest Chinese population in Europe, maybe the oldest Chinatown so it made sense, but I felt uncomfortable doing a New Year Celebration, because I felt like we were going to do this big celebration and what happens after that? Annie was furious with me, she couldn't believe I wouldn't celebrate because I was so worried about offending the community, taking away the opportunity for East Asian artists to come to FACT, take over the space for the weekend for us to engage with the community. Then we realised we'll just do it every February to find a way to keep an engagement with them. And consistency will keep you true to what you're doing.
To add to that, Annie's work was about queer identity and specifically for her, it was difficult because East Asia can present some tension in building a queer community. So really it wasn't just simply about wanting to work with more Asian artists, but we're constantly having this conversation about what it means to belong. And what that means in terms of identity. It's not like we need representation of this community demographic but a lot more intersectional and factual in the ways we engage with people actually.
We got the first year of residencies supported by Art fund and then we brought in some more funding specifically for artists who are underserved by the visual arts community, and industry and narrative, visibility. It's a year-long program with a six month residency about being in the organisation for that amount of time and spending time embedded into different parts of the organisation. Our first curator in residence did it for the first year, really worked with the learning programs, and connected with the Afro Caribbean community here because it spoke to her lived experiences, her identity and the work that she was platforming. The following curator, he worked more with the Southeast Asian communities, Chinese and the Korean communities, working with the Kpop society.
They've all really challenged the way we're working, and I'm always going to bring, annually, people that challenge us each time who have different agendas, different approaches.
What about feminist or queer curating, connecting to thise?
We don't resist the labels - I think a lot of us would immediately say we have very feminist practices and I know my own practices are queer and that is my approach, including exhibition making, space making and program making, and same with the workplace. The organisation is very supportive of it.
I think it's important, when we communicate outside our organisation, to talk about and stay true to our values while we avoid, in the language that we use, to actually say we are unique, radical etc, because it's just a bit of curatorial fluff.