Back in March 2020, in one of our first lockdown Zoom meetings, an East London member suggested we ask for a voluntary contribution £1 from each person per meeting, and distribute that £1 to one creative practitioner who attended that meeting.
As we all know, many creative practitioners fell through the gaps of support offered by government and grant providers. Even now, things aren't much better. There's just not enough money to go round. Things will most likely get tougher. It makes sense that we try to help.
All What Next? East London events must always be free. We want more people, more diversity, more ideas and beliefs and practices and ways of operating. We have no budget, but want to be able to pay people who speak at our events, and even if it’s only a small amount, help the people who attend. So all donations – less what Eventbrite takes – will go to them.
We have decided to put optional donations buttons on all but the working party meetings. Feel free to donate or ignore them, as you will. To be as fair as possible, we will average the money out over a rolling 3 month period, give half to the speakers and half to a random audience member, and – respecting privacy - will share what we have done on this site.
We will review this all in a future meeting, so if you have opinions or ideas please join us then.