history of el CO-nsultori
from 2020 to 2022
El CO-nsultori, emerged as part of the proyecto CO-, a collective project by La Escocesa as an artistic investigation centre to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and the impact suffered in the culturl and artistic field.
In this context, which intensified the fragility,precariousness and abusive practices of our sector, we created a group of support to address the complexities of subsistence as workers in the arts, culture abd thinking. We were driven by the need and desire to protect ourselves, look for alternatives to the system of open calls and jointly recycle our projects.
During this period, CO-nsultori operated as an open and porous space where we could share doubts, concerns and uncertainties about the process of application to open calls to bring the available administrative resources closer to the creators. As we intertwined ideas, projects and desires with the intention of generating synergies and activating a network of knowledge and mutual help between different agents in the sector.
The lines of work that we developed were:
đź”® Group of support or CO-nsultori Obert
Once a month, we created an online meeting open to the local artistic community whose practices had been affected and had therefore suffered a general halt in their incomes due to the Covid-19 crisis. These meetings were focused on raising and answering questions regarding processes of applications to open calls and our economic life.
After the meetings, we generated a file explaining the specific situation of each of the participants and followed-up the conversations via email.
đź”® CO-nsultori Circular
A group of 12 participants met to strengthen our artistic projects by sharing diverse perspectives using an “artwork clinic” methodology coordinated by the CO-nsultori 2021 responsibles.
đź”® CO-nsultori Enredat o TemĂ tic
Series of talks open to the public that focused on collectively addressing responses to problems that had been expressed in the group of support, from a feminist and decolonial perspective. Each session was guided by a special guest with a certain expertise or experience that delve into a particular topic that concerned us. Some of these talks were registered and remain an available resource for artists:
2021 - 2022 (3rd edition)
Coordinated by Laura Arensburg and Rosa LendĂnez.
- Practical approaches to applying for open calls. With Jordi Ferreiro. You can watch the session at this link.
2021 (2nd edition)
Coordinated by Tau Luna Acosta, Natalia Carminati and Rosa LendĂnez.
- BÉCATE TU! Meeting on cryptoeconomics and self-management. With MaĂra das Neves, artist and part of the group COrpus of La Escocesa.
- Tools for building a collaborative economy for migrant artists. With Luz Helena RamĂrez Hache (Coopolis) and Alex Rios PachĂłn.
2020 (1ra ediciĂłn)
Coordinado by Tau Luna Acosta, Natalia Carminati, Rosa LendĂnez and Marina Ribot Pallicer.
- What do artists live on? With Worm gallery and Trabajadoras del arte contemporáneo en América Latina. You can watch the session by clicking on this link.
- Not on the margins, not alone! Tools to combat the pandemic of precariousness. With Isabel Sanchez. You can watch the session by clicking on this link.
- Plan your project without dying in the attempt. Calls for proposals and other dramas. With Laura Olea LĂłpez. You can watch the session by clicking on this link.
Repository
One of the main lines of action of el CO-nsultori was the creation of a digital repository, accessible from the website of La Escocesa. This digital resource collected and organised the different initiatives provided by both public bodies and private entities. This system was classified according to grants, calls for proposals and credits, which we analysed and filtered in order to guarantee a decent financial contribution, a return framework and fair working conditions.
The labels, as well as the deadlines, age, origin and other categories functioned as filters that allowed the selection of open calls according to the profile of the enquirer.
As an example of how to organise the information in a repository, we share the format we designed at the time: You can see it by clicking this link.
Currently the CO-nsultori project has continued with some modifications, you can see how it continues now under the name of El consultori through this link.
