The Symposium is a joint initiative of Arts Front, BLINDSIDE and Next Wave and was supported by the City of Melbourne COVID-19 Arts Grants.
The need for a basic income guarantee has been explored over many generations. It becomes prescient during times of crisis and potential economic depression. At its heart it seeks a redistribution of wealth to ensure a living wage to all people.
The symposium will address this simple concept and its complex manifestations and effects.
Focusing on the creative aspect of future economies, the symposium provokes that ‘artists’ should be amongst the leaders who imagine our future relationships to work, identity and the meanings that flow from and between each. Here, the term Artist* refers to the creative, cultural and caring needs and capacities of human creatures; foundational aspects of our lives we believe should be central to our systems of value.
During this C-19 crisis we are being confronted by the failings of the social and economic systems we have considered natural and neutral for the past century. Collectively we are becoming aware that competitive market based approaches to livelihood are not in the ongoing interest of people and planet. Fear of scarcity and slowing down makes us question the logic of capital accumulation and the role we play as actors in this industrial matrix.
People across the world are re-assessing what they do with their time, understanding that labour is more than a job. How do we operate meaningful relationships when the thing that has defined us is no longer relevant to the economy?
Comprising a series of presentations, performances, discussions and rigorous questioning, this event will survey the field of basic income research and activism - covering the philosophy, economics, policy, and challenges facing advocates in its communication and implementation.
Bringing together a diverse group of thinkers and doers, this symposium is an invitation to fundamentally re-think the design of our economy and re-value the labour that is taken for granted in our current system. Creativity and care are fundamental to our ecology. They should be valued as such in our economy.