End Of An Era

It is with great regret that Life Drawing Wales has decided to pause, for the summer, our weekly life drawing events in Cardiff. After 13 years of provision, rarely missing a week and offering life drawing for about 50 weeks each and every year since 2010, we have seen diminishing numbers in attendance and on an ongoing basis the costs for us have become too onerous to justify.

There are many reasons for this drop off in attendance:

• The Lockdowns

• Facebook shadowbanning

• Homeworking following the lockdowns

• Issues with college contracts

• Unfair commercial practices

There may be other issues that have impacted attendance. Event companies across the UK will be well aware of the issues I have listed and I am sure will have other reasons for the fall off of footfall that we are all experiencing.

LOCKDOWNS

What a shit show the lockdowns were. And we said so, much to the anger of 95% of those who saw our posts from May 2020 and throughout the ‘pandemic’, calling out the lockdowns for what they were. We clearly stated that lockdowns were government overreach, an elite plan to introduce draconian legislation and that lockdowns would obviously cause more damage and result in more deaths than the supposed threat ever could. And we were right. For our drawing group, there was effectively a two year closure, with a few windows of ‘we’re back!’, which for any people business was a disaster. Not only having to start again, as if the group were a new business, lockdowns changed peoples behaviours and fear of meeting others alongside the polarisation of many peoples thinking led to non attendance at a group that prides itself in freedom of artistic expression and of thought. Further, all of the ongoing relationships with students and art groups as well as individuals were lost. Changes of leadership in these groups meant there was no proper handover and so, by 2022, contracts and contacts we had cherished, were lost.

FACEBOOK

Facebook shadow banned the drawing group, meaning that new posts were not seen by new people. New people are the lifeblood of any event business and we had always relied on Facebook’s organic sharing of our events. Without this sharing the group cannot grow and over time it diminishes. Facebook has admitted to the shadowban and despite taking this to my MP there seems little that can be done short of a court case which of course we would lose.

HOMEWORKING

When lockdowns ended many did not return to working in the city. This new practice of homeworking has resulted in most city centre cafes and after work events operating at 40% of their pre pandemic levels.

COLLEGES

Before the pandemic we were losing colleges. This was due to changes in the way that the colleges wanted to pay models. Lower rates and idiotic employment contracts were asked for. This we refused to comply with and so we lost contact with students. It’s now clear that most colleges have not returned to life drawing following the chaos of the lockdowns.

COMPETITION

We have always been keen advocates for paying models well and for businesses to be self sustaining. This ensures quality of provision and long term viability. We are currently up against a few competitors who do not pay their models at all well and who have no costs as they do not pay for their accommodation for their sessions. These groups will fail as free or cheap accommodation is not sustainable and models will not prioritise an evening’s work for £20. Art’s Council funded projects also compete against us and of course this also helps to create a far from level playing field.

Life Drawing Wales is a self sustaining group. We’ve never asked for any grants and we’ve always paid models far more than any other life drawing provider and we’ve always paid rent for our sessions premises. We’ve therefore partnered with local small business and led the UK life drawing community in regard to the employment of models. All of this is of nought when faced with a totalitarian government, an out of control social media, local authority and grant funding body interference and changing societal norms.

We hope to be back in October 2023 :)