Barriers and wariness from other organisations

The Mustard Tree

I had been hoping to run parallel sessions with The Mustard Tree in Manchester. But sadly, Jez, the staff member there who was super-supportive of the Homeless Hub project, is leaving; and other staff, although welcoming, are simply not as keen.

I went to have a face-to-face meeting with Harry, Jez's colleague, to see if we could work some engagement with Homeless Hub into other stuff that Mustard Tree are doing. It's difficult, because although the Mustard Tree has a great building on Oldham Road, it also has a lot of demands on the space there. They have considered using various spaces for specific courses; but what they find works best with their groups is drop-in work.

I visited the art drop-in. The people who attend have a really cool sense of ownership of the space, and of the drop-in itself, and a nice approach to shared decision making. (For instance, I noticed the negative reaction when Harry came in and put on a playlist as background music without checking with everyone first if they liked it. After a bit of debate and Harry defending his choice of Sleater-Kinney, it went off, and the group put on a playlist that had been agreed by everyone.) But I had some really interesting chats with people at the drop-in session and was thinking maybe we could develop something using the same themes as the Emmaus project, but perhaps making NFTs or similar as a way of approaching blockchain technology?

Then I sat down with Harry to give a bit more background to the project. When I mentioned "blockchain" and "crypto" and "NFTs" his reaction was negative. He said that in his view, marginalised people often face barriers to digital engagement - whether that's not having good Internet access, or not knowing enough to use things confidently - so making NFTs can end up putting the control of their artwork into the hands of someone else who handles it for them, thus robbing them of control and agency.

I can really see his point. But I'm not sure if I agree - after all, ideally, minting NFTs of your artwork should be really accessible. If it isn't - or if people think it isn't, and if it feels like it excludes people - then this is an issue that needs looking at! Still - I'd like to work with the group anyway, without making it overtly part of Homeless Hub, but maybe doing some things that might feed into into Homeless Hub, even if it's only via further discussion of the issues around money, value, the economic system, etc.

After my visit, I got an email from Harry to say that they have decided they don't have scope to incorporate a separate project like Homeless Hub into their programme, but I could come and be a volunteer and help with their existing programme if I liked. I did email back and say yes, but then never heard back from him again. I think the issue of crypto has put him off hugely - which is a pity, but also worth noting and thinking about.

When I come to write the final report, I might chase Harry up and ask him for a bit more input on this.