jennifer katherine @jenkshields@witches.town

@myrrhashad ah, thanks. It's been a ride for sure and now I'm just like, super lost I guess. This is reliable money but it's also very stress

Sorry for the long thread but it's done: if you feel like reading this is a summary of the fucked up shit that's happened at work this past year that I am currently trying to deal with. If you have advice/sympathies pls weigh in

I guess there's a third option of me just. Sticking it out there until another option arises but like. To be clear this job is definitely affecting my health and it is fucking me up.

So. We're both stuck: either this gamble of going for the jobs and hoping, or the gamble of trying to find other jobs while we try start our own space

I guess the other big thing is arts jobs are super limited and competitive here and though a year's experience here is good it's nowhere near enough...

The other problem is I don't know if it's just this job that is making fibro hell or if it's all full time work and I need to be part time. I don't know if I wanna take that risk but there aren't really many other options

Problem is the new roles are 18mo fixed term because it's experimental: if the experiment doesn't go well we'd almost certainly lose the jobs. Tricky thing is: if we get those two jobs and the board let us actually do the jobs without interfering we'd absolutely kill it. But if they continue how they have (interfering, gaslighting, causing shit with our collaborators and artists) the experiment will almost defs fail.

Ideal situation is the two of us as director and programming and running the place. It's possible. Problem is neither of us trust the board to not micromanage and cause shit like they have all year

Our comms pal is gone, no way around it. I could definitely transition into the new ops manager role, and can do the programming manager if they'll let me. My friend (our curator) could transition into prog manager but could absolutely do the exec director role if they'll let them

It was out of fuckin nowhere: they're reserving a HUGE sum in case shit goes bad so they can keep the building, they're reserving another significant sum for future programming, they're slashing programming costs and restructuring to something completely new: 3 full time staff, that's it

All last week any inquiries we sent through were either ignored or just a "we'll talk next week." Meeting was today, we walked in blind thinking a) they'll go through with the original proposal b) they'll accept our suggestions c) they'll shut the place down

That date rolls around, they definitely didn't meet at work, we assume they haven't at all OR they're being deliberately secretive bc sth bad is coming. While we're still on summer leave, we get an email informing us of a meeting and would we please be there, nothing else. Meeting is second week back (today)

Our jobs are secure til end of Feb, they'll get back to us asap. November rolls around, another meeting, no decision, jobs now safe til end of march. Board due to meet 14 Dec

We submit feedback in the form of a similar structure that's the same amount of hours, with comms part time, a 1 day a week sponsorship position, and our two weekend supervisors - one is our designer and could do design on her weekend shifts as well as one day a fortnight. They say theyve read and appreciate the constructive feedback

In end of September/early November they inform us of their proposal to restructure; new is one director/curator, one gallery manager (my job), one full time comms/marketing/design/AND sponsorship (current comms is part time because she has a young kid; they know this) and a weekend supervisor

Apparently that's enough because it's temporary; this was September, it's now Jan.

They agree to bring on the other weekend supervisor as programming support one day a week, and the designer a full day a week as well, alongside one of them managing sponsorship one day a week. 3 days for the lost 8 per week

After hitting breaking point like 5 times we make a formal letter to the board asking to discuss staff health and safety and demanding action. We go to the board meeting, they let us sit there for an hour before they kick us out to talk about it

We managed to bring on one of our weekend supervisors to help under the guise of being a contractor designer (she did mostly design but also helped with other stuff a lot). Board have still not done anything at this point. The whole remaining team are fucking broken. This is like, only august last year

The board also does not replace the business development director, so we're down a part time and full time staff member, or eight days worth of capacity