2020 Directors’ Report

2020 Directors’ Report

Keep Streets Live Campaign (KSL) is a small, performer-led campaign organisation which advocates for public spaces which are open to informal offerings of art and music and opposes the criminalisation of street culture. Much of KSL’s work in recent years has centred on challenging the misuse of Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) which are being used to criminalise a wide range of everyday activities. We are working alongside other groups like Liberty and the Manifesto Club to seek changes to this legislation. 

 

KSL grew out of a grassroots movement, and the not-for-profit company limited by guarantee was set up in December 2013 to support the work of the movement. Much of the day to day work of the company is undertaken in an unpaid capacity by professional buskers, supported by a board of volunteer Directors and a small number of other volunteers.

 

The pandemic dominated much of KSL’s work in 2020. During the year, we publicised the sections of the Coronavirus Act that supported the rights of buskers to continue working. KSL also published guidance for how to remain safe while busking, minimising the risk to both the performer and their audiences. Whenever we heard of councils harassing buskers who were performing safely and legally, we used this guidance as a way of explaining that buskers could continue to work.

 

Our meetings went online as opposed to in-person, while plans for workshops on busking open to all, similar to that which we ran in Manchester in 2019, were delayed on account of the restrictions in place. The same was true of a planned event to launch the successfully negotiated new guidance for Carlisle. We hope to move forward with more ‘live’ events as they become possible again.

 

A new page was set up on KSL social media, dedicated entirely to streaming videos of buskers performing online. Donations were encouraged, and this helped to increase the reach of KSL, as well as providing a vital platform for the buskers who got involved.

 

Other ongoing relationships continued:

  • Liverpool recently published new guidance for busking that avoided introducing any new legislation. KSL represented the interests of buskers throughout and played a key role in developing the guidance, which we feel is a victory for responsible busking.
  • The Westminster campaign picked up pace throughout 2020. Though ultimately unsuccessful in our goal of preventing the new licensing scheme, KSL have been instrumental in bringing together a coalition of street performers who have stood united against the proposals, and continue to fight the licence on the ground. The campaign received a good level of attention in the press, including stories in national publications such as Vice and the Telegraph, with involvement from celebrities such as Eddie Izzard.
  • Peterborough council removed the busking element to their PSPO after pressure from KSL and the local Green Party.
  • Chester Council remain actively engaged with KSL and are keen to put forward guidance that we are happy to put our name to.

 

KSL have also been involved with the ongoing organisation of concerts at Rainbow Junktion and Left Bank, both organisations with a strong sense of social consciousness and community, which fits nicely with the ethos of KSL.

 

Our focus in 2021 will be to continue advocating against the introduction of new legislation against buskers; resuming live events and workshops wherever possible; and campaigning against the increase in privately owned pseudo-public spaces as a way of preventing street performers from working.

 

Directors during 2020:

Weybourne Chester BINGLEY

Nicola Jane HAMBRIDGE

David Michael Simon GRAY

Rev John Howard WALKER

Sarah Michele WALKER

Eryl WHITELEY 

Leeds City Council pay tribute to KSL founding director Jonny Walker

 

On Friday the 23rd of July 2021, on what would have been Jonny’s 41st Birthday, friends and family gathered together in one of his most popular busking spots in Leeds City Centre, the city where he lived to dedicate a memorial stone that has been placed in his honour by Leeds City Council.

It commemorates that spot as “Jonny’s Pitch” in recognition of the countless times he would set up and entertain the streets of Leeds; but more importantly, it underlines what a huge contribution Jonathan made to the city, its vibrancy and its musical heritage.

 

As a busy busker, Jonny played in over 50 British towns and cities every year, leading many of his fans in each location to adopt him as their local minstrel, known for live streaming his sets he also broadcast all over the world with fan bases as far as Australia, Brazil and Japan to name but a few.

Jonny was more than just a very good singer and guitar player. As he developed as a street performer he became a leading campaigner for the preservation of street culture in Britain, taking the fight to local councils over the rights of artists, musicians and entertainers to occupy public space and perform.

In 2012 in response to new proposals by Liverpool city council to control busking, he founded Keep Streets Live. Jonny faced similar battles with Camden council in London, launching a High Court challenge against a stringent set of rules on buskers, all of whom would henceforth require a licence.

During his deputation against the policy in Camden, Jonny said:

“Buskers act as civic lighthouses. We give directions. We break up fights. We call the police when we spot trouble. We talk to the lonely. We create moments of enjoyment between strangers, and contribute to the social and cultural enrichment of shared urban spaces. We are an integral part of the ecology of the street. We care deeply about the wellbeing of the places where we perform.”

 

 

Former deputy leader of Leeds City Council and friend of Jonny’s, Lucinda Yeadon opened the dedication event describing: “Jonny brought a whole family together with the work that he did, the love that he gave and the friendship that radiated from him. “Today is a celebration of Jonny. Those of you who knew him know that he was a devoted dad, a loyal friend and a loving brother and son.

“But he was also a passionate activist. We came up with the idea for a memorial stone at Jonny’s pitch so that everyone would know that this is Jonny’s pitch and will always be Jonny’s pitch. I see this as a symbol of everlasting friendship.  “So Jonny, here you go love. This is a brick for your lifehouse – and thank you for showing us the way.”

 

The ceremony featured music performances from Jonny’s friends and fellow buskers including Jake and Nick Keating, Anna Rusbatch, Alex Johnston-Seymour, and his brother Michael Walker. In addition, The Yorkshire Youth Choir then joined Michael who performed Jonny’s part in an emotional rendition of You Raise Me Up.

Director of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Sharon Watson MBE who concluded the event shared the following tribute:

“Jonny’s work has shown us how barriers can be broken down, how participation can be something for everyone.  “Jonny described busking as having a democratic access to spaces. The informality and spontaneity of the art form is what makes it special and significant.

“Don’t ever stop keeping our streets live. Let’s not be silent or still in our actions. Let’s be sure we can be heard and we can be seen.

“Art is the thread which I believe can change many lives and bring equality into a world which has lost so much. Thank you Jonny – thank you for your legacy, and thank you for caring about us.  Let’s continue Jonny’s legacy.

 

To us this stone represents a symbol of hope, a continuation of Jonny’s legacy, of his desire for our city centres to be places of creativity, spontaneity and interaction. We look forward to listening to many more acts performing at “Jonny’s Pitch” and we hope that Jonny’s message to “Keep Streets Live” will live on.

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With special thanks to:

Lucinda Yeadon, close friend of Jonny and former Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council.

Leeds City Council and especially James Lewis and Jonathan Pryor for authorising the stone.

To Chris Simpson who arranged the installation.

To M.A. Clarke and Son, Memorial Masons who generously donated the stone and to the wonderful artists and friends who contributed to the ceremony.

 

 

The work of KSL and legacy of Jonny continues with the support of our passionate team of directors who volunteer their time to continue this vital work.

To learn more about how you can support us contact us at contact@keepstreetslive.com.

Thank you.

Chalk Fired: The Pavement Poet

Chalk Fired: The Pavement Poet

Thanks to The Pavement Poet for the second in our series of guest blogs. I’ve been aware of his work for a number of years but what really put him on my radar was the fact that Swindon specifically constructed a PSPO to prevent him perverting their wannabe sanitised dystopia with his dangerous chalks and free thinking. Here’s what he has to say.

“I remember the day i first put chalk to pavement. At the time i wasn’t hoping for more than a few smiles and the cost of getting myself to the next town. By this point i’d been wandering around for a few years and any plans i’d had when i first set out on my journey had long since vanished with the seasons.

From that moment came a lot, of which my first book “The Pavement Poet: Chalk Fired” is the latest byproduct. Reflecting the poetry led, architecturally inspired, chalk based art form that I have made my own over the last few years, I like to think that this book is much like my work on the pavements. More permanent maybe; but from the poetry, to the photography of my poetic interactions in towns & cities across Europe, right through to the occasional tale of happenstance from what has been a nine year long journey – It’s all there.

I remember well all of the places to have passed me by over the last few years. The pavements, the faces, the conversations. Almost as if this book could never have been but for the time I’ve spent wandering about with my chalk. In that much the streets have given me more than I had ever anticipated. Inspiring not just this book, but also helping me to detach from an increasingly maddening world and become more open to the vast patchwork of people, cultures & ways of being which make this life and this world so fascinating.

Not that it hasn’t been difficult. There can at times be a misperception of those who create in the public space. There’s been the good days, the bad days, the days when every anorak and whichever council official they have on speed dial appears to be against public art. But as always these are just moments and for those of us who do, it’s just another reason to come back the next day.”

You can find out more about The Pavement Poet: Chalk Fired by clicking on the following link or by following The Pavement Poet on Facebook:

http://danielmrowland.blogspot.com/2021/03/chalk-fired-available-for-pre-order-now.html

What do we say?

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What do we say when the chalken pen
Has marked The Way in ways unsaid?
A summer sunrise come to be
For those who choose to go and see.
What do we say when a winter sun
It marks the passing of the fun
Which found us on those summer days
When time and memory went astray?
What do we say to the autumn eye
For those who watch the forest die
Away until a coming spring
Brings warmer days and thankful grins?
What do we say to the spring time gaze
When feeling winter make them age
One more year closer to the end
Where life it rocks and rolls again?

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