I’ve been moving house over the summer, so it’s been a very full couple of months of planning, organising, packing and unpacking, cleaning and repairing. At the same time, I decided to move my website over here to www.jennifermills.net.au and have given it an overdue upgrade and tidy. It feels like a thorough resetting of everything that’s been so in flux for the last 3 years: home, work, finances, the ground underfoot, the air itself.

But it hasn’t been a static period at all – it’s been intensely busy and rewarding in a lot of ways, a very fruitful kind of upheaval. I expanded my capacity to organise and be politically active, with the support of the Vitals residency last year. I have been focused on two main areas: fair pay in the arts and divesting from fossil fuels. In the last couple of weeks I have been seeing the impact of long, collective work:

This open letter to the Museum of Economic Botany urging the Museum to drop Santos sponsorship was signed by over a hundred artists and arts workers in SA, a phenomenal effort. It’s been great to see it widely discussed. The issues it raises are not going away, and pressure to divest from fossil fuel sponsorships in the arts, sport and education will only build this year. We are still awaiting a response from the Botanic Gardens, but I know that our voices have been heard and we are stronger for speaking up about our concerns.

Overland and the Freelance Charter – this is a historic step for MEAA freelancers! It feels like the beginning for the freelance campaign, but it’s also the culmination of many years of work from the National Freelance Committee and MEAA media section. Unions can have a massive impact in the arts. I’m so proud to be involved in this one.

Yesterday’s National Cultural Policy announcement will also (we all hope) bring a big shift in the working lives of artists and writers. Being involved in the consultation process gave me insight into how organisations like MEAA and the ASA have an impact on policy. It was quite emotional to hear politicians tell us we matter after a decade of outright hostility, but the focus is now on the details and on achieving lasting change. I’ll be writing about the policy announcement properly elsewhere, so I will just say that there is much optimism around right now, and plenty of work ahead of us.

It’s quite hard not to feel optimistic in this new office!