Melissandre Varin and Coventry Biennial
Coventry Biennial
Here is a public letter from melissandre varin, artist-curator for B.O.O.K (Building Our Own Knowledge), and an artist commissioned by Coventry Biennial. It relates to a grievance raised by the artist.
Coventry Biennial’s Apology:
We are sharing this message as the board of Coventry Biennial, to acknowledge melissandre varin’s damaging experience with the Coventry Biennial, and to apologise.
We also want to update our community members and stakeholders on the rectifying actions that we have agreed to take, following a series of board meetings, consultations and discussions with melissandre since November 2021.
Going forward, we hope to support melissandre, while future-proofing our learning as an organisation to support more effectively our collaborations and artists in general. In no uncertain terms, melissandre has let us know that the support and communication we had offered them had fallen short of their expectations, and that they had a negative experience, which undermined their value as an artist and took away their agency. This is unacceptable and we deeply apologise for that. We were informed of their feelings and that their emotional health and wellbeing had been severely affected by that negative experience. We deeply apologise, and since November 2021, we have expressed that we want to make things right.
We are deeply sorry for melissandre’s negative experience; we recognise their distress, and we were sad to hear that the support we have offered so far was not perceived to be enough.
Moving forward, we want to be able to communicate more effectively, not only with melissandre, but with every artist, and we want to support them in the best way possible. We want to reassure our community that we take such issues very seriously, and we have been working in full capacity on the matter as a priority.
The Coventry Biennial values diversity, respect and trust. We are a social biennial by mission, and as a diverse team and board, we work hard to remove the structural and systemic inequity and barriers that exist in the arts sector. We want to promote dialogue and equality.
Nevertheless, as melissandre’s negative experience has flagged, there is always a need to review and to further improve. We have reflected on the events described in melissandre’s letter, and we want to ensure that no member of our community would face a similar experience again. We appreciate melissandre’s honesty and openness and that they shared their experience with us. We want to reassure our community that the wellbeing and the work of melissandre and of all our collaborating artists are of utmost importance to us.
Again, we apologise for all the distress that has been caused. We look forward to improving our ways of doing things and we see this grievance as the starting point of a conversation to shape and inform our policies, while strengthening and restoring our relationships.
The board will undertake an internal review of the whole organisation; this was a piece of work we had started on before melissandre’s letter brought a far deeper focus to it. We are mindful of the points melissandre has brought to our attention, and we will use these to take positive action, to reflect and to realise how the Coventry Biennial can improve for the future editions.
This statement also has support of the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, as our partner.
We the Board, take full responsibility for the experience of the artist and will work with all our partners to ensure best practice is upheld.
by Ryan Hughes