A little about a lot

Philip Patston has to work hard to explain what he does in a way that makes sense to people who may know 'an awful lot about awfully little'. So it's not often that he finds people like him. But this week, he thinks he may have.

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In my first chemistry class in 5th form (Year 11), my chemistry teacher said, "If you decide to be a scientist, you'll start off knowing nothing about everything. Over time you'll learn more and more about less and less, until you know everything about nothing."

Right there and then I knew I did not want to be a scientist. I resolved to learn a little about as much as I possibly could. I began to think about learning as vertical (scientific) and horizontal (experiential). 

I decided to learn the latter way and, if I may say so myself, I think I've been pretty successful.

Sometimes I think I've outdone myself. Now, what I do, which is a mix of social and creative innovation, is hard to explain. That's because it's complex – we don't normally mix social change and creativity, politics and art, problems and celebration.

But I do it on a daily basis. Between 9 and 5 on a single day I can be helping someone deal with discrimination, stress and anxiety, designing a workshop or writing a funding application, while simultaneously writing a comic dialogue, editing a media clip about diversity, and putting music to one of my poems.

So when I come to tell people what I do, I have to think hard about how to make my world make sense. I have to work hard to put it into a way that makes sense to people who may know an awful lot about awfully little.

So it's not often that I find a forum with people like me. But this week, I think I may have.

On 1 May my proposal for Performing the World 2010: Can Performance Change the World? (PTW 2010) was accepted.  The organisers describe the New York-based conference as a 'three-day “performance of conversation” with people from all over the world about the transformation of the individual, the community, and the world.

I'm picking this conference may have a few people who mix the harsh world of reality with the amazing realm of possibility.

Head on over to www.diversitynz.com for more information and a chance to help out.

And then come back and share how you mix it up in your work. I've met a few people through this blog and elsewhere, who do more than art and performance, but I know there are more of you. I'm keen to know who you are and what you are doing. Go on, say hi!

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