Apolitical Cutz Special - What Is ‘a Government’?
A hairdressers casual approach to conversation allows for a story to be told in an authentic fashion. This approach allows Political Cutz to create unique discussions with the intent of communicating important subjects. We have been producing pop up conversation salons and situations since the lead up to the 2014 election, using free haircuts with theatrical practice to allow us to engage with a broad demographic of participants.
Apolitical Cutz is a short series that provides a chance for us to start looking at the bigger question of what is a government, from the inside. Through our live streamed PCZB weekly sessions we will host a 2 week special with Privacy Commissioner John Edwards on Sunday August 9th, followed by Solicitor General Una Jagose on Sunday August 16th. Both interviews start at 4pm on Facebook but can be viewed on the Political Cutz page at any time after. Very few of us understand this institution of a government and how it best serves us as citizens. Apolitical Cutz offers a chance to promote civics literacy in a unique and accessible context. It is an important discussion at any time but certainly as we grapple with the effects of Covid, our looming election and referendum.
Political Cutz was initially started with the acknowledgement that we as a nation were, and are not great at having civic conversations that help define us. The nature of both politics and media only ever allow us to magnify differences rather than create a situation where we can openly discuss, consider and understand each other's point of view.
The social atmosphere of a salon mixed with the arts practices of facilitating and entertaining allow us to challenge our audiences perceptions of our offering. As a response to the Covid situation we have extended that to a wider reach using available online technology, but also crucially still allowing the audience to participate in the discussions. We see our salons and our live stream as one small contribution of trying to connect citizens to their civic knowledge and responsibility… one haircut at a time.
www.politicalcutz.co.nz