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About that newspaper ad ...

Posted by Dave Bull on March 1, 2012 [Permalink]

It's been a week since I ran the ad in the local newspaper looking for staff. Have you been waiting for a report on the response?

Heh heh ... I suppose the fact that I haven't posted anything about it tells you all you need to know! Yes, I was 'shut out' completely; there was not the slightest response. No calls, no emails, no nothing.

By the time a few days had gone by, it was kind of clear which way it was going to go, so I started to think about 'Plan B' (or whatever letter we are now up to ... getting somewhere near 'Z' maybe?)

I wasn't really sure what else I could do though. Word of mouth hasn't been getting me anywhere; this ad did nothing ... what else is there? And then, this morning I had a phone call from Numabe-san the printer. For some time now, he too has been concerned about the future of traditional Japanese printmaking, but he has taken a different approach from me. He is a member of a government-subsidized organization (sponsored by the Culture Agency, I believe) devoted to the preservation of the craft, and for the past year has been running a small-scale training program using their financial support, teaching printing to a few young people on a part time basis - I think the sessions were twice a week.

Anyway, the financial year is coming to an end (April 1st is the start of the year here in Japan: school terms, employment contracts, etc. etc., all begin on that date), his line of support for the venture is running out, and he was calling me to see if I had any ideas ...

I asked him about the people he had been training, and when he described them to me, it seemed as though there might be something here ... He has a couple of young men (late 20's) who are interested in becoming printers - they have been training/practicing printing with him - but who realistically don't have any expectation of finding any kind of work in the foreseeable future, as their skill level is (presumably) still pretty basic.

They have been working part-time wherever they can - convenience stores, etc. - while doing his training. They are now at loose ends. I chatted with him about this for a while, and the obvious thing for me is to take a look at these guys, so we've arranged for him to have them visit here next Monday. If one of them seems capable of doing the woodwork jobs that are waiting here - the cases for my Arts series, the boxes for the tools, and of course the tool handles themselves - then we have a real chance to move this forward. He would make the boxes (working in our first basement level where all those tools are), and then continue his printing training in our main workshop down in the level below ...

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this opportunity. If it does turn out that one of these guys seems to be capable of doing our work here, I may have to skate closer to an ethical line than I would like. I myself have an absolute 'no subsidies' rule in place, not only for this venture, but for my own life. If I were 'flat on my back' through some kind of accidental trouble, then I would certainly accept assistance from my community and/or my government. But to seek/take government money (tax monies paid by my 'neighbours') for something as trivial as training to be a worker in an obsolete craft, in the name of 'preserving tradition' - this is a place where I will not go. (This is why I have never joined the Preservation Association I mentioned above.)

I'm going to have to think about this one carefully. On the face of it, there really isn't a conflict I guess. They are just two people showing up at the door, looking for work. Their subsidy program is now over, and if they work here, I will pay them straight up per hour for their time. No ethical problem there at all. But they were only able to get this far via government handouts ... and what kind of policy would that be: let the government subsidy programs pay for training people, and then once they have 'graduated', go ahead and hire them as printers ... That doesn't sit so well in my gut ...

Anyway, Monday should be an interesting day!

[Update (couple of hours later)] Back in the post where I first talked about that newspaper ad, I mentioned going to a dinner party at a friend's home, where as part of our general conversation, I talked about the ad and that I was looking for people. One of the attendees was a long-time friend, a retired school teacher who now teaches classes part-time at a local university. He phoned this morning to let me know that he had brought this topic up with some of his students, and would it be OK if some of them called me ...

I don't want a whole flood of kids calling me up on this job thing, so we arranged instead that we would do it on more of an 'introduction' system. Based on my description of what I am looking for, he would go through his list of students and pick possible candidates. Things moved along pretty quickly, and I now have yet another appointment Monday afternoon, with the first young lady who made it through that 'selection' process.

Monday should definitely be an interesting day!

 

Discussion

 

Added by: Ian Bertram on March 1, 2012, 8:00 pm

I agree that this is a difficult choice given your stand on subsidy - one I broadly agree with. However, from the perspective of the guys looking for work it looks rather different. I think in the circumstances I would put aside how they got to 'now' and act as if recruiting from scratch.



Added by: Hannah on March 1, 2012, 11:35 pm

Is that any different than me getting a scholarship? Government handouts are one thing. Getting an education in any way possible is another.



Added by: Sharri on March 2, 2012, 2:29 am

I think you are giving yourself a tummy ache over nothing. How their job training program was financed should be of no concern. If these young men had personally answered your ad you might never know how they got to "here". I suppose it would come up somewhere along the line, but would it really matter by then?



Added by: Tom Kristensen on March 2, 2012, 7:38 am

Dave, your pride in being able to support yourself is justifiable, but I think you are off with the tea-party while moralising about "hand outs" of tax payers money. To be worried that other people might have accepted government assistance for "something as trivial as training to be a worker in an obsolete craft" is a little cute. You yourself attach huge significance to working in an obsolete craft, why should the community, through the agency of government, not have a similar perspective? Do you not accept that many of your customers are also motivated by a desire to "preserve tradition"?

I admire you for seeking to make your own way in the world unassisted, but in reality this is an illusion, like the child who tells a parent "I can do it myself". If your ethics preclude the notion of government patronage you will need to be scrupulously honest in examining your own books before you start examining others. For instance, you could survey your customers and turn down any subscription funds that fail an ethics test. I suggest you could target wealthy individuals who accrue money by avoiding paying their fair share of tax.

If you start to question all the economic inputs to your endeavor you will soon see that you do indeed benefit from the largess of government and any wealth you may enjoy is not created entirely by you. And this is entirely reasonable.

Go easy on the recruits Dave.

BTW - no grants or subsidies here either, but I did get a free education.



Added by: Dave on March 2, 2012, 8:38 am

Tom, thanks for taking the trouble to make an extensive reply. I certainly don't see myself as a tea-partier, and am personally repulsed by what those people are doing/saying. And I'm not at all an opponent of government per se. I think the place I live has got the balance between 'individual rights/responsibilities' and 'social rights/responsibilities' worked out pretty well, certainly far better than our friends over in the good ol' US of A, and am very happy to have our government running such things as our national medical insurance scheme, etc.

I think the position that I am perhaps trying to stumble towards is that I see the proper function of government as 1) providing national security (to the extent that this is practical/possible), 2) maintenance of the general social contract (laws, enforcement, etc.), and 3) provision of the basic infrastructures, such things as roads, land management, education, fire protection, medical insurance, etc. etc.). With all these systems in place, the people of the land are then free to build, trade, etc. etc. as they decide on their own. (All this is of course a description of an 'ideal' situation. The real life is of course going to be messier and more blurred.)

What I don't see as a proper function for any government is 'social engineering' - trying to make people do things that wouldn't normally take place. I have no right at all to reach into my neighbour's pocket and scoop out some of his money, justifying it because 'the work I'm doing needs to be supported.' If my work really is of value to society, then society (in the shape of X number of its individuals) will demonstrate that by using my products ... by buying prints (exchanging their labour for mine, via the convenient intermediary of money). If that doesn't happen, case closed, game over, and I have to try some other way to support myself.

Go easy on the recruits Dave

Oh of course I'll say nothing of this to them. I'm not intending to stand on a soapbox here - simply I was quietly expressing some of my own thoughts on these (complex and contradictory) issues. If one of these guys ends up working here satisfactorily, then maybe one evening sometime in the future, during one of our evening get-togethers in the Mokuhankan building Library, this topic can form the basis for a good lively discussion! :-)



Added by: Tom Kristensen on March 2, 2012, 10:26 am

I kind of agree with you on the social engineering angle, but at the same time I am glad that some governments have bought in ideas that were first seen as progressive, but later accepted as common sense. Wearing seatbelts for instance, or conserving endangered species. There is scope for forward thinking, the market is not always up to speed.

I think it is good that your customers know that they are taking direct action in the survival of the traditional woodblock print. I just question whether you should continue to reject the idea of support of "art" from government. There is an easy case to make that a huge amount of valuable culture is maintained and created under the guidance of government. For instance, in Australia the initiative of setting up art centres in remote Aboriginal communities has lead to the creation of an industry that now accounts for 70% of all art sold in Australia. Art that is now highly valued on a global scale. This government action has generated wealth and it has helped to protect a cultural heritage that was previously deemed worthless by the market.



Added by: Dave on March 2, 2012, 10:34 am

... ideas that were first seen as progressive, but later accepted as common sense. Wearing seatbelts for instance

Certainly can't argue with examples like this! Perhaps I'm trying to draw a line where there really is no clear division between 'OK' and 'No way!' ... These are very complex issues, and I suppose I'm basically just trying to keep my activites as 'honest' as possible ...



Added by: Dave on March 10, 2012, 11:28 pm

I received an interesting email this evening, with information relevant to my comments about 'subsidies' in the above post. With the permission of the sender, I'll quote from it here:

As you know, I have been working with Numabe-san at the Yoshida Studio for about 2 1/2 years now. In writing you I would just like to dispel some misperceptions that you may have gained through your talks with Mr. Numabe, about certain subsidies being given to students in the studio.

The subsidies you mention cover the teachers which Mr. Numabe brings into the studio twice a month: a printer, and a carver. Or, rather, various printers and carvers. These respective sessions occur on Saturday afternoons, and students also from Asaka-san's workshops attend. Anyone, actually, who wishes to attend may do so. As you know, that has always been the policy of the Yoshida Studio. So, in this sense, any student who attends these Saturday workshops are receiving a 'subsidized' education. The last Saturday for this term will be March 24th. I guess that is when the money for this term runs out. I have not heard whether this will continue, or not.

As of this moment, however, neither of these two students are receiving any 'subsidy' from the government, and the only thing that is paid for is that teaching just mentioned, and the use of materials and tools (baren, chisels, paper).

I do not know to what extent, if any, they will be receiving stipends as a direct support from the government in the future.

Perhaps this information may serve you to make a decision you can rest more easily with.



 

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