About Us
Steam Control is a group of collaborating writers, sound and media artists, teachers and community workers. We use poetry, storytelling and multimedia to provoke new ways of acting in and reacting to our community, with a focus on artistic innovation, empowerment, disability and mental health.
We are happy to work with others who share our approach which is:
Anti-tragedy
We can’t stand over-charitable or pitying responses to disability, chronic medical conditions or mental illness)
Anti-slick
We love professionalism, high standards and artistic excellence in the pursuit of authenticity and truth, but we can spot formulaic style-over-content posturing a mile away
Anti-jargon
Our work is not issue-based or strategically planned, but we allow themes that concern us to infuse what we do, and so we have a social/health dimension and application. But first and foremost we are making art
Anti-racist
We hate all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, dis/ability gender, creed, age, sexual orientation, nationality (and everything else you can put on that type of list)
Anti-war
We don’t want our taxes spent on killing people in the Middle East or anywhere at all, we would rather the money was spent on housing, health, education and the arts...
...which leads on to the reason behind the cryptic but atmospheric name.
If you have your own interpretation and prefer to keep it, don’t read on
It comes from Chapter 6 of Tom Wolfe’s novel about power, wealth and politics in 1980s’ New York, The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Enriched black community leader Reverend Bacon explains to a squeamish church official, who’s in charge of giving out grants to inner-city community projects, what he will gain by giving money to a children’s day centre. He explains that the reason the establishment gets involved in community initiatives (via sponsorship, charities or public funding) is because it’s a cheap way of lifting the lid – momentarily - on the boiling anger of the poor and the oppressed. It allows some of the steam to escape so that the pot doesn’t boil over… just yet.