A new voice says:

( This is the bureaucrats’ side of the story, the part they reveal to each other in private. The tone is playful, sometimes aggrieved, sometimes a little smug. In the background, fading up and down as an ambient texture, a list of thumbnail biographies of the residents is read quietly. The six voices cycle through the text, a new voice to each line … )

We, who run The Institute™

    … are here to tell you who we are …

              Let us tell you who we are ….

    We manage …

        We manage …

This branch

    Of a country-wide chain

        Of residences for

    Make no decisions

        Escape all responsibility

              Invent valid objections

        Which gives us

    To evade

         To deny

To obfuscate

    To threaten

        To blame others ….

(above,

    or,

         below us …)


To call in sick when it suits

    To wear either slippers or boots

        To gossip

            To flatter

                To frown …

    (or a bit before…)

         Our lunches start promptly at twelve.

We’ve learned the procedures

    Forward and back

         We question, we probe and we delve …

In the process of discouraging

    For example

        We’re designing

    (which should slow things down

        for a while…)

    So much more

         efficient!

    You wouldn’t think that forty artists could fill the space so quickly …
          But if we’re not careful they’ll take over every nook and cranny.

We’ll have to beware

    We’ll need to take care

         It’s down to us

             It’s up to us

                It’s our chosen vocation

                     Everyone appreciates the systems we’ve designed

(One speaker says, sotto voce:
The residents are a bit perturbed, though, since we refused to meet with
their representatives … I hear they’re planning a public meeting … )

        Oh, we can deal with that easily enough.

              Everyone knows that artists,

                   like children or madmen,

                         Are powerless or nuts.

    With some colourful anecdotes

        And that’ll take care of that.

We’re experienced at that sort of thing.

    We’ve held focus groups and

         We’ve attended meetings with artists across the country …

             ( with and without facilitators ….)

And we can confirm from that experience

         (Dead right … )

             W hen he said that meetings are indispensable

We’ve done it before.

    And we’ll do it again.

         And again,

             And again …

                    Canada can rely on us