Monday 5th March 2012, 7.00pm
Rich Mix
Hosted by Improbable
When it's not over, it's not over. Keeping the space open for D&D7.
Read the full invitation here
You can also see a list of the reports from D&D7 here.
Below are a list of issues that were raised during the evening.
If a report was written, clicking on the title of the session will take you to the report.
Curating. Creating. Community. Survival strategies.
Translating D&D into action- when do we stop talking and do something?
Trying to avoid Tesco- how to find a paid job in the theatre in the time of recession.
Do less designers, technicians, lighting designers etc come to D&D because they don't see themselves as creators or because they are too busy doing it?
Do numbers matter?
I'm making a show about my nationality- what do you know about ISRAEL?
Should I be out and about at this hour?
Paid opportunity: who would like to help me documenting all the DandD reports monthly?
Does D&D exist cos there is no theatrical community and does it matter either way?
Directors please... Looking for directors for some short plays.
How do we keep the devotion alive and how do we know when it's time to move on?
Wednesday 7 March 2012
Translating D&D into action- when do we stop talking and do something?
Convener: George Mann
Participants: Just me for now (at the beginning)
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
- Just me for now... (at the beginning)... Going to wait and see for a while.
- Maybe I'll talk/write to myself?
- Perhaps this is quite representative!? No one else will care about your session as much as you do? Is that true...? Not really.
- Why did I call this?
- Because I can't help feeling that the gulf between talking about an issue and doing something about it.
- Re. my session last weekend, all that talking... but now, unless I myself do something it can just fade into obscurity as if it never happened...
- So what is the point?
- Talking is great. It helped clarify the issue, clear things up, air frustrations.. but to actually change anything or do something about one has to act. But is 'one' really just ONE? Does it always come to that?
- Can D&D result in more than just one person with their session "campaigning" alone?
- Should I have formed a committee?
- Asked people to do something?
- Should D&D give more time to action and how can it become action?
- Maybe one Monday morning isn't enough?
- Yes I felt I'd met my community, I'd been hear, agreed with, disagreed with, but so what?
- WHAT NOW...?
- In a way, I came for the community, and because we're stronger together... yet I ended up along after all that trying to Do something about my issue?
- Somehow it feels like something is missing from D&D. The bridge between talking and doing hasn't been built yet, so it remains a social-frustration-airing-gathering of sorts... for now.
- But I still love it
Curating. Creating. Community. Survival strategies.
Convener: Alyn Gwyndaf
Participants: Various, incl. Jen, Sarah-Jane, Kirsty,
Li
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Some sketchy
notes. E&OE etc.
Curiosity
stirred by comments from ACE State of the Arts 2012, firstly about need for
greater integration/participation of community/society, and secondly about
reducing separation of artists. What does shift toward arts organisations
working with community imply for making a living as an artist? Is
curating/facilitating a necessary strategy for economic survival? What if
curating were itself community- rather than professionally-driven? Is a natural
boundary drawn by the point at which the money stops?
Practice focuses
on process of creating. Experience of curating as an incidental activity of
simply bringing people together to make stuff happen, aside from core creative
work. (Li)
Benefit of
curating in that it provides a structure, sustained across several
events/festivals, in which work/artists can flourish and grow. Question of
whether this is closer to producing (in an artist development model). Or how
does this differ from 'programming' – is it just a sexier title?
Curating is
itself a creative activity, and artists will themselves self-curate in terms of
editing work to create a portfolio. Equally, making a piece of work involves
curating different component parts and shaping how they come together.
Sheer volume of
work out there now necessitates curator/editor/gatekeeper, to provide clear
vision, authority and profile for presentation of work (c.f. filtering massive
volume of internet information). Thus audiences buy into particular curator and
their vision/taste; artists benefit by having a champion.
Increasing use
of the term 'curating.' Does this reflect an increasingly vogue term, or an
actual growth in substantive practice? Feeling toward the latter, especially
with the increasing number of festivals and other ad hoc events bringing
artists together in one place/time.
Curators still
rely on artists to lead or stimulate creative process, even where it's located
within the community.
Experience as
both curator and artist has shown that money can be earned from curatorial
activity, but not the creative. (Jen)
Drift into
discussion of 'sideline' work, which earns necessary money, alongside the
creative, and folk model of this being a legitimate practice, as opposed to
privileging the professional expectation of earning a living from creative
practice. Question of whether folk model only worked in agrarian/industrial
economies with well-structured work/leisure time, and not suited to current
'long-hours' working culture of post-industrial/information economy.
Also, folk model
implying a local/community ownership of the agenda. Case that “there's money in
the local,” but typically local council wanting to fund activities that tick
particular boxes for social mission. Not genuinely 'community' in that money
comes with an externally-imposed agenda.
General
acknowledgement of curating/creating/community as having fluid relationship,
rather than discrete areas of activity. Some artists seeing themselves as
rooted in their local community (not separate), and also shifting between
creating and curating activities.
Acknowledgement
that many of us blend creative practice, local (geographic) community and
creative community (curating) activities, along with maybe others again that
earn a living. Not problematic for any of us ourselves, but challenge to
establish recognition of this externally, e.g. how to articulate precisely what
it is we can offer to others. Need to champion the 'nebulous work package.'
Relational art
as a relevant perspective on discussion, seeking to locate work in a social,
human context, and explore connectedness.
Discussion of
exercising (and discussing) cash as an important part of acknowledging
integration of artist and community, sharing same economic concerns as everyone
else. Shoreditch location provided an interesting model of a community, with
local live/work/leisure patterns, albeit heavily monetised.
Acknowledgement
that our presence in that location invited community integration by bar
spending, and general drift away to exercise social contribution through beer
purchase.
Monday 19 December 2011
Improbable's Monthly D&D Satellite: Festive edition
Monday 12th December 2011, 7.00pm
Camden People's Theatre
Hosted by Improbable and Camden People's Theatre
A celebratory evening, a chance to collectively take stock, and a chance to discuss burning issues at the end of the year.
Read the full invitation here
Below are a list of issues that were raised during the evening.
If a report was written, clicking on the title of the session will take you to the report.
Applying theatre- off the stage, in organisations, communities, etc
"Human beings in a rehearsal room"- How can we take better/best care of each other in our process/time together as theatremakers?
I am new in England. I am a director and have a ready show. I don't know anyone. Help!!!
I've just agreed to produce my first show independently. HELP?
Doctor Theatre- can we heal the world?
Another year gone. Can I go on?
Who needs privacy? (or, Thanks, Internet, for enabling everyone we've ever known to find out how well/badly we've aged; how we actually earn money; and how much/little we have worked in the arts this year.)
What counts as a performance? Does it matter if nobody, including the performer, knows there is a performance going on?
Last week someone advised me not to "box above my weight". What is the least useful advice you've had this year? And how can we give better advice to each other?
What's the best (most useful/transformative) thing you've learned this year?
Marketing oneself- the joys and pitfalls. Any tips?
Acting and Actions. In the park? Play? Dance? Gallery?
Camden People's Theatre
Hosted by Improbable and Camden People's Theatre
A celebratory evening, a chance to collectively take stock, and a chance to discuss burning issues at the end of the year.
Read the full invitation here
Below are a list of issues that were raised during the evening.
If a report was written, clicking on the title of the session will take you to the report.
Applying theatre- off the stage, in organisations, communities, etc
"Human beings in a rehearsal room"- How can we take better/best care of each other in our process/time together as theatremakers?
I am new in England. I am a director and have a ready show. I don't know anyone. Help!!!
I've just agreed to produce my first show independently. HELP?
Doctor Theatre- can we heal the world?
Another year gone. Can I go on?
Who needs privacy? (or, Thanks, Internet, for enabling everyone we've ever known to find out how well/badly we've aged; how we actually earn money; and how much/little we have worked in the arts this year.)
What counts as a performance? Does it matter if nobody, including the performer, knows there is a performance going on?
Last week someone advised me not to "box above my weight". What is the least useful advice you've had this year? And how can we give better advice to each other?
What's the best (most useful/transformative) thing you've learned this year?
Marketing oneself- the joys and pitfalls. Any tips?
Acting and Actions. In the park? Play? Dance? Gallery?
I’ve just agreed to produce my first show independently. HELP?
Convenor:
Bridget Floyer
Who attended?
Only got one name so here are the whys!
- runs a Marketing and PR film and helps small companies
- works for ACE and interesting in independently produced work and what questions people are asking
- doing a Producing MA so interested in potentially producing own work
- runs a fringe festival on the Isle of Wight
- interested in how to be adaptable to different situations
- has done some producing but still not entirely sure what the role means
- doing an MA in community arts, has an idea for a musical
- producing her own work, can share experience
(some whys are from the same people)
Summary of discussion
I convened the session because I’m about to produce my first play (with a film and theatre company) and although I’ve worked in the industry for nearly ten years, I’ve never done this independently before – maybe I’ve done things backwards! It seems as though a lot of the help and support available is aimed at those aged 25 or even 30 and under and I’m 32. Was interested in getting advice but also in discussions generally about starting out later on. Notes are not in chronological order but grouped loosely into categories.
GENERAL
- Go through a company, you can claim VAT
- Separating film and theatre (into separate companies) is a good idea, people don’t get confused as to what you do (and different scales of budget can be a problem)
- drilling down the product and finding out what it is is important – have an R&D period
- don’t necessarily make long term decisions until you know what the product is
- but do also go for it – staying in development for too long can bog you down
VENUE
- Match your product to your venue
- Choosing the right venue is really important
- venues don’t have to be existing theatre spaces, can create your own
- find your venue first
FUNDING
- Can be useful NOT being subsidised – if independent for the first time subsidy could make you not scrutinise your costs so carefully
- The Space – partnership between BBC and Ace, digital arts fund, just closed
- Grants for the Arts fund development (one member of the group had received development funding from G4A)
- sponsorship – break it down into bitesize chunks, find what your investor’s reason is, what’s their benefit?
- crowdfunding: you need to have a really strong existing online audience
- one member of the group [knows someone who?] crowdfunds everything they produce but then makes it all freely available online. Sustains his work that way.
- £1 a month direct debit – doesn’t seem that much, you forget you’re paying it and never cancel, if you have 100 people doing it that’s £1200 a year
- if people have turned up to a live event they want to purchase/donate online
- people want to donate to someone they know, to have a face to it
- online donating you seem to need to offer something back
-
AUDIENCES
- Do audiences cross from film to theatre?
- Generally hard to cross over audiences
- Often depends on the right setting
- IoW Festival do have some cross-over audiences
- work with what you’ve got –eg if your work is new and experimental find an audience who are interested in that
- A lot is about audiences trusting a venue (though some audiences don’t even cross over within a venue – is that partly about the audience not the venue? eg some “types” are more likely to cross over than others)
- can be interesting to go out to get a different audience
- explore different expectations, different venues, not so much competition? More open?
- What is your audience’s expectation and how do you create different expectations
PRODUCING ROLE
- does anyone who produces ever go “yes I know what this is, I know how to do this”?
- can be a very undefined role – varies loads, job description is often misleading
Bridget Floyer
Who attended?
Only got one name so here are the whys!
- runs a Marketing and PR film and helps small companies
- works for ACE and interesting in independently produced work and what questions people are asking
- doing a Producing MA so interested in potentially producing own work
- runs a fringe festival on the Isle of Wight
- interested in how to be adaptable to different situations
- has done some producing but still not entirely sure what the role means
- doing an MA in community arts, has an idea for a musical
- producing her own work, can share experience
(some whys are from the same people)
Summary of discussion
I convened the session because I’m about to produce my first play (with a film and theatre company) and although I’ve worked in the industry for nearly ten years, I’ve never done this independently before – maybe I’ve done things backwards! It seems as though a lot of the help and support available is aimed at those aged 25 or even 30 and under and I’m 32. Was interested in getting advice but also in discussions generally about starting out later on. Notes are not in chronological order but grouped loosely into categories.
GENERAL
- Go through a company, you can claim VAT
- Separating film and theatre (into separate companies) is a good idea, people don’t get confused as to what you do (and different scales of budget can be a problem)
- drilling down the product and finding out what it is is important – have an R&D period
- don’t necessarily make long term decisions until you know what the product is
- but do also go for it – staying in development for too long can bog you down
VENUE
- Match your product to your venue
- Choosing the right venue is really important
- venues don’t have to be existing theatre spaces, can create your own
- find your venue first
FUNDING
- Can be useful NOT being subsidised – if independent for the first time subsidy could make you not scrutinise your costs so carefully
- The Space – partnership between BBC and Ace, digital arts fund, just closed
- Grants for the Arts fund development (one member of the group had received development funding from G4A)
- sponsorship – break it down into bitesize chunks, find what your investor’s reason is, what’s their benefit?
- crowdfunding: you need to have a really strong existing online audience
- one member of the group [knows someone who?] crowdfunds everything they produce but then makes it all freely available online. Sustains his work that way.
- £1 a month direct debit – doesn’t seem that much, you forget you’re paying it and never cancel, if you have 100 people doing it that’s £1200 a year
- if people have turned up to a live event they want to purchase/donate online
- people want to donate to someone they know, to have a face to it
- online donating you seem to need to offer something back
-
AUDIENCES
- Do audiences cross from film to theatre?
- Generally hard to cross over audiences
- Often depends on the right setting
- IoW Festival do have some cross-over audiences
- work with what you’ve got –eg if your work is new and experimental find an audience who are interested in that
- A lot is about audiences trusting a venue (though some audiences don’t even cross over within a venue – is that partly about the audience not the venue? eg some “types” are more likely to cross over than others)
- can be interesting to go out to get a different audience
- explore different expectations, different venues, not so much competition? More open?
- What is your audience’s expectation and how do you create different expectations
PRODUCING ROLE
- does anyone who produces ever go “yes I know what this is, I know how to do this”?
- can be a very undefined role – varies loads, job description is often misleading
Tuesday 13 December 2011
I am new in England. I am a director and have a ready show. I don't know anyone. Help!!!
Some notes by Kelly:
I attended the help the director new to England in session 1. He is from Ubekistan and is looking for help in trying to get a show on as the system of doing so in his own country differs from the British System, he has a show that he is trying to take to Venues. We were joined by another young director called Sophie Besse who is putting her first production on next year at The Etcetera Theatre next April. I am interested in connecting with such people as I am doing an MA in Creative Producing at Birkbeck, so it is interesting to hear about other people's experiences. We all agreed that in persuading venues to take your production it is helpful to have some weight behind you, such as a previous body of work, reviews, comments, footage. It is difficult for first timers. Saying that though if you provide a detailed yet succinct "pitch pack" your chances should improve. We also spoke about researching the right venues for the audience you want your story to reach and how to get funding/resources from a variety of interesting sources, including Embassies.
I attended the help the director new to England in session 1. He is from Ubekistan and is looking for help in trying to get a show on as the system of doing so in his own country differs from the British System, he has a show that he is trying to take to Venues. We were joined by another young director called Sophie Besse who is putting her first production on next year at The Etcetera Theatre next April. I am interested in connecting with such people as I am doing an MA in Creative Producing at Birkbeck, so it is interesting to hear about other people's experiences. We all agreed that in persuading venues to take your production it is helpful to have some weight behind you, such as a previous body of work, reviews, comments, footage. It is difficult for first timers. Saying that though if you provide a detailed yet succinct "pitch pack" your chances should improve. We also spoke about researching the right venues for the audience you want your story to reach and how to get funding/resources from a variety of interesting sources, including Embassies.
Applying theatre – off the stage
Session called by: Paul Jackson
Attended by: Paul, Tim, Lee, Kirsty and others
We can make theatre on a stage or off. Theatre is not a sealed world. Many of us are involved in permeating the boundaries – for example taking theatre into organisations or taking ideas from organisations into theatre.
Taking theatre off the stage focuses more attention on the experience of ‘the audience’. The nature of the interaction between performers and audience changes. In a comedy improvisation show, the audience are more participative when they are offering suggestions. In ‘immersive theatre’, the audience moves from location to location. In a murder mystery, they get to play scenes with the suspects. In a workshop of theatre skills, they become participants and there may be minimal stage-style performing by anyone present – even the facilitator.
Whether the cross-over is skills-building, community development or therapy, the practitioner is an ambassador for theatrical means of expression.
What remains of ‘theatre’ through these transitions? The intangible meeting the tangible, perhaps? And the need to keep the work alive, spontaneous, in the moment – the actor/facilitator staying fully awake.
Paul Z Jackson, President of the Applied Improvisation Network - http://appliedimprov.ning.com/
Attended by: Paul, Tim, Lee, Kirsty and others
We can make theatre on a stage or off. Theatre is not a sealed world. Many of us are involved in permeating the boundaries – for example taking theatre into organisations or taking ideas from organisations into theatre.
Taking theatre off the stage focuses more attention on the experience of ‘the audience’. The nature of the interaction between performers and audience changes. In a comedy improvisation show, the audience are more participative when they are offering suggestions. In ‘immersive theatre’, the audience moves from location to location. In a murder mystery, they get to play scenes with the suspects. In a workshop of theatre skills, they become participants and there may be minimal stage-style performing by anyone present – even the facilitator.
Whether the cross-over is skills-building, community development or therapy, the practitioner is an ambassador for theatrical means of expression.
What remains of ‘theatre’ through these transitions? The intangible meeting the tangible, perhaps? And the need to keep the work alive, spontaneous, in the moment – the actor/facilitator staying fully awake.
Paul Z Jackson, President of the Applied Improvisation Network - http://appliedimprov.ning.com/
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