Proof of the pudding

Written as part of our Artcity programme this year.

Author - Hilary Hughes, 9th August 2021

While people are hesitant about getting back to ‘normal’ life again our creative programme is gathering pace.

“Everything is broken. It’s how the light gets in.”  A quote from Leonard Cohen is the starting point for a series of six R&D projects. The investigations are turning up some exciting research outcomes. They range from looking at; using storytelling and video to tell the story of a small excluded community, the silence and sound of the city, the beauty of cracks, a feast of surplus food, healing yourself and learning a new skill of projection mapping.

It seems to me that ideas are the bread and butter, the life blood of an artists’ life, but turning those ideas into action, into a proposal, a budget, a timetable, is something that the artists shy away from. That to refine the ideas and to keep on one track, no wandering off down tangent boulevard, to leave those tangents for another day, another project, put them in the bank for later, is a concept that is hard to attend to. Is it because it is perceived as this is the only chance?

 Writing those proposals, budgets, timetables, risk assessments, method statements is how you get the money to do the work. Commissioners of all sizes and scales need to be reassured that the artist will deliver on time and in budget and that the artists understands the constraints and context of the workPerhaps a secret that has not yet revealed itself, is that it is, in my opinion,  it is hell to work on your own. None of them, at this stage, have thought to work as a team with another artist/person acting as their producer, sounding board, stage manager, technician, budget writer. It is indicated in their brief that they are expected to work as a team, it is an opportunity to work with others, and all have chosen to work with another artform practioner. I know some have informally talked to their peers, but nothing formal.

 I wonder by my writing about this here, will they think about how we at B arts have kept a company employing artists for as long as we have? I think we have done this by understanding, picking apart the work, dividing up the tasks and getting the people to do what they are best at, working to an agreed framework, getting the project on.

Asking for help is a top skill, it’s not failure, and knowing who you can work with is a pleasure. Putting a team together, working together what better thing to do in this divided world. There is a deadline for the proposals, timeline and budget, so they may well yet surprise me, and the sharing in September will be the proof the pudding,

Friday 25th September, see you there.