Phil Cleaves, 15 January 2017

The session was a combination of two different sessions:

Empty Shop Theatre Network by Phil Cleaves

How do I set up a pop-up space? by Beth Shouler

Present:

Phil Cleaves

Beth Shouler

Alison Holder

Andrew Thackeray

Kate McStraw

Ruby Glaskin

Sharon Clark

Amanda L

Helen Edwards

Emily Greenslade

Annette Chown

Lizzie Wiggs

Jess Brewster

Luke John Emmett

Andrew Loretto

Fergus Evans

Nigel Munson

Two different lines of thought led the conversation

1) Creating spaces for a community

2) Creating spaces for artists

Both these lines of thinking are organic and naturally crossover.

KEY ACTION:

Create foundspacenetwork.com which will provide details on how to approach setting

up arts in found spaces. It will also provide a line of communication and support for

these kinds of spaces. Furthermore, work generated in these spaces could be shared

with other found spaces across the country.

The Found Space Network will also have a social media presence for members to

share ideas / good practice / inspiration / support.

Summary of the conversation (hand written notes are attached) the fuller resource

will be the website itself.

• Phil (Brentwood), Beth (Nottingham) and Katie (Swindon) are all attempting to

launch found space theatre projects. Questions were asked about generating

audiences, logistics of space - insurance and licensing.

• DNWeekend shared their experience of running an arts festival in around

Doncaster. They have 3 years under their belt and shared ideas for creating work

in empty spaces but also spaces that have a current use, for example, a dance

piece in a furniture shop.

• Theatre Deli gave their experience of working in spaces over a longer period. Jess

shared how to engage with property owners and speak their language. She shared

the positive community impact and artist development they have experienced.

• Salisbury Fringe shared their experience of funding/non-funding and the dilemma

of separate scheduled slots vs overlapping performances

• Luke from Theatre Bath shared details of practicalities of developing found spaces.

Resources to draw upon.

Final thoughts and discussions

Discussed the idea that this kind of theatre is as important as theatre taking place in

buildings or ‘established’, traditional venues. The collaboration and support that a

Found Space Theatre Network could provide will be a way for these small, local,

community venues to have a presence and a voice nationally.

The Found Theatre Network will connect the artist and the community as well as the

the local and the national. It will also provide all the step-by-step support to get these

spaces up and running.

File size for notes images was too big to attach but everything will become

foundspacenetwork.com

Do email me or comment below if you have any questions or contributions or you want

to be a part of the network.

Tags:

North and South, Empty Shops, Found Spaces, Audience, Pop-up, Found Space

Network, found spaces, Community, local, Nation, festival, empty shops, community,

Spectator, Politics, National, culture, Culture, audience, Local, politics, Festival,

national

Comments: 6

Luke John Emmett, 15 January 2017

If you need hosting for the site let me know. Theatre Bath is installed as a multisite Wordpress network so I can easily add a

Wordpress install ready for you to use and domain map the domain name to whatever you wish.

Luke

Annette Chown, 15 January 2017

The ‘big yellow book’ from the Association of British Theatre Technicians was mentioned, which I assume was this one:

http://www.abtt.org.uk/shop/books/technical-standards-for-places-of-entertainment-2015/

But they have some free introductory publications in their shop as well, such as ‘RU Safe’ and ‘Non-Conventional Theatre

Spaces’:

http://www.abtt.org.uk/shop/books/

Annette Chown, 15 January 2017

The ‘big yellow book’ from the Association of British Theatre Technicians was mentioned, which I assume was this one:

http://www.abtt.org.uk/shop/books/technical-standards-for-places-of-entertainment-2015/

But they have some free introductory publications in their shop as well, such as ‘RU Safe’ and ‘Non-Conventional Theatre

Spaces’:

http://www.abtt.org.uk/shop/books/

Katerina Pushkin, 17 January 2017

People might be interested in what Chashama do in New York:

https://twitter.com/chashama

Katerina Pushkin, 17 January 2017

People might be interested in what Chashama do in New York:

https://twitter.com/chashama

Phil Cleaves, 26 January 2017

Hi all,

I have created a facebook group - Found Space Network - all ready to be populated.

I have also registered domain names ready for a website