Collaboration rather than competition

Paul Bull, 17 July 2012

Paul Bull, Belinda Chapman, Mark Wallace, David Precott, Seth Honnor, Adriana, Jane, Peter Vanderford, and many more bees and butterflies

The session discussed and explored the questions of artist development and uniting the existing facilities and resources here in Devon and the wider South West region.

Do we need to formalise the informal?

We need to unite to create communities.

A case for joining the dots.

And then allow the dots to expand and blur.

DIALOGUE

There are 2 strands we need to be able use to communicate - both on-line and physical meetings.

Is it helpful that so many Devon-based websites and on-line communites seem to operate independently?

Would a single bigger presence be better and more useful to practioners?

Can we create an online network that allows individuals and organisations to directly connect with one another and continue the important dialogue that started today?

Is the a more comprehensive INTERACTIVE website for Devon that could develop from Wide Awake Devon, Theatre Devon, Dance In Devon, Creative Torbay, etc, etc.

And once that happens, it could spread and multiply to engage with similar sites in Cornwall, Somerset, etc, etc.

The artists present felt they were looking for roofs to house face-to-face physical experiences to allow the grassroots to blossom and flourish.

This may enable splinter groups to exist, supported within the host organisations yet have a whole independent life.

We understood the need for the larger venues to programme from without the region, yet we want opportunities to develop within the region and then export the wider community. A road in and a road out.

How can we open up the dialogue between venues and institutions?

How can we entice them so they would start collaborate rather than compete? So comments on ways to move this forward please.

One way - rather than open pre- or post-show discussions -may be to facilitate creative dialogues for local practitioners with major artistic visionaries visiting the region?

Who can help to provide space to communicate?

Who can help to provide space to experiment?

United we can all be a much stronger artistic community here in the South West.

Tags:

Devon, Collaboration, informal, collaboration, plymouth, Dialogues, South West, Genesis Project, Grassroots, Informal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Cornwall, Plymouth, Young Vic, somerset, Discussions, Somerset, Exeter, On-line network, Splinter Groups, Interactive, Bike Shed Theatre