Your reports Find reports Can We Work Together: Creating Communities for Independent Artists Can We Work Together: Creating Communities for Independent Artists Rew Lowe, 30 June 2012 Called by Rew Lowe Attended by Alison Farina, Luke Emmett, Hannah Drake, Sarah Kingswell and Kelly Smith Independent artists in and around Bristol have some varying needs which might be met through creative communities, some of which already exist, some of which might be worth creating. Needs include: - ongoing informal face to face communication, which was considered as higher quality and more efficient than solely online communication, facilitated by working regularly with a group of other independent artists in a shared space - IT support (some of which might come simply through asking the person sitting next to you if they know how to do something...) - ongoing physical training - skill-sharing - information/knowledge sharing, eg potential audience lists, approaches to seeking funding - working creatively in a community - a theatre lab of sorts, ie a kind of pre-R&D approach to theatre - creative feedback on developing work Current resources include: - Theatre Bristol's artist support scheme: artists can contact Carrie to seek advice from Theatre Bristol producers for advice on anything, from starting a company, to funding applications, to creative feedback on developing work (main contact: Carrie). - Tobacco Facctory's Prototype, a twice or three times yearly performance opportunity for new and developing work, curated by Carrie/Theatre Bristol, with opportunities for audience to feedback on the work - Interval - an artist's collective - Hamilton House - hot desking at a fee - Karla Shacklock's open warm-up - the many wifi cafes around Bristol and particularly on Gloucester road Future possibilities include: - advertising, through Theatre Bristol, a shared workspace for independent artist, informally at first, perhaps at Bristol Old Vic foyer - investigating the opportunity of ‘tagging’ this resource on to the open warm-up There was also extensive discussion about Bath's need for both a resource similar to Theatre Bristol as well as a shared physical space/home (office, space for set building) for the plethora of companies emerging from the universities. Luke Emmet has already made substantial inroads into addressing these issues, having set up TheatreBath, to some extent modelled on Theatre Bristol, as a website, Facebook page and Titter account. They are also having regular ‘tweetups’, Sunday/Monday night meetings in the pub. They are also working towards having a conference of regional artists and practitioners to enable people to meet and show their wares. Tags: artists, Bath, Tobacco Factory, community, Bristol Old Viv, skill sharing, Theatre Bath, prototype, independent, open warm-up, Interval, Hamilton House, Carrie, work together, Theatre Bristol, IT support, Bounce, artist support scheme