Amplified

Where does ‘reckless creative freedom’ end and the responsibility to change society start?

quitexander — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:31:31 +0000

I’ve been thinking about the notion of Artistic responses to Big Stuff, and the notion of the responsibility -or otherwise – of artists to be the nerve endings of a society. Which in turn got me thinking about Paul Robeson, which lead me to this quote:

“He [Paul Robeson] realized that the artist had the power, and the responsibility, to change the society in which he lived. He learned that art and culture are weapons in a people’s struggle to exist with dignity, and in peace.”

http://www.nbufront.org/MastersMuseums/JHClarke/Contemporaries/PaulRobeson.html

Do you feel that? Do you have artists who have played that role in your life? Where does ‘reckless creative freedom’ end and the responsibility to change society start, or is the social responsibility to be recklessly creatively free and allow that to change things?

your thoughts are most welcome…

(originally posted on Google + here)

Climate Change: Is the Science “Settled”?

quitexander — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:31:08 +0000

The Tipping Point Programme

quitexander — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:13:58 +0000

What will the programme consist of? The event will draw on experience in holding around twenty such gatherings worldwide in recent years, in the UK held in Oxford. Superficially resembling a conference, the event will in fact contain a minimum of being talked at, and a maximum of information exchange and cross-fertilisation between those present. Throughout, we will aim to minimise disciplinary boundaries and emphasise the commonality of the creativity they share. We will pay particular attention to reminding all of the urgency of the situation; understanding and making clear the work of all the individuals present; and looking in depth at artistic practice and some examples of artistic treatment of environmental issues.

Our outline programme is as follows

	Weds 22	Thurs 23	Fri 24
Theme	*How do I feel about the future?*	*In what ways might I influence the future?*	*What am I going to do(about the future)***?
AM		Including an exploration of artistic and cultural projects which have had a genuine social influence.	Including Open Space sessions focussing on specific projects.
PM	Start: 3pm Including a discussion with Matt Ridley, author ofThe Rational Optimist, and Kevin Anderson, of the Tyndall Centre	More of the above, and an Open Space session to start or continue exploring personal or collaborative projects	Event finishes 2pm Opportunities to visit a range of science projects within the University
Evening	Buffet supper, and a discussion led by Gregory Norminton with Jay Griffiths, Lawrence Norfolk, authors who have contributed to Gregory’s forthcoming anthology ‘Out of Chaos’ – short stories for our shared planet	Reception, meal and drinks, Northern Stage, includingEnd of the World Cabaretcompèred by Kate Fox

Thursday will finish with an evening of food, drink and performance hosted at Northern Stage, very close to the event venue.

The event itself, consisting of a range of plenary and group interactions, is designed as a whole, immersive experience, including the evenings. Attending selected elements will provide an unsatisfactory experience, and is very strongly discouraged.

Theme: running through the event will be the concept of ‘positive messages’. This is the first time we have used such an approach; it is a recurrent motif in environmental communications, due to the widely perceived need for a positive vision of the future, to offset frequently downbeat or depressing predictions.

What does this mean for – and is it indeed relevant to – artists?

What outcomes do we expect? The purpose of the event is to create a context for creative people to explore difficult, urgent and fast changing subjects, so guaranteed outcomes are impossible to predict, other than a continuation of the broadening and deepening of thinking around the subject. What happens will be largely in the hands of those present. However, past experience leads us to expect:

The inspiration for new artistic projects, individual or team related, including science/arts collaborations
New work to be commissioned during the event
Organisational initiatives such as artist in residence schemes
The creation of enduring, effective relationships and networks between individuals and organisations

Photos from Tipping Point 2012

quitexander — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:18:51 +0000

The Attendees From Leeds Give their Closing Thoughts

Steve Lawson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:52:21 +0000

Here’s the list of everyone that was at the Leeds dinner:

It was convened and organised by David Edmunds of DepArts, and Charlotte Vincent of Vincent Dance Theatre.

Fergus Justice-Mills – Chief Executive Barnsley Civic
Rachel Kirsche – Course leader in Dance/ Senior Lecturer Leeds Metropolitan University
Janet Smith – Principle Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Ceri Brieley – Communications and Developement Manager Northern School of Contemporary Dance
Steve Ansell – Theatre and Production Manager, Stage@leeds
Balbir Singh – Artistic Director Balbir Singh Dance Company
Rita Marcarlo – Artistic Director Instant Dissidence
Katie Pearson – Director Northern Tap Company

Here are their thoughts at the end of the first dinner:

About Tipping Point

quitexander — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:38:21 +0000

TippingPoint is network-based organisation aiming to be a year round ‘connector’ of the arts and climate science worlds. At the heart of our work is an international programme of two-day gatherings where artists and scientists participate in an informal but intense series of meetings and exercises to provoke and engender collaborative thinking and creative work. We also offer points of engagement through one off events, conferences and public debates.

We launched the TippingPoint Commissions in 2009 – an open invitation to artists to propose performative work that in some way embraces climate change. A total of ten works have now been commissioned – see the Commissions section of this site.

Full Programme for Tipping Point Newcastle

quitexander — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:40:43 +0000

The Tipping Point Programme – at Great North Museum: Hancock, unless otherwise stated

Wednesday Feb 22	Theme: How do I feel about the future?
14.00 – 15.00	Arrivals, Registration and Refreshments
15.00 – 15.30	Welcomes, introductions
15.30 – 17.00	Perspectives on the future: Prof Kevin Anderson and Matt Ridley, chaired by Prof Paul Younger, followed by discussion & Q&A
17.00 – 17.30	Four Corner Exercise (to be explained!)
17.30 – 18.00	Postcards to the Future – creative exercise briefing
18.00 – 19.30	Buffet supper and drinks (HerschelBuilding)
19.30 – 21.00 approx	Discussion led by Gregory Norminton with Jay Griffiths & Lawrence Norfolk, authors who have contributed to Gregory’s forthcoming anthology ‘Out of Chaos’ – short stories for our shared planet
21.00 –	Pay bar, Premier Inn
Thursday Feb 23	Theme: in what ways might I influence the future?
	(i) examples for inspiration
09.00 – 10.45	Presentations and discussions on cultural interventions with a real impact: Erica Whyman – the cultural regeneration of the North East; Lucy Conway – the Isle of Eigg, Ben Twist Creative Carbon Scotland. chaired by Heather Ackroyd, Followed by Q&A
10.45 – 11.00	Tea & Coffee
11.00 – 12.30	Show and Tell
12.30 – 13.45	Lunch
	(ii) exploring possibilities
13.45 – 15.00	Open Space Briefing
15.00 – 16.30	Open Space session 1
16.30 – 17.50	Open Space session 2
17.50 –	Close and leave for Northern Stage
18.00 –	Food, drink & entertainment (separate programme)
Friday Feb 24	Theme: what am I going to do about the future?
09.00 – 09.15	Reflection on the process so far – John Fox
09.15 – 09.30	TP Commissions, NIReS future announcements
09.30 – 11.15	Open Space – future thinking, future projects
11.15 – 11.45	Alan Davey, Arts Council England sustainability announcements
11.45 – 12.30	Postcards from the Future – creative exercise completion
12.30 – 13.00	Plenary
13.00 – 14.00	Close and Lunch
14.00 – 16.00	Visits to Newcastle University sites (separate programme)

Asking Better Questions – Northern Area Dance Network 2012

Steve Lawson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:46:43 +0000

It’s great to be back working with the Northern Area Dance Network again – back in 2010, we were involved in their first get together in Leeds, a large meeting bringing together stakeholders in the world of dance from across ‘The Greater North’ to talk about what exactly that meant – the idea of The North of England as a distinct and identifiable entity within the dance ecology. Was it meaningful? was it useful? (here’s a full list of the questions that emerged from the 2010 session)

This year, the Arts Council once again made some funds available for bringing together practitioners, promoters, agencies, venues and educators to further the discussion about Dance in the north.

But this time the conveners, David Edmunds and Charlotte Vincent, felt that a series of smaller gatherings spread across the region, based around meals, would allow them to ask better questions, and get far more discussion happening by way of an exploration of those questions – leading to a range of possible answers, or even better questions that need answering going forward.

The format includes a provocation, followed by extended discussion over delicious food (the session ran almost twice as long as planned, such was the depth of discussion!)

The first meeting was last week in Leeds, and you can listen to Charlotte’s intro and the first provocation from Martin Wilson of TIN Arts in Durham who brought a challenge about the need for recklessness. (full text of his talk coming soon!)

The 2nd dinner is tomorrow night in Liverpool. I’ll be there, follow along at http://www.amplified10.com/nadm12 from 6 on Tuesday, or via the hashtag #nadm12 on Twitter.

Photos from C4CC – One Year On

quitexander — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:30:53 +0000

On Collaboration

Steve Lawson — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:29:28 +0000

“The future’s too complex to go it alone” – this quote from Toby Moores of Sleepydog and Amplified has become something of a mantra for me as the pace of change in pretty much every area of life accelerates. I’m a musician – it’s what I do and who I am, and as such collaboration is central to how I think about what I do. All music is collaborative in some way – collaboration between people, collaboration with history and tradition, and with performance or work spaces to create sound. Almost all music-making situations rely on the combining of skills, ideas, experience, metaphors, sounds and personalities. Music has been an amazing training ground and sandbox-environment for me to explore the meaning and vitality of collaboration. Collaboration is a foundation stone of both my own working life and the places I look to for inspiration, those most meta of experiences where I get to collaboratively explore the parameters of collaboration. All of which points to the Centre For Creative Collaboration – perhaps nowhere in modern life is better placed to benefit from collaborative practice than academia – the very environment where the present and future can be unpacked and explored, where arts and sciences can collide to provide new learning, new perspective, new media, where the unjaded impetus of the undergraduate mind can meet the wisdom and resourcefulness of those with honed expertise. The changes in University funding in the UK have forced a rethink of so many aspects of academic life. Of teaching and research, of accreditation, assessment and commercial viability. Of creative independence and of partnerships with the worlds of business, commerce and civic life. Of what the ‘output’ of academia should be and can be. None of these are best served by siloes, by hatches being battened and resources being hoarded. The exploration of both the systems of education and the learning itself require us to pool our intellectual resources, to open ourselves to the collision of wisdoms and to pursue knowledge for its own vitality. So the timing seems perfect for C4CC, placed as it is at the intersection of so many establishments, a neutral ‘play space’ for ideas, a messy space for making things, a kitchen garden within which potential can be watered and allowed to flourish… There are so many metaphors for what’s possible in a place like the Centre For Creative Collaboration, but few can add to what has actually happened there. Of the key ‘targets’ set when the centre opened, a few of them are astounding – the original plan for 12 collaborative projects happening in the centre of its initial period was dwarfed as 106 projects came through the building. The desire for 200 visitors paled against the reality of over 3,700 people coming through. The range of partners was bigger than anyone expected and – crucially – the number of SMEs (Small/Medium Enterprises) that were involved surprised everyone. All in, the reality has surpassed even the most optimistic view of what ‘should’ have happened in the Centre. Ideas have been formed, projects realised and businesses started. New courses have been taught, students have been given ‘thinking space’ away from their usual environment to let their imagination and learning combine in dreaming up new things, discovering new modes of working and ways of thinking. As a ‘collaboration junky’, I’ve always felt at home there, felt my spirit fed by the ‘buzz’, the excitement of so much happening under one roof. Long may it continue.

Steve Lawson