I thought this would be a good place to log all the discussions, actions, issues etc that come up within the Dancescape Artist Network meetings as well as to keep things rolling along in between meetings, keep everyone connected and give you an opportunity for some input even if you can't make it to meetings. Let me know any thoughts or ideas you have about making this blogspot work better for us all and for the network - hopefully, it will be a great way for everyone to keep up to speed with all things Dancescape Artist Network.....?!!
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Sarah Jassal
July 09 Artist Network Meeting
Wednesday 1 July @ ICE, Coventry
Those who were able to attend the meeting in person were:
Sarah Jassal, Dancescape
Louise Bardgett, independent movement practitioner
Oliver Scott, Director, Mercurial Dance
Kate Mason, Director, Mobius Dance
Sioda Martin, independent dance artist
Holly Denoon, independent dance artist
Naama Spitzer, independent dance artist
Jenna Hubbard, independent dance artist, Spiltmilk Dance Company & Project Assistant, ICE
Alexis Wilkinson, independent dance artist & Coventry Performing Arts Service
David Bennett, independent dance artist
Context & background
We kicked off the meeting with me (Sarah Jassal) giving a quick overview of how Dancescape has got to this point, generally and more specifically regarding the artist network. Also, I shared some of my thoughts about why I think this network is needed and how those involved might utilise it and get the most out of it...
In short, this network can be whatever you want it to be, but as a starting point you might want to think of it as something essential to your practice, because networking is that essential, isn't it? Come along to the artist network meetings to share ideas and skills, discuss issues and particular areas of practice, make contact with your peers and colleagues, take part in something, develop ideas or try things out on a captive, safe audience. In between meetings stay connected and let everyone else know what you're working or what you need.
Dancescape is able to give this network a great start by facilitating it, but brings no agenda to it, other than to give time and space to allow artists to get together. We believe that networking of this nature is key to an artist's professional development and will have a positive impact on the dance practice and rich artist community in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire and all those that the artists engage and work with. There are resources available to make meetings happen at least between now and the end of next March, but Dancescape wants to take the lead from you as artists in terms of what can happen and what is discussed. Ideally this network will become something that is led by you, the dance artist.
What's everyone doing?
The next bit of the meeting was a chance for everyone to give a short description of their current projects and interests.
Rather than go into loads of detail here and now, as a separate post on this blog we will set up a kind of skills & interests map and will start it off by giving more info about what the people who came to this meeting are up to and in to at the moment, which can be added to by anyone at any time....
Professional development for me and for you
As a group the next thing we discussed was everyone's thoughts about their own professional development needs as well as those for the wider artistic community/network, and this is where conversations really started getting interesting as well as brains ticking and ideas flowing.
There's loads of food for thought here; lots of common issues and not too many 'bigger issues' for us to tackle!
- better links to classes and spaces
- a regional database of artists that is accessible to other artists
- opportunities for sharings of experiences, skills etc
- dance in health training
- opportunities to shadow and observe work
- support to find dance spaces
- support with marketing ideas for classes
- to know artists that might want support from other artists
- a choreographic sharing/platform for works in progress to gain feedback from peers
- a dance map for Coventry
- to share information about technical/production contacts
- access to free space to make work
- 'producer' support
- fundraising advice to make work
- advice on how to survive as a freelancer
- opportunity to share experience of processes, such as a particular funding stream
- regular sessions for class, sharing ideas, creating and discussion
- help to plan, structure and develop work
- a space to go to free from pressures and free to use
- collecting artists information to find similarities and future collaborators
- a blog or something similar to know what artists are doing, where and when
There are a number of things in this list that can be addressed through the Dancescape Artist Network or that can perhaps be signposted to other organisations, networks and contacts. For example:
'A (sub)regional database of artists that is accessible to other artists' is something we can start here via this blog.
'Opportunities for sharings of experiences, skills etc' is something that we can make happen wherever possible through piggy backing onto each other's activities. As some already know, Alan Rivett, Director of Warwick Arts Centre, is also interested in supporting the development of a sub regional scratch night for dance. This idea has been put on hold for a few different reasons but is something that we will se develop in the autumn hopefully.
There are several opportunities for 'dance in health training' around in the region at the moment. Several sub regional artists have recently been accepted onto ICE's Dance Connections, an action learning set that will take place at the end of the summer - something that would be great to get an insight into through the Dancescape Artist Network at some point (Hayley, Louise?). There will also be the Warwickshire Dance4Health day on Wednesday 16th September, with the opportunity to learn more from Warwickshire County Arts Service's recent research in dance and health projects with 5 different community groups. The day costs just £20 to attend for individual artists. Also, this autumn will see a regional dance and health conference for professionals from both sectors organised by the Physical Activity Network West Midlands and the pilot of Dance Active, a training package for dance artists interested in working with young people within health settings, which is based on the existing training programme Dance Links.
'A blog or something similar to know what artists are doing, where and when' is definitely something we can help with!!
Stay posted & keep connected
The idea is to keep these needs, issues, discussion points in mind when accessing the Dancescape Artist Network and for everyone to provide solutions, give pointers or add to the list on an ongoing basis, so here's your opportunity to do just that - use this network and blogspot freely to stay connected and enrich and refresh your practice. And don't forget to make your requests 'cos you never know what information or answers someone else might have that you can make use of, including Dancescape.
And finally...
The end of the meeting in July consisted of a round up of discussions and a quick information share - most of this information has been included in recent Dancescape e-news emails, so send an email to the address below if you don't already get them.
We look forward to seeing you /hearing from you very soon!
Sarah Jassal, Dancescape
sjassal@solihull.gov.uk
