corridor arts dot org dot uk

in my second post about the journey of our go and see bursary i have a lot to reflect upon with regard to how easy it all is.

as i indicated in the first post the application process is very straitforward.  at the time of our application we were very focussed on our idea, our visit place and what we wanted to get out of it.

what was not simple was an as yet unseen dynamic in the group.  adopting a reflective position for this post, i can add that the unforeseen circumstances helped the group to see that there were differences that could not be satisfactorily resolved enough for the full plan to be implimented.

applying for the go and see bursary helped us to form a critical path upon which we ventured.  having recieved it, the preparations to use the bursary facilitated us to make further steps along that critical path.  in making those steps, the path has evolved and we find ourselves in a slightly different place.  without the go and see bursary from a n, i would not have experienced this.

because we are in receipt of the go and see bursary, we’ve rescued the plan and evolved it so that the research and thinking made so far can still be applied into making an event.

today i reflect that being in receipt of the bursary has helped the group to keep driving forward with an idea, albeit that the idea has had to evolve as we’ve learnt things about the idea and those in the group.

even today i’ve found out that there is a slight risk that our soon to be made visit might have to be further re-arranged as a result of yet another outside influence.

i feel my fourth year re teacher was wide of the mark when he wrote about me in a report that i had “inadequate determination.”  each time there is a set back, i bounce back even more determined to make full use of the opportunity granted by a n.

at a personal level, all this deviation within the attempt to make a go and see visit is helping to further build my robustness and hopefully confidence in my own ability to respond well in situations that i find quite emotional.

all being well our visit will be made the weekend after next. all the travel and accomodation are reserved and booked. i have a week to research further where we are going to, and i am looking forward to being away from all the everyday distractions and niggles. the weekend was always inteneded to be a time where the idea for the event is the focus and discussions are inspired by what we see.

i’ve waited so long for the go and see visit to take place, it’s almost like a dream.

corridor arts have been awarded a go and see bursary from a n. we’ve known about it for six months.

as we prepare to make the visit, i want to record aspects of the journey so far,  as part of the agreement with a n is to write a review of the process. writing is something that i have to be in a certain mental space to do well and being in receipt of the bursary has been a step up to doing things well.

we’ve always set out to do things well, the importance of the bursary to us is the connection with a n.

i’ve found in the last four years that it’s really easy to set things up to do oneself, if one has the drive and determination to want to achieve it. this has been especially important at a time when the mass message about arts and culture in the uk has been associated to cut backs and things not happening.

so doing things voluntarily is good and the personal risk to doing this is feeling that the effort one puts in isn’t getting you anywhere.

the awarding of the bursary gave us a confidence boost that our extended peer group backed us and followed us in what we had been doing and what we wanted to do next.

the application process was straightforward and having been on an application workshop in february was aware of the pitfalls of generting generic words within an application.

in reflecting now about the journey of the last six months, i can see that i need to make some posts to unpack that journey and consider what i’ve learnt along the way.

we’re preparing a new homepage for the root of our domain … and so i get ready to say chin chin to our retiring design.

seems rather a poor send off. .. … ….

but what else can i say ?

you’ve been great but now we’re needing to say more and present more. we’ve got funders logos to show (including the artists information company) and thanks to be made. we need a calendar that keeps up to date with what we’re doing and a news section where new things can be applauded.

we’ve got a need for better seo and rotating testimonials from artists we’ve done stuff with.

i think also we need to show who the core members of the group are with a brief over view and a link to their own practice websites.

i am of course mindful of the discussion i heard during the granted session in february. the discussion was about doing too much. i see now that outside of a funded period one does alomost everythign that one needs to do admin wise and the point that was being made in the session to do with funded periods was one should not be doing everything as the model used by the funders shows tasks being completed by specific personel and the funders want you to follow their lead.

so for now, i remain the master of all i survey.

in January the core management of the group welcomed another member  into it. for some time this person had been working with us in a silent partner capacity.

in so doing we’ve embarked on some development work as a group, both in our web presence and our project endeavours.

i’m not sure about revealing plans re developing projects, however if we don’t say something it looks like we’re not doing very much.

what we are doing is running quarterly peer to peer meetings. these are trusted safe spaces where on going ideas and thoughts can be aired and shared. we’re in negotiations with a sculptor about her showing a new work at an upcoming meeting. a spin off of the group meetings is my evolution of a 1:1 mentoring service.

we are also beginning to evolve our website. we feel that the site doesn’t optimally exhibit the work we’ve achieved so far. we might be criticised for not achieving very much in the time that we’ve been going, however i’d point out that we’ve achieved the majority of projects with just contributions to costs which we’ve worked to keep low. we achieved funding to get the peer to peer meetings off the ground and acknowledge the Derbyshire community foundation for their financial support. we have been able to maintain the meetings at a sustainable level since the funding finished.

the art trail became huge and unsustainable. as already mentioned we’re taking a year off from organising it so that we can plan for next year and for me to action developing my own practice. having explored what is possible to achieve without funding, we now are researching how to deliver a project that is professionally funded so that we can deliver it to a professional standard and meet our own sustainability needs.

i get excited when the core group meet now. i also am getting a buzz from the little things like updating our ‘about’ information on our Facebook profile.(1)

we currently have two funding applications awaiting to be assessed and in the very early stages of planning a third.

these are exciting times.

(1) https://www.facebook.com/corridor.arts

note : this post was editted 12/8/14, originally posted in february 2014.

the Belper art trail took place in july 2013. it was hard work and a success for those taking part and those i spoke to that saw it.

we kept a blog about the development of the trail and now it’s all finished it is a record of the whole thing including what the weather was like and audience figures.

http://belperarttrail2013.blogspot.co.uk/

i realised today it’s been 6 months since my last post and needed to catch up